Guttering Out

From the Albano-Waite Tarot, Death; from the Rumi Cards, 'Let the candles gutter out:'

In Savasana [corpse pose], we practice the death of the ego, death of grasping, and death of all aversion to reality as it is. ~Octavia Raheem

In her book Pause, Rest, Be, Octavia Raheem talks about beginning a yoga practice and hearing her instructor say that the corpse pose was the hardest pose. After an hour of twisting, bending and stretching her body, this seemed a ridiculous statement. But after she had a miscarriage, grieving the baby she had longed for, she understood. We are good at forcing, fixing, strategizing and manipulating as we try to make reality into what we want it to be. But at some point we realize the only thing we can do is accept what has happened and practice self-care and compassion. Rumi's card points out that we can focus so hard on the candles (our personal stories) that we forget the wider perspective and long view of things. Even in our grief, life still has beauty, wonder and goodness in it. It might take a while, but if we keep looking, we'll seem them again.