Let That Sink In

Can We Bask In our Victories?

Let that sink in. That phrase keeps coming to mind. I think we're so task-oriented that we move on to the next challenge or class, the next problem, the next fault. What we often forego is looking around and assessing with gratitude and admiration, the fruits of our labor. We might forget to take stock of what we just accomplished and how we've grown. If we did, we might notice that we slayed a dragon. We took risks and were rewarded.

We may be acting as if we were the same person we were yesterday or last year. But we're not. We're in constant motion. We're learning, growing, opening, and that can be in stark contrast to our previous configuration. And yet game theory reminds us that we must trade out the rickety old sword and shield for the shiny ones we valiantly won in the last round as we eat the leg of mutton and drink the magic elixir. If we don't, we might just keep acting like those victories never occurred.

We have to let it sink in. We must give ourselves and others credit where it's due. We must at least temporarily stop the search for faults and problems to solve because a victory lap is in order. Gratitude is hard enough to practice, but turning it toward oneself can bring up resistance.

Not even just gratitude, but wonder, amazement. It's ok to look back and realize you didn't think you could do it but you did. A pattern is broken or interrupted. Realizations abound. Old curses are now lifted and a new sense of embodiment of our essence is unmistakable.

And yet old habits die hard and other challenges await. We can be forgiven for our habit of rushing headlong into the next fracas with an urgency that believes we could solve all of our life's problems and still catch that spin class and pick the kids up from their grandmother's on time.

Let us not forget that some amount of reorientation is needed and deserved. Watch all the victories sink in, through all the layers, the defenses, the armor and the resistance. Allow your newfound blessings to be relished, the soul parts welcomed home and absorbed back into the fold. Try your new powers on for size. You've earned it.