crack me up

“Ring the bells you still can ring

Forget the perfect offering

There’s a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.”

Leonard Cohen

Times are tough.  Everything seems to be a bit off kilter.  We all seem to be searching for balance.  I feel the energy in the people around me in my daily life…on the subway, in line at the grocery store.  There is a sense of everything trying to right itself after a bump knocked it off it’s center.

In yoga class, how you deal with falling out of a pose can be symbolic of how you are dealing with rocky times in life.  Being mindful of judgment, disappointment or anger can give us clues as to how we are dealing with challenges outside the classroom.

What’s interesting to me is how each person reacts to being jarred out of balance. Some limp along awkwardly refusing to even acknowledge something has changed.  Some crumble like a broken plate, laying in pieces, awaiting rescue.  Some glue themselves back together, and with bits of dried glue visible, shakily charge ahead.  A small few, have the wisdom to appreciate the new cracks, and start to try to love the new dimensions.  I think we all have reacted in these ways at one time or another.  But is there a pattern?  Can you boil it down for yourself?

Simply being alive means suffering some bumps and cracks along the way.  Not one of us is immune.  There is comfort in the shared experience of recognizing the healed places or the raw places yet to fuse back together.  It can make us more sensitive to each other’s struggles, and most importantly- to our own journey and the path the we have walked and learned from….or not.

Embrace the cracks.  You are not shattered, you’ve just added a new dimension to yourself.  Like a beautiful, unique stained glass window-let the light shine through.

The more cracks, the more the light can shine.