Limits As The Way: Part I

What if…
that which I perceive as obstacle
as “no”
to what I desire
is an invitation
to the grand adventure
of uncovering myself
here, now?

What if the boundaries are there to show not what is unavailable to me, but all that is already here?

What if what is in the way
is actually the way?

limit (n.)

c. 1400, "boundary, frontier," from Old French limite "a boundary," from Latin limitem (nominative limes) "a boundary, limit, border, embankment between fields," which is probably related to limen "threshold.”

An Active Imagination Exercise:

I am visualizing the boundaries of my life now. I am standing in the center of my life, and in front of me is a mirror, and I see my body with a face I often don’t recognize; head with wires crossed, glitchy neurology bringing on the fog; belly that struggles to digest solid foods, rogue tissue growing inside, choking off organs, twisting me in knots.

This body, my body. This body, a limit. A boundary. A frontier. Mine to explore. Mine to learn and relate to and know very well.

How interesting to notice that all of the physical limitations of this form have in-formed me every step on my journey. Because I was limited to living my life within these specific borders, I have learned to adapt to harsh conditions, to clumsily navigate the ever-shifting terrain here, to live lean off this land. I know the ways to stay in and with this body, and I am never not learning better ways to be a faithful steward of this strange, beautiful ecosystem I never asked to inhabit.

…

I Survive

I am made of desert
cactus and Datura moonflower growing
wild and resolute
in all the places nothing should be
like the pomegranate
with tough skin
covering legions of ripe seeds and
holding sweetness still
I survive
even in drought