Snow Globes and Shadows

We all love to shake a snow globe.

Little flakes drift gently through the water.

Move intentionally.

Guided through an unknown microscopic maze.

It reminds you of childhood.

Snow days.

Play.

The beauty of nature.

Slowly the flakes fall back down to the base of the globe.

Settle in.

The tiny world is once again calm.

Covered in snow with crystal clear skies.

But what happens when you shake a different type of globe?

A globe that sees you.

Like a crystal ball, it sees your light.

It sees your shadow.

The darkness that you’ve pushed down.

What happens when the ugly parts that were settled at the bottom start to move again?

And not a gentle drifting.

No zen beauty.

It’s violently forced from its resting place.

A tornado of memories and feelings you swallowed in an attempt to forget.

The shake fills the globe.

Black snowflakes drift aimlessly back into your consciousness.

One thought; one memory hits your stomach.

Remember.

Relive.

Realize that your body had never stopped feeling it.

You pushed it out of the mind and into your cells.

Into your DNA.

It poisoned you from the inside out.

Constant failure and never knowing why.

Those dark specks never left you.

They just hid.

They creeped in the darkness.

Held your body hostage without you knowing.

But now you’ve shaken it up.

You experience it all at once.

You see it all at once.

Floating before your eyes.

This life that should be as magical as snowflakes; big fluffy and intricate works of art drifting through the air.

Landing on your nose.

Melting.

Becoming one with you.

This life is dark flakes of ash.

From some unknown fire.

When they land, they melt and leave a mark.

It burns your eyes.

Chokes you.

Your body feels it either way.

Hidden or in the spotlight.

Consciously or unconsciously.

We might as well watch the ashes fall.

See the shadows for what they are.

Go through the pain to let it go.

Flake by flake.

Stand in the darkness.

Be overwhelmed from the density.

Hope for clarity with each dark flake melting into the skin.

Know that you can’t let them settle back in again.

Know that you can’t destroy them midair.

You can only wash the ashes away after they’ve touched your skin.

After you feel them.

Clearing away the ugly pain one flake at a time.

That’s the way to see out the globe again.

That’s the way to make room for light.

Not still.

Not stirred.

Healing is shaken.