“We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are
when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved
and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed
and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time…
Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world
but to unglove ourselves so that the door knob feels cold
and the car handle feels wet
and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being
soft and unrepeatable.”
~ Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
♦
Over the past several weeks, the concept of vulnerability and its importance to intimacy has followed me like a stalker. At the same time, I heard from a friend about how sad and hurt she is over my silence and disconnect; I swore at my sister (via text) for the first time in my life; and I annoyed another close friend with my narcissism (my words, not hers).
I believe without a doubt that I’ve lost the ability to listen deeply to others. Compassion and caring used to be important to me. They were qualities I purposefully cultivated and practiced. I believed in the power of kindness to change the world around me. I have also felt that belief dribbling out of me over the past decade. I’m easily annoyed and impatient with other people’s problems. I avoid social settings and leave when I feel my tolerance unraveling. Mental illness has made me guarded, judgmental and mean.
There’s a reason therapists caution against isolation—not just because human connection is vital to all forms of health, but because the mentally ill are already vulnerable, and making real connections with others requires us to risk being more vulnerable. It’s too hard, too painful. So much easier to barricade behind thicker and thicker walls, then complain about being lonely.
I can see the path I’m on leading to life as a hermitic sociopath. Maybe I’ve binge-watched too much Dexter, but I can identify with his lack of empathy and complete self-absorption.
Then, Tara Brach, or my therapist, or an article in a magazine suggests an alternative path—to “unglove” as Mark Nepo puts it. It’s painful and terrifying. It seems like too much work that requires more courage, more bad-assery, more, more, more. To be fair, Tara suggests gentleness and tiny acts of willingness. I’m not being asked to tear down the walls, just look at them. Or sit with my back against them and feel their warmth and strength. Still, I don’t know that it’s worth it.
And I don’t know if I have a choice.
SandySue Altered
