Pure

"Death" was one of the themes explored in yoga this past week.  It's funny because this idea of letting parts of yourself die, and others grow has been recurrent for me of late.
One of the quotes shared was about the idea that hell is often described as "pure."  Intensity of feeling is so often how we end up in our most raw or pure states...pure hell is what may lead us most quickly to powerful realizations or great changes.  I wish I remembered the attribution for the person who, when asked how he dealt with feeling like he was going through hell, responded:  "I stay there for as long as I can."  So often we try to gloss over any periods of negativity or pain.  My experiences in the past year, and as I reflect over the past decades, have made it abundantly clear to me that every time I feel like I'm going through something intensely painful, there is an equally positive reaction that occurs.  Physics doesn't lie.

And along with death, I've gotten to explore the presence of a new life in my home.  We have a foster puppy whose abundance of joy, play, wonder at the world is truly invigorating.  I'd like to capture some of it.  Maybe I will.  Pure joy is definitely a nice balance.