"I'm not comfortable in my own skin." These words, and all the feelings they hold, indicate an organic process of change is at play. Something familiar doesn't fit so well anymore. It no longer feels as comfortable as it once did. The ill-fitting skin may be filled up with beliefs about how we should think, look, love, and feel. The uncomfortable skins may be entangled, old patterns that have become tiresome or hollow though they once felt important or seemed the only option we had. When the familiar old ways get tinged with frustration or sorrow, it's clear they don't serve our well-being anymore. So, like the snakes, we are ready to shed these old skins.
When snakes shed old skins, they naturally create space for expansion. They gracefully go with the flow of their own life, stretching with ease into new ways of being. In the wise way of the snakes, there is no holding back, staying small or confined by the past. The skin a snake sheds is not regretfully discarded or judged as bad or inadequate or wrong. Rather the skin being let go of is known to have served essential, sacred purpose - shaping the physical form of the body, protecting inner space, breathing in vital elements, sensing and gathering up tactile information, creating tangible connections with the earth. Once the purpose has been served, once the cycle is complete, the snake clears away what has been and naturally creates, from within, something new. The new skin, this fresh, generous space for the self, allows for full expression of the entire body and being existing in the here and now.
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So why do we two-leggeds struggle so much to shed our old, outdated skins? Fear of change. Fear of loss. Fear of unknowns. Fear of our own beautiful essence and vast personal power. These fears keep us stranded in old ways of being, squelching ourselves and stifling our own growth, safely maintaining the status quo. We can choose to not let the fears consume us by directing our attention deeply inside what it is we really want...to be, to feel, to learn, to know, to share, to experience, to manifest and create.
Shedding old skins is a natural unfolding. Embodying the medicines of snakes, we too can welcome and dance with change rather than resist and fight against it. We too can let go of what-has-been when the cycle is complete, when the purpose has been served, when heartfelt callings to expand our horizons begin stirring inside. Snakes shed old skins instinctively, becoming more full and alive and flexible and free. So can we.
JoAnne Dodgson Ed.D is a healer, writer and teacher in ancient Peruvian medicine ways, KaTaSee, 'living in balance from the heart.' Her healing work with individuals and groups invites spiritual awakenings, self-empowerment, and rememberings of life purpose and passions. www.pathwaysforhealing.net
Copyright © 2009 by JoAnne Dodgson |
