from shade into sunlight

I am walking on a path in the hills of Colombia. It must be an ancient path, for it is deeply sunk. And underfoot is rather muddy. For a long way it was a very shady path. And this dark, dank, muddy path, with little in the way of views, left me in a rather somber place within myself. It continued thus for quite a while, and then I came round a corner into a patch of sunlight, and suddenly the whole feeling was different. On the outside everything seemed a little bit more alive. There were butterflies, many butterflies. Within a few moments I had seen three or four species that I had never seen before.

And seeing all this, and feeling the warmth of the sun, my spirits rose, without me needing to do anything. Coming from the shade into the sunlight was enough. And it seems to me, this is often the way in life. We go through a dark patch, where life seems heavy. And then we somehow come into the light, and we feel happier, more joyful, and lighter in our being. And it's certainly this way on the spiritual journey, when we look inside ourself, when we respond to the events in our life, when we question ourself.

This inner inquiry leads us into dark places within ourself. It's not easy. For periods it can feel heavy. We can feel bogged down, like I was in the mud on this sunken path. And yet if we can stay with this inner search, we too will come round a corner into the light, and suddenly our life will be filled with butterflies and the warmth of the sun. It's a mysterious process. There's no predicting it, no knowing how long it will take. But the sunlight is there, and the butterflies too.