04/30/2023
For the Ancestors!!
I have had this weird thing take shape for me in my spiritual practice recently. The more I have done my own personal work, looking deeply into my patterns, the more I have recognized the legacy of my ancestors. I feel their emotional process, their traumas, their strengths, their aspirations, and their failings.
At first, when I felt this in my 20s, this pi**ed me off and felt like an invasion or a dumping of their s**t onto me. But, as my compassion for self and others has grown, it feels like a rich inheritance of longing, striving, making mistakes, learning, woundedness. Recently the mantra of "for the ancestors" is resonating with me every day. It pulls me together in a way that I can't really completely explain. Maybe it is the acceptance of the incomplete parts of their journey, a willingness to take on the human project of meaningful living. It is also felt as a deep sense of acceptance of myself and the meaning of my struggles. So, for Bill and Joan, for Mildred and Frank, for Florence and Gerald, for Claire, for Frank, and too many others to name, I carry on and commit to living well today.
It may be useful to look into what your ancestors handed you. Perhaps willing acceptance of that inheritance, the good and the bad, is the self acceptance you need to really get going.