On becoming soft.
Laying down your weapons does not equal losing the fight.
It is realizing there is no fight other than our internal struggle for peace & harmony - projected & assumed, and therefore manifested in the outside world.
Does a warrior necessarily need to step into the fight?
Are we ready to let go of the heavy armor and open up to the possibility of love in conflict, of freedom in vulnerability, of strength in surrender?
When I look back at myself in the countless fights I was leading for a better world, I see boldness, firey passion, and inspired rage, but undeniably also frustration, resentment, sadness, anger & tension – an underlying feeling of hopelessness. Strong emotional burdens, used as fuel for raw confrontation & honest change, but nevertheless heavy. Energy channeled & extraverted out of a struggle, out of hardship. I was ‚tough‘, and identified with it. I believed that in order to survive in this harsh world, I needed to stick out my elbows and show my claws, too.
When I look at myself now, I see surrender & faith. I still see the willingness to change the world for the better, but raising my voice & my heart instead of my fists. I see the courage to release the tension, to tone down the vigilance, to invite gentleness in expression and action. And above it all, I see tremendous strength in the willingness to relax & soften.
To be soft is not to be weak, it is owning your power gently & humble enough to allow yourself to dare, to open up.
To be soft is to have the courage to be vulnerable, to show yourself authentically and radically receptive, sensitive & flowing to the currents of life. It is a sign of immense work & willingness to stay open instead of shielding ourselves off. A black panther gracefully striving through the jungle with elegance, fluidity, uncontested power - knowing about our claws without necessarily using them. To be soft is to not get identified with constructs of pride, of competition, of societal ideologies & illusions of strength or power. It is being confident as well as flexible enough to release any expectation or desired outcome. To be soft is to let go of the inner contractions, the contradictions, to stop pushing and let life touch and move - and guide - us freely towards unexpected destinations. Instead of insisting to be the rock, (re)moving ourselves out of the way and letting the river flow softly but fiercely towards the vast open sea. Trusting in source to find its way & expression. Becoming the river, the ocean, the water.
Like the tiniest droplet evaporating and elevating into the skies, to be swirled and condensed into a cloud, to be released and rained down into a small creek, taking up momentum, to become a rushing stream, waterfall, gush into the endless deep sea and ripple out in eternity like a tidal wave, able to shape mountains and let the earth tremble with life force. Destruction and creation. The soft silkiness of a drop of water is present in the eruption of a volcano.
No, to be soft does not equal being weak. It is acknowledging there is nothing to lose. It is accepting there will be no fight if we, in our thoughts, words & actions commit to integrity, to peace and collaboration on all the levels. To not be passive and play the victim, but to actively construct a peace- and fruitful alternative.
To lay down the heavy armor and pick up the tools to work with the earth instead of against her.
To be soft is to allow (yourself to become) life.
To be soft is to be life.