Today’s post comes from Pamir Kiciman. Enjoy!
Many times delaying action is the result of wanting to stay in the cocoon of invisibility. After all, once you’re visible there’s no turning back. Being visible is scary and uncomfortable. When you’re invisible, you’re unseen by others which feels safe. Your own gem is invisible too, so you don’t have to do anything about it. You can get by.
Being invisible means you don’t have to show up. Showing up means the whole world is looking at you, and equally you have to look at everything life’s prodding you to look at. Who wants to be in that position? It’s too much work! Yet this defensive posture is a complete and utter resource trap. It traps all your energy, sanity and wellness.
Many years ago I was sitting alone on a friend’s little pier in the Florida Keys. The water was choppy, mangroves rustled in the wind and her boat knocked against the wood. I was journaling to figure some stuff out. In my soft-gazing moments between words, I noticed this spider and its web. It had one long anchor attached to the pier. Another was attached to a mangrove shoot barely above water. The rest of its anchors were secured to fully grown mangroves. Water was lapping up in rhythm to the low anchor, wetting it; a branch falling, or heavy footsteps could have easily detached any of its other strongholds.
Buoyed in the wind, the spider was secure in the center of its well-built web. I could tell that it had crawled along the tip of a mangrove and swung out into midair on a single strand to look for footing. It had plunged into the unknown with nothing other than its own lifeline! This spider had shown up instead of hiding in the mangroves.
Until that day I hadn’t written anywhere except in my journal. Life was asking me to come out of hiding, to reveal my gem as a human being and I was terrified. I looked at the spider again. Smaller than my fingernail. I realized we shared the same resource: An internally creative substance to build an abode, to make a place in the world.
The spider didn’t wait for conditions to be just so before it took action. It built a web of considerable effort and beauty on a seemingly fleeting foundation. Its web converged to a central point. Are you converging to a central place in the world or are you too busy hiding? It takes a ridiculous amount of maintenance to keep hiding. Everything you were too fearful to show up for, is more than accomplished by the passion and resolve you free up, once you become visible. The spider doesn’t hide, but welcomes prey to its web in plain sight.
It also doesn’t get all twisted up about the other webs nearby. Let go of resentments that build around others’ accomplishments or happiness. Break the cycle of being self-absorbed too. That just keeps you bound in the drama of “I can’t!” Try this:
Answers come in a variety of ways and this is ongoing self-inquiry. As long as you’re truly present on a regular basis, the life you weave will be fulfilling and active in all the right ways.
Pamir Kiciman is a Life Enrichment educator. He blogs at http://Intent.com and http://ReikiHelp.com/blog. Follow Pamir on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gassho
9 Responses to “Lessons from a Spider”
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This was exactly what I needed to read today!
Joely Black (@TheCharmQuark on Twitter)´s last blog post..All about a boulder called receiving
Excellent post, Pamir. Like most predators of opportunity, spiders also teach us about the power of detachment and how to make our skills portable.
You never know when you’ll need to rebuild your web, so wrap up the prey quickly and store them for later.
Jamie Grove - How Not To Write´s last blog post..Introducing Kip Frazier - My Steampunk Huck Finn
@Joely
Glad it helped! It’s certain a great lesson, isn’t it?
@Jamie
As I said to you on Twitter, drugging and wrapping up your ideas in a cocoon for later is kind of hard on your muse, no?
@Joely: It’s always a validation when we get what we need in a synchronistic manner. It tells us life isn’t so B&W at all.
@Jamie: Skills are portable, yes! I really like that word ‘portable.’ I often teach people that starting with their breath, they have multiple inner resources that are available to them 24/7/365 in any situation.
@Alex: Thank you for having this space to exchange such ideas & share relevant writing. I missed the conversation on Twitter, but your muse can be delicate, at least sometimes.
Then there’s the solidifying of your muse by allowing it more and more and giving it expression. On the other hand, storing for too long is a form of procrastination, isn’t it?
Pamir | Reiki Help Blog´s last blog post..Carnival of Healing Blogs
Hi,
I’m glad I read this today…It speaks to the writing anxieties I’ve been placing upon my creative being for weeks now.
I’ve decided to swim in the waters as opposed to , continuing to waddle/wade
Clara.
Clara Freeman´s last blog post..Job Loss:What Does It Mean For The Freelance Writer?
@Clara
Oh the writing anxieties! I don’t know a single writer who isn’t faced with them. We’re all such masochists that way.
Excellent Pamir!
Thanks for sending the link. You already know I loved the select mixed metaphor especially within the Butterfly Transformation process. Spider is in my larva stage and the cocoon has some beautiful aspects besides darkness and invisibility. Especially gentleness and compassion which for me came in the form of Deer.
BTW another friend just sent this beautiful audio link on butterfly…
http://www.amethystwyldfyre.com/mp3s/butterflywithmusic.mp3
Almost time for Peas, David ;O)
Welcome @David - I’m glad you liked Pamir’s post. It is a great one. And thanks for the link.
@Clara: Sometimes I just start typing, even if it’s gibberish or stream of consciousness at first.
@Alex: How to end masochism? That’s a whole blog effort onto its own!
@David: I’m happy that light is coming through the cocoon.
Pamir | Reiki Help Blog´s last blog post..Reiki Hands or Reiki Meditation?