INVISIBLE STRINGS

I have had a recurring dream since the age of 5. I’m in a schoolyard with other children and trying to climb up a fence. The teacher is yelling at me to, “Come Down!” With immense mental effort, I begin to rise very slowly. My feet hover just above the teacher’s outstretched hands. It takes everything in me to keep from sinking back down. Then I wake up.

Last night, I had that dream again. Only this time, I was in a huge, circus tent filled with scary people coming after me. With intense concentration I lifted myself just above their outstretched arms. No wonder the dream is back. Our world has become a turbulent, hate-filled cesspool of lies, vengeance, distrust and violence. It permeates the very air we breathe.

How do we keep our sanity while chaos reigns? We love. We dream. We create. Above all, we don’t let the other guy pull us down. The ‘other guy’ can be a partner, a friend or even that stranger in the car that cuts you off. It can also be our own polarized thinking. Whatever it is, don’t let it in. I put on my headphones and start walking. . .or dancing. . .or blissing in the silence.

Our lives are a constant struggle between connection and autonomy. Too much of one can lead to the loss of the other. Connection gives us comfort and safety in a harsh environment, but autonomy allows us time and space to explore ourselves. ‘Invisible string theory’ suggests that people come into our lives for a reason at just the right moment because we’ve always been invisibly tied to them. Taylor Swift sang about it.

While it makes for a good song, we are not always open to whatever string tugs at us. I have clients who seem paralyzed—not in body—but in mind. They have countless strings at their disposal but don’t pull any of them. Why? Because they’re either too numb to feel them or too terrified to act on them.

They are not alone. I often feel immobilized myself. There are injustices that I want to right, but remain silent. Secrets I want to confide but don’t dare. Decisions I need to make but hesitate because I fear the outcome. It’s all so invisible, isn’t it; the strings that pull on our lives of quiet desperation?

These paragliders are soaring silently under invisible strings. Take a moment to soar with them.

P. S. A warm welcome to my new reader in Kenya!