One of the most important things we can do is to understand life, all life, as a living body in itself, one that has respiration, new cell turnover, sloughing off, and waste material. It would be silly if we expected our bodies to not have waste material more than once every five years. It would be inane to think that just because we ate a day ago, we shouldn’t be hungry today.
It is just as fatuous to think that once we solve an issue it stays solved, that once we learn, we always remain conscious ever after. No, life is a great body that grows and diminishes in different areas, at different rates. When we are like the body, doing the work of new growth, wading through shit, just breathing or resting, we are very alive, we are within the cycles of the Wild Woman.
If we could realise that the work is to keep doing the work, we would be much more fierce and much more peaceful.
CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES
Women Who Run With the Wolves (Ballantine Books)
Next step: The rise and fall of identity