Permission to be Big

the world was made to be free in.

Give up all other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness to learn

anything or anyone that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

David Whyte, poet

“Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you”

What a statement!

I love David Whyte. He makes me think. And feel. And feel what I’m thinking about… and think about what I’m feeling. Genius.

What this snippet does for me is send me into a lovely scatter of thoughts and feelings. Even watching myself have that response to his ideas is fascinating – like a pianist suddenly moving from Beethoven to Jazz. All of a sudden my nicely organised worldview gets shaken up…and I have to improvise instead of falling back on what I know to be true.

I find myself interpreting that line as permission to cut free all experiences and friendships that don’t really serve me.

Then I wonder about the lack of compassion that seems to imply. What?  – am I to discard all old friends that I have grown bigger than? Seems a bit heartless.

Then I settle back into the notion that sometimes the recognition that I am bigger (more evolved) than someone or something is enough. Sometimes I actually need to take ownership of all the work I’ve done these past 20 years and recognize that others haven’t had the opportunities, the education, the loving support of wise teachers that I have had. It's easy to forget that for me. (Rampant Narcissism of course – the rest of the world should have the same worldview, skills and capability I have apparently.)

But they don’t.

And its good to remind myself that being bigger is sometimes enough. And when it’s not – when the small mean spiritedness and egoic bullshit of others is actually diminishing me…its OK to move away.

Sometimes I even do it gracefully.

Onward and upward,

Jo

Here at Keep Evolving we have adopted David Whyte as our Poet Laureate. Well worth exploring if you’ve not experienced his astonishing talent.

http://www.davidwhyte.com