If.

If you close up shop.

If you close yourself off.

If you shut yourself down.

If you close your eyes to what's out there.

If you shut down possibility.

Kill off potential.

What do you become?

What do you see?

Darkness.

You see darkness.

It's okay.

Without darkness, there can be no light.

Go into your cave.

Be in the dark and embrace it.

It's normal to shut down.

It's normal to refuel.

To revitalize your heart.

To need some vital CPR.

Connection with yourself.

Deeper.

Presence with yourself.

The unexplored caverns.

Reliance on yourself.

You can be with suffering and survive.

Is that it?

Is that all?

Only darkness?

Only sadness in your cave?

No.

Your cave is a sacred space.

A soul sanctuary.

A place for self-compassion and self-creation.

Go there.

Go there to look at your life.

What's working?

What isn't?

Where are you feeling tension?

Where are you suffering?

Go to your cave and look at it.

Be with it.

Hold it.

Cradle it.

If only it was that easy.

It's more like calming down a two-year-old's tantrum.

With equanimity.

If only.

If only equanimity was an appointment we could make.

One we made with ourselves.

One we had to keep.

Make an appointment with yourself.

In your calendar.

In your cave.

If you schedule it, you're on your way.

If you show up for your appointment, you're halfway home.

If you feel your suffering and give it space to exist, you're almost done.

If you can send it love and compassion, you're complete.

If you schedule a follow-up, you're committed.

If.