Octopus Teacher and Our Buried Stuff
"If you don't deal with your demons, they go into the cellar of your soul and lift weights.” - Amanda Palmer
Episode 24.
What is it about the documentary, My Octopus Teacher, that has everyone so enthralled? The miraculous intelligence of this sea creature? The devotion of the diver? The unlikely bond between the two?
How did the connection start, and why did it sustain a year-long relationship? Well, the man decided that if he came every day, the octopus wouldn't be so scared of him. After a few weeks, the octopus came closer and extended a tentacle to touch his cheek. There was a deep listening, a paying attention. And the octopus was not scared.
How is this related to our internal buried stuff?...those demons we keep imprisoned in the dungeons of our souls, all the while lifting weights...
Maybe, like visiting the octopus teacher, if we visit our demons daily, they won’t be so scary. Perhaps if we listen deeply and pay attention, like he did to the octopus, they will be willing to be exposed and turn into something more beautiful.
Do you cringe at the thought of demons? I kind of do...but it is just an easy way of saying "buried stuff". And the physics of being human includes the storing of life's experiences in our bodies/in our hearts/in our minds. This universal phenomenon happens even if we grew up with the most devoted parents, in a quintessential town, with all the resources and luck in our favor. We still have stuff that longs to be healed. Healing does not mean we are broken. Healing does not mean we are weak. I am the first to admit; I have been on a healing journey since I had the courage to listen deeply and visit those demons.
Exposing our buried stuff is not weakness; it is strength. But that is counterintuitive. We tend to recoil, to protect our unresolved stuff so much that it creates barriers and obstacles. We feel a threat to our being- I will fall apart if I feel this pain. No, you won't, and you can’t really live beyond those barriers, if you don’t feel the pain and share the pain. Because, just like physical pain is alerting us to an injury; emotional, spiritual, or psychological pain is bringing attention to some space that holds an old injury or trauma at the foundation of that disruption.
That pain is not the end of the story. It is a reminder that we are human; a part of this collective universal belonging.
We can keep protecting our buried stuff, but usually we come to a place- in the right space, at the right moment, when it is exposed.
And perhaps that is our greatest moment.
Perhaps healing is possible through the deep listening; the deep connection.
Perhaps in that vital state of living, we get to experience a deeper truth.
Perhaps feeling fear is being brave.
Perhaps that is our freedom.
Our own form of the octopus teacher.
Love,
Jessica
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”
-Rumi.
Do it all with Love. Nothing is promised. But everything is workable.
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