My tai chi teacher used to say that we all collect tension in our bodies. She said there was nothing wrong with this, but when we let it accumulate and become stagnant, it impacts our health in various ways.
Going through my life, I encounter all sorts of moral and spiritual puzzles. I play with them for a minute, scratch my head, and stick them up in the attic so I can work on them later.
Sometimes a sudden "aha" sends me scampering to the attic to dust off the puzzle and solve it. Sometimes, one sobering little piece comes to hand and I fit it in place before sticking the still-unsolved puzzle back on its shelf. Sometimes I grind at the puzzle in odd moments before eventually coming up with a solution.
I speak lightly of these puzzles, but whatever illumination they contain comes in dark clothing made of anxiety, fear, shame, anger, disappointment and guilt.
My life has been busier and more stressful these past few years, and the unsolved puzzles have spilled out of the attic and into my daily walkways. I can't get through the day without stumbling over them, and I can't sleep without telling them a bedtime story first.
I've fallen out-of-touch with the flow of Love in the world.
So it's time to tie a rag over my head and climb into the attic to see what's going on.