Have you noticed?

Have you noticed? The days are getting darker — there just aren’t enough hours of light at least for me. It is just sooooooo dark! Sometimes I find myself wondering at what goes bump in these dark nights. At other times I feel the velvety caress of the dark night comfort.

But, most of all, I’ve learned to breathe into these dark moments . In fact, I call these moments between times. Moments that provide opportunity to just be. To adjust to the time of dark. To listen to what is being uttered within the darkness. To find sparks of light within the dark. To grow into my truth.

Now, I am not saying that the dark isn’t a scary place. The not knowing aspect of the dark is disconcerting. What I am saying is that the dark is a place that calls us into awareness. An awareness that invites us to use all our senses. That means for many of us, using more than just our primary sense, our eyes. 

Some of us, me included, spend so much time focusing on what our eyes see that we miss what is hiding in plain sight. In the dark, it is really easy to miss what we cannot perceive with our eyes — what is obscured by the dark. We need to learn to perceive with our other senses.

I remember a Merton quote: “it would be good if we would open our eyes and see.” I don’t think that he was talking about our physical eyes. I believe he was talking about using all our senses. Only when we engage in full body listening do we gain a better picture of what is occurring. Only when we use all our senses can we understand what is being shared.

Let’s return to the dark to engage in discovery of the messages within it. First name what emotion is spiking in you. If you can, resist the urge to react to what you are feeling. Resist the urge to turn on a light. Breathe into the dark. Using your all your senses, notice you are picking up. This is a noticing without expectation. 

You may ask yourself:

• What do you hear with your physical ears? What is your mind saying?
• What do you see with your physical eyes? What is perceived by the eyes of your soul and heart? 
• What dances on your tastebuds?
• What flows in and out of your nose?
• What do you feel physically? How are your emotions, your other senses impacting your physical body? 

Just notice. Within the noticing, intend to understand. You may receive a word, a phrase, an image — something else. Be in the wonder of receiving. And, then, sit in this between time with whatever you receive. You don’t need to make sense of it. Just trust when the time is right you will understand.

While the dark can be a scary place, it is also a place where we meet our true self. Within the dark, whispers of intuition surround us. The whispers pick us up, lift us into the sky of our soul where we catch the thermal and fly into who we are.

Van Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. As a contemplative coach, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating those places may scare us. The result of time with Van? Creating a blueprint for your life through a deeper connection to your intuition and contemplative nature. 

Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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