At the Table

September 27, 2023

I’ve been doing a bit of study lately on our shadow sides, those parts of us that we often consider negative or painful, and so we stuff them down into the depths.  We all have them, and over our lives, from time to time, we struggle with fragmentation, knowing in our hearts that we are not whole; we are not in unity with ourselves.  We simply are not being who we were created to be, living with false illusions of our false selves.

Our shadows, often evolving from our childhood need for personal protection, come in so many forms.  Some of the names they take on are codependence, envy, perfectionism, overwork, guilt, shame, resistance, fear, addiction, and control.  Since acknowledging our shadows and listening to their stories can often be painful, we choose instead to deny them or ignore them, inventing selves that are not rich and real,  which is a true loss.  What our shadow sides really desire to do is to teach us how to learn from them and integrate them because what divides us from ourselves also divides us from others and from what is Divine.  When we can love ourselves and embrace all that we are with compassion and understanding, we are then able to love others and, together, better able to begin putting this broken world back together.

Blessings on your journey ~ Rosemary

The Table

You know these voices,
if you have ears to hear.
They are legion, whispering
(or shouting) within you
desperate to be noticed,
coming from all corners
of your life, east and west,
north and south, from infancy,
to old age, and all the seasons
in between,
soloists tugging at
your sleeve for attention.
You wonder why they bother
you and what they want
while you try to swat at them
like so many buzzing gnats
and go your unlived way.
It is, after all, so much easier
pretending to be deaf, instead
of inviting them in for tea,
laying your table
with a freshly pressed cloth,
fetching the fine china cups,
the ones you keep in the glass-
fronted cabinet,
or even the chipped mug,
brewing the tea and baking
the cookies. But if you did
greet them as guests,
what would you say to each
voice, each self, that approaches
your table with caution
and desire? Maybe your only
role as host is to be silent,
do nothing but pour the tea,
pass the cookies, listen
to their stories unfolding
like morning glories,
exchanging compassion
for the gift they bring,
the wisdom of your own
unique life.

© Rosemary McMahan

Photo credit: Pixabay