“I Allow It to Leave” vs. “Go Away!”

I know it’s time for some conscious intervention when I hear myself say something like, “I wish it would just go away!” Whether the “it” is physical pain, emotional hardship, or an animal eating my heirloom tomato shoots (yes, that’s happening), asking “it” to go away is — I have found — completely useless. Instead of requesting banishment (or annihilation) of the “it,” I try to seek transformation — after all, it’s a law of physics that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but instead changes from one form to another.

In the example of physical pain (say, back pain), I can wish the pain to GO AWAY, for the pain to disappear — and, what I am really asking for is the pain to stop, to cease to exist, to be destroyed. That’s simply not going to happen. However, if I honor the pain as energy that exists and will continue to exist, in one form or another, my request then is different. I can now ask that the pain-energy transform and move on to its next purpose. And, by working co-creatively with nature, I can be sure that this transformation occurs in a state of balance.

To this end, last year I began saying the following mantra when dealing with physical or emotional pain: “I recognize and honor this pain. I ask nature to shift and transform this pain in whatever way is for the greatest good, and I allow the pain to leave as easily as it came.” Allowing “it” to leave, and move on, is decidedly different than demanding “it” to GO AWAY. The former is about release; the latter is about destruction. (For students of Machaelle Small Wright, I am reminded of her Energy Cleansing Process, where the “dark energies” are transformed and released to their next level of purpose, without judgement on our part.) Resonating with “release” gives me a sense of peace and balance that resonating with “destruction” does not, and that — in itself — is healing. What a relief.

Yet, pain and anguish is one thing, and tomato-shoot-eating-critters is another. How do I “release” these unknown munchers? How do I “transform” these hungry creatures? I suspect that it is not they who need all that releasing and transformation…