by Malene Kai Bell
I am willing to see this person’s innocence. I am willing to see my own.
When was the last time you used your voice? I’m not talking about the ordinary cadences that slip out in conversations with friends or the occasional drill-sergeant that shows up to order the kids to bed. I’m referring to that voice that stops the chatter of traffic and evokes reverence, recognition, and deep connection with another or with the Self. I’m talking about the kind of voice that compels you to look up and into the eye of another and see into their anguish, their sentiment, a truth, or a courage so deep that you instantly recognize yourself in their gaze.
The tenor of truth strips away armor. In its presence we don’t need cajoling or tending to speak what is in our hearts. In it we know that it is our prerogative to be who we are. The voice is Truth made manifest. In it, we are refreshed, renewed, and reminded that all of us are innocent. This truth stands at the epicenter of healing and it is the core we seek when writing to heal.
The magic behind this truth-telling or voice is the creation of sacred space. (What truth shows itself under pressure or condemnation?) Typically, we think of sacred space as something outside of ourselves. We work diligently to create “it”. We buy aromatic candles, we gather flowers from the garden, we play soft music in hopes of creating “it”. Yet, the truth is our outsides reflect our insides (in that order). So, when we create a sacred space inside of ourselves or when someone activates it in us, this same Beauty reaches the soul.
Imagine that. That when we speak our truth, flowers blossom inside of us, whole evergreen forests spruce up our interiors, while the sun and stars glow together, inside of us. And this happens with great and small truths.
Remember this. Keep this image, so that when you speak your truth and people ask why, you can say: “I planted flowers instead of thorns inside of myself. Inside me, oaks grow.”
The more you do this, the more the sacred will come into your life and its territory will expand into the inevitable: Love.
* Join Malene Kai Bell online, October 3rd from 7:15 pm to 8:15 pm, for a free online creative writing workshop that will expand your inner sacred space. You’ll learn about Reimagination: Healing Through Writing, a quarterly creative writing workshop held at Women In Wellness of Maryland, and experience the healing writing has to offer. For more information, contact Malene Kai Bell at malene@womeninwellnessmd.com or 410.296.4028.
