Sustain

  When a woman is in labor there are certain things that sustain her. It is often a long drawn out, painful process, from the first twinges of something might be happening, to, I think this is happening, to, okay this is happening, to, I don't think I can handle this happening any longer, to, oh my word this is way too much, to, the baby is here! Thank God it's almost over...because after that first baby you realize that it is not over when the baby is born. There is still more to come.

   All through the labor, for me anyway, it is a battle in my mind of how to sustain, how to keep enduring during the pain. Pain is pain. It is awful, and it can sweep you away. Sustaining during labor has been different for me every time. In two of my labors I was blessed to be able to walk outside in the sunshine between contractions. I could hear the birds, traffic, I could focus on things to help me keep on going. Then during other labors it was the nearness of my husband. I physically needed to hold onto him to sustain. During my last labor I needed water between each contraction. The point is...I sustained. Every single labor I made it through without much or any intervention. I tried to breathe a certain way, I tried to manage as calmly as I could. In the end, each time, there was a live miracle crying in my arms. I fully realize this is not everyone's reality but it was mine. 

  I have been thinking about the word sustain lately. There are different meanings but after a quick search some are as follows: 

to give support or relief to, 

to supply with sustenance, nourish, 

keep up, prolong, 

to support the weight of,

to bear up under,

to support as true or legal, 

to buoy up.

  I think that many people in the world are at this point right now. They are trying to sustain hoping that if they can keep going something is going to shift and things are going to hopefully not continue to get worse. The reality is, this might not be the case. There is deep darkness around that. Some have succumbed to that darkness already.

   In the end what can always win is the state of your heart and how you decide to treat those in your world. Will you go along with what the powers that be tell you about people around you depending on choices they make? Or will you see each as a human with their own story to tell, their own life to live, and will you treat everyone with equality and kindness? If you do this you will be embodying beauty and kindness and you will be sustaining not just yourself but those around you. There is so much power in turning off the negative narrative and asking your own heart who you truly are and what you truly believe.

May you sustain through this time in history where emotional and verbal abuse is everywhere, where gaslighting is encouraged, and where spirits are being gleefully crushed under the guise of 'caring for your neighbor.' In the end may you witness a live miracle. May you be filled with joy and may all fear flee from you

May you sustain

Love Tansy