Dealing With Weariness

Weariness, unlike physical fatigue, is of the heart and soul. It is based on the need for prolonged endurance in the face of limitation, obstacles, and difficulties beyond one's control. It is the struggle to maintain a posititve outlook, forward motion, or even the ability to just get through a day that creates weariness.

Those who are weary have been involved in a profound struggle to maintain their heads above water, to do what they feel to be right, to uphold the things that they believe in. It is this struggle to uphold values, principles, and the life of the embodied self that creates weariness.

In the face of this kind of spiritual fatigue, it is important to know that the self that feels weary, the self that feels downtrodden, is only one aspect of the self. There is, for each person, a larger self that is capable of maintaining a completely different set of perceptions, even in the presence of hardship. In fact, the larger self or soul-self is able to feel peace and joy, even while the human embodied self is feeling sorrow. The larger self is able to feel confidence and hope, even while the human self may be feeling hopeless.

In the presence of weariness, it is important to make contact with this larger self - to know that many different perceptions can be held at the same time, and that while the body or emotions may experience pain, the soul may experience peace.

Touching the larger self is a way of stabilizing oneself in the presence of weariness.

Touching God's love is the other path for stabilizing the self in the presence of weariness. For even while the human embodied self may be crying out with pain and distress, the larger self may feel trust and a sense that even though one does not know how, things are or will be alright. Though pain has the capacity, at times, to cover over the direct experience of God's love for the conscious waking self, even while this may be true, the deeper layers of the heart may still feel God's blessings and love. This is because those deeper layers remain in continual communion with that love, even in the presence of pain. It is also because God's love is everpresent as a living reality, whether one feels it or not.

Touching God's love when one is weary is best done through a regular spiritual practice that feeds the heart. Prayer, meditation, an immersion in nature, sacred breathing, are all ways to experience the deeper layers of the heart that are in communion with love.

The third way of maintaining the self in the presence of weariness involves touching the heart of compassion for oneself and treating oneself lovingly.

This is greatly aided if one can share the journey and its challenges with others. Compassion allows the human self to not engage in self-blame for not doing better. It replaces harshness with understanding and allows one to find, wherever possible, those forms of nourishment that create support and a sense of comfort. Every embodied being has their own perception of what nourishes their spirit. It is a matter of allowing these gifts of love to enter one's life more fully. Compassion is a reflection of God's love which is forgiving, gentle, and understanding. During a time of prolonged weariness, it is essential to maintain oneself in a state of compassion.

To anchor in one's larger self, to anchor in God's love, and to anchor in a heart of compassion - these are ways through which one can find inner support and sustenance during prolonged periods of weariness. One is never without these possibilities even though one may feel so, for the self-in-pain, the self-that-is-tired, is being held at all times within the larger multidimensional self that is part of the Oneness and part of God.