Connection

BRICK BY BRICK

Brick by brick
Layer by layer
Hands wet and moist
Covered in clay and mud.

Layer upon layer
Up and up
I built a fortress.

It provided safety
And shelter from the elements.
It was cozy and a haven.

Mine all mine.
Built by my own sweat,
Tears, and physical strength.

Made by my own hand
It was shapened and formed,
Embellished and flawed.

Little did I realize,
As I was building a fortress
All around me,
I forgot to build a door.

Along with protection from the elements,
I was locked in,
Unable to express my truth
To another or to myself.

When the walls finally were torn down,
By time or willpower,
I set myself free.

It was safe to feel my feelings.
All my feelings.

Behind the clay and mud
I uncovered a temple.
A brightly lit hidden treasure.

Put there by my labor
And long forgotten.

A jewel that needed to be excavated
Once the walls came down.

shared stories

Being still with fear

What do we do when
we feel discomfort?
Do we run away?
Do we distract ourselves?
Do we ignore and pretend
A doubting of reality?

Where do the feelings go
when they are repressed
and not fully expressed?

Do we digest them
through our pores
and with our breath?
Do they alchemize into
Our cells, our inner makeup
Only to resurface again later?

Am I okay if I sit here
With the fear, 
the doubt, the unknown?
Will I somehow lose myself
and be completely consumed and
transformed by it, 
as fear would tell?

What if I sit here for 10 seconds?
Surely, I can do anything
for just 10 seconds.
No big deal, I tell fear
after the time’s run out.

And, well, I’ll be.
I’m still me.
I didn’t fall of the cliff.
The earth didn’t
cease to rotate
because I sat with
the doubt or uncertainty.

Still the earth rotates
on its axis
and I became one with
the fear and found my way
to the other side,
To home.

Confidence in myself,
My self-worth,
My inner being
was strengthened as a result
of just getting still
And being with 
the discomfort.

For just a moment in time
Heaven moved with the earth
And I came out unscathed
At having faced it,
Just for today.