Only authentic grief carries us to the other side; only it permits rebirth. With authentic grief, we process the past and digest it, thereby assimilating a larger range of who we are as a result of our experience. On the other hand, with inauthentic grief, we deny or romanticize the past, thereby banishing into shadow an aspect of who we are. With authentic grief, we carry our losses consciously, so that they give us substance and strength. On the other hand, with inauthentic grief, we deny and bury the, carrying them unconsciously, so that they merely weigh us down. With authentic grief, we separate our black-and-white beliefs and naive, high ideals from our newfound, more mature convictions, which contain contradictory impulses and paradoxical desires. On the other hand, with inauthentic grief, we cling to outmoded beliefs and pine for the old ways, separating the opposites as if they have nothing to do with one another. With authentic grief, then, our profane wound becomes a sacred wound, permitting us to molt out of the cocoon into a wholly new life. Going through the wound like a gateway, we emerge transformed.   ~Connie Zweig

and from here we keep searching and searching until our boots are worn low…..we left truth behind somewhere……how can we back track again? how can we make new wishes on old stars? whose shadow do we carry with us?

Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.   ~Rilke

cast aside the bad dreams

Escape the poison of your impulses.
The sky will bow to your beauty if you do.
Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun.
Turn away from the cave of your sleeping.
That way a thorn expands to a rose.

~Rumi