DANCE WITH THE ELEPHANT: LIFE'S COSMIC EQUATION
Because Your Life Is Worth It!
THE DRAMA AND TRAUMA OF LIFE:
Call it the drama and trauma of life, the yin and yang or the pain and pleasure. The bipolar extremes of daily life are an integral part of our world and our universe as a whole. Many times the trauma, pain and negative experiences of life become the elephant or the secrets we tend to bury and disassociate from ourselves. As Don commonly says, "We stuff them in a bottle and we cork the end as tight as we can."
Unfortunately the elephant in the room and the secrets we try to bury in a bottle have a tendency to have a hidden control over our lives. Our goal in dancing with the elephant is to uncork the bottle and to bring these secrets out into the open where they can be dealt with and recognized for what the really are. This process can unleash some of the greatest potential for growth in life and will allow us to redirect our lives toward our true destiny.
Interested in learning more about the Dance With The Elephant series? Check out these links:
http://DanceWithTheElephant.com
http://DanceWithTheElephant.org
Duane shares his experience of personal loss when after being married to his wife for 12 years and having had two children together, she comes out of the closet and informs Duane that she had a new partner she wants to live the rest of her life with. Duane was totally devastated and couldn't even admit the truth of his situation to other people for over a year into the separation and divorce process. It took a total of 3 years, a lengthy rebuilding process of counseling, support groups and personal development, before Duane finally had his feet back on the ground and was on his way to living life again.
As a part of Duane's healing process, he created a list of 20 goals he wanted to accomplish. These included everything from meeting another woman that he could fall in love with, to taking a trip to Europe with someone special to him. During the next 3 years after Duane's traumatic divorce, he accomplished all 20 goals he had made, he remarried and had started a new family. In looking back, the trauma of his first marriage became the launch pad to the drama of his new life, marriage and family.
As you look back on your life today, what were the most dramatic and traumatic moments for you?
Make a list and try to come up with at least 3 major events at both ends of the bipolar spectrum of life.
Life is a game of Give and Take...
This is a quote by Brother David Steindl-Rast from his book, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness, about Giving and Taking within your life and your life's relationships.
"Sometimes we keep going back and forth between giving and taking back, opening ourselves and clamming up, many times a day.
But life is give-and-take, not give or take. Spasmodic gasping is one thing, healthy breathing another. When we take a hearty breath, we give ourselves to the air we inhale; and when we give it out again, we take a quick break from breathing. This balance of giving and taking is a key to healthy living on every level of life.
In fact, balance is too mechanical a word to apply to the intimate intricacy of this give-and-take. We are talking about a giving within taking and a taking within giving. Once this is spelled out, it is hardly necessary to stress the fact that we are not playing off giving against taking. By no means. We are playing off a life-giving give-and-take against a mere taking that is as deadly as a mere giving. It matters little whether you merely take a breath and stop, or give a breath and stop there."
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