<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">What if?</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a moment____________</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">before the shift,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">before the answer,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">where everything known</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">gives way to something</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">more spacious.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Not clarity,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">but a trembling openness</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that asks only</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">for your attention.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We do not heal</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">by rushing toward insight.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We heal</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">by allowing ourselves</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to stand still</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">long enough</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">for the ground to rearrange itself beneath us.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Serotonin rises,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">dopamine fires-</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the body takes its first breath</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">without the story.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We call it altered.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">But what if this is the natural state,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and everything else</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">is the mask?</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Disassociation,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">they say- - - -</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">but I hear something more tender:</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a loosening</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">of the grip</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">on what we thought we had to be.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A space</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">not of forgetting,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">but of remembering</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">what it feels like</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to question</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">without fear.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The therapy,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the molecule,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the touch of another’s listening…..</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">these are only invitations.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The true work</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">begins</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">when we say yes</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to the mystery</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that lives inside not-knowing.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When we speak aloud</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the quiet truths</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">that tremble at the edges</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">of certainty.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the apprenticeship:</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to stay present</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">in the presence</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">of possibility.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To prepare the future</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">not with answers,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">but with a tone of welcome.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To let the self</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">we are becoming</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">arrive</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">one breath at a time.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And in that moment</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">when the world no longer demands</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">you be anything</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">but fully awake</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">you find the courage</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to be changed</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">by your own willingness</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to remain.</span><br><br><br><span style="text-wrap-mode: wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Jayne Gumpel</span></div></body></html>