FIRE WALKERS

By Naomi Holdt, Psychologist and Speaker

It is our human instinct: Run from fire.  

But resilience isn’t born from the ability to successfully avoid life’s fires.  

Life cannot be lived,  

embraced,  

enjoyed 

while we are breathlessly sprinting away from the flames…  

These are inevitable.  

Distractions,  

addictions, 

busyness,  

consumerism…  

They are but short-lived injections to numb the overwhelm.  

Fire cannot be outrun.  

And attempts to do so only result in a perpetual state of fear… 

Of dysfunction…  

Of exhaustion.  

Fire can, however, be walked through…  

And in doing this,  

overcome…  

When we choose to step into the heart of the burn, 

When we allow ourselves to feel the turbulent flames of every emotion fully, 

When we give ourselves compassionate permission to be engulfed…  

To cry,  

to laugh,  

to scream,  

to dance,  

to rage,  

to embrace.  

To FEEL… 

We become fire walkers…  

Only after we have been immersed in the inferno of all our emotions, 

will we realize that we STILL STAND.  

That we are flameproof… 

The fire no longer burns.  

The flames no longer scorch.  

The fear no longer overwhelms…  

Fire is not our enemy- 

It illuminates the path we are required to take. 

Feeling deeply does not cause pain- 

It provides release from it…  

Embrace fire walking… 

Our capacity to feel is our shared human experience… 

It keeps us breathing. 

It keeps us connected. 

And it reminds us that we are truly alive…  

With love and a box of matches