Sacred Space

I’m committed to having a day of relaxation and harmony this Easter Sunday. We’re having the neighbors and their kids over for an egg hunt. Siete will run back and forth, trying to join in the fun. The Easter Bunny will leave some extra carrots for the girls.Some friends are staying for a buffet supper. It could turn into a lot of work, but I’m determined to keep it mellow and simple. The weather is not too warm, but clear and sunny. I’d like to ride Silk as a gift to myself.

What I’m not going to do is think about what lies ahead for me in this next week. It’s going to be busy and stressful. Next Saturday is a big memorial service for my dear friend, Pat, who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Hundreds of people will be there, flying in from all over the country. It’s really hard to watch Pat’s family and friends try to coordinate this huge effort while still feeling their intense grief. I’m trying to just be there for them, to do whatever is needed and pick up anything that I notice is falling through the cracks. It reminds me of something that Linda Kohanov talks about in her book, “Way of the Horse”. (taoofequus.com)

Her friend and co-founder of Epona, Kathleen Barry Ingram calls it “holding the sacred space of possibility”. sacredploaceofpossibility.com Linda explains it as “ an active form of patience without attachment to outcome, allowing someone in a place of uncertainty to feel supported through the darkest night of the soul”. It’s a concept that can be applied to many circumstances. My friend, Pat, lived in that sacred space for many years, surviving cancer while the doctors watched her defy all odds. She always said it was the strength of the love of her “people” that helped her hang on.

Linda Kohanov has had to make some difficult life or death decisions about her horses over the years. Rather than choose an outcome, she opened her heart and allowed the opportunity and the hope of recovery to exist while she promised them that she wouldn’t leave them, regardless of what happened. I know how this feels having been with Silk through three such near death experiences since I’ve owned her. It can be a frightening and painful, but it teaches us one of the most important lessons.

“Holding the sacred space of possibility” allows hope to grow even if we don’t have the answer or can’t control the situation. I looked up the word “resurrection” in the dictionary. Besides the Christian interpretation of Jesus rising from the dead, there was another meaning: “a revival from inactivity or misuse, as in a resurrection of hope”. We live in a world right now where we need to take this idea to heart.