Where once there was no life, no movement, no energy…no supported energy…there are now stirrings.

There is life where there was always life, but now there’s light. The spark has been recognized, and through that recognition, new breath and life have been created. It’s amazing what a little recognition can do—being seen can be the biggest miracle.

Recognition, acknowledgment…being seen can be the single greatest gift we can ever feel.

We all want to be seen for who we are, accepted, loved. For all that we are—the shiny parts, the attractive parts, and the shittiest, ugliest, weakest parts. We want to be seen and accepted for all our glories and shortcomings, all our strengths and weaknesses.

We want to feel whole, no matter what our parts look like, no matter how fully-functional we are, or no matter how badly we need a tune-up.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of recognition, a glimpse of understanding and acceptance from someone else. I know that everything we need is inside of us, that all we need to do is go within, blah blah blah. I get it. I understand.

However.

We’re all connected, and there’s a reason for that. No one is a rock or a mountain, no matter how hard we try to be. Even the most stoic and solitary of us light up at finding a point of light in someone else. There’s no denying that and to deny that is to turn your back on the entire experience of our existence.

“I’m trying to be a mountain, but it’s not easy.”

~ The Wood Brothers

There’s no shame in admitting we need people, family, a circle of tightly-wound lights there to support and love and hold us.

I’m sick as fuck for feeling weak for wanting that.

You know what I think weakness is? Denying truth. Blocking out your inner voice. Not listening to yourself, because when you turn a deaf ear to yourself, you do the same to those around you, thus severing your connection to humanity.

When you cut yourself off from your source, you wither and become a shadow of what you were meant to be.

That’s true weakness.

I think strength is in recognition and listening. Strength lies in being present with yourself and others. Strength lies in being comfortable in your own skin and sharing that energy to help those who are struggling to find the arm holes in their own skin suits. Strength lies in wholeness, and wholeness comes from letting your light shine through.

As fluffy and cheesy as that sounds, it really is the pearl that lies in the oyster of our bellies.

It’s the gem that holds our stories and all our possibilities. It’s the swirling warmth swimming in our sacrums. It’s the snake uncoiling in our root chakra, stretching out and heading north towards our crown, clearing out all of the debris we’ve absorbed and held onto.

This is the debris that dulls our light and if we don’t ritually connect and clear out this dark matter, well, that thick, gnarly residue spreads and permeates and disconnects. It deafens us, rendering us weak and powerless.

Sure, everything we need lies within. But when we need help emerging from the plaque that seeks to suffocate, sometimes we need to reach out and hold the hands of the lights we’ve surrounded ourselves with, the lights we’ve been instinctually drawn to; the lights our source recognized from miles of lifetimes away, pulling them close once again to feel that spark of home that we somehow lost.

We’re nothing without each other. Within each other, we find solace. We find understanding. We find that we’re not alone, which, whether we’re comfortable admitting it or not, is what we all truly, desperately need to know.

Fighte Fuaighte: Woven into and through each other.

An outstretched hand and a rib-cracking bear hug can be the greatest gifts we could ever offer. Don’t ever, ever be afraid to extend these gifts to another point of light, especially if that light is fading.

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 Ed: Bryonie Wise