Heart Pocket Word for the Day is Shadow!

 Steam phase eruption of Castle Geyser with crepuscular rays and shadow
Yellowstone National Park 
Photo by mila zinkova

The word from my heart pocket is Shadow.

The word shadow is associated with darkness, negative, secrets and intrigue. It has been used in novels and movies and television to frighten us and to create suspense. It is used in literature to suggest something is coming, to hint at a future happening. We know a shadow by its outline and its familiar dark cast on a sidewalk or a wall or a curtain. 

The times we spend in shadow can have significance to us, even though typically they aren't joyous times. Usually they happen when we have need to retreat from the limelight, on the back side of tragedy or disappointment or when our ego has been battered and bruised. 

Another time we sit in the shadows is when we are waiting for something to begin. We aren't quite prepared or we are ready but the timing isn't right as yet. Shadow provides shelter as if it were a sanctuary of sorts. We feel protected and safe. 

To remain in the shadows for too long isn't completely healthy. Just as our bodies need the light, so do our hearts and our personalities. Shadow offers recovery time, a place to mend but it isn't meant to last forever. The earth rotates around the sun and soon we are in the light again. Shadows have a time and a place. It is a temporary state of being.

Relax into a shadow time when you need a retreat. Let the cool of shadow bring relief and do its gentle work. As you succumb, you allow a time of fertility and growth and you prepare yourself for when the light finds you again. The shadow offers an intimacy not known to the bright lights of every day living. It touches a part of us we don't always acknowledge. It is honorable when it is accepted and allowed to dissipate when its work is finished.

Oh the stories it could tell! Who knows?

The Shadow ...