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\nHow do we take up our right size in the world? Not in some fixed, rigid way but as a responsive way of engaging with what is called for in each situation and context?
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\nWhen we see that in some way \u2018too big\u2019 and \u2018too small\u2019 are both ways we try to control situations, maybe we can open to the emergence of something more fluid, more adaptive, and more sensitive in us. Something that asks of us to be of service to life, and responds accordingly.
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\nHosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
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\nTurning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.\xa0 Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.
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\nHere's our source for this week:
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\nRight-Sized
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\nA response to Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer\u2019s Big
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\nWhat if this the year to learn to be right-sized?
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\nI learned on the playground to\xa0
\nFlinch from arrogance.
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\n\u2018Please \u2013 don\u2019t leave me.\xa0
\nI promise not to get Too Big.\u2019
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\nBut the cost, I\u2019ve learned, is dear.\xa0
\nTrading potential for false modesty,\xa0
\nDampening power with every apology,\xa0
\nNeglecting my impeccable edges\xa0
\nWith every hedge.
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\nBut then I remember\xa0
\nWhat the rabbis knew.
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\nThey stretched wide a red silk thread.\xa0
\nAt one end: Arrogance.\xa0
\nAt the other: Not humility \u2013 but\xa0
\nPlaying Too Small.
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\nThey knew playing small was just arrogance by a different name.\xa0
\nPlacing comfort above contribution.\xa0
\nOur gifts withdrawn from the world,\xa0
\nFor the price of fitting in.
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\n\u2018What if holding back is stealing?\u2019
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\nSo in the middle, they placed a pair of right-sized shoes.\xa0
\nYours.\xa0
\nMine.\xa0
\nThe right-sizing that awaits us all.
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\nWhat, I wonder, will it take for you to grow into your right size\xa0
\nThe one that seems Impossibly large, and\xa0
\nObnoxiously loud?
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\nClownish as these shoes seem now, prone to stumbling,\xa0
\nAt first you\u2019ll feel the fool.\xa0
\nSome People will have Things To Say.\xa0
\nSome may even walk away.\xa0
\n(In this modesty-mad world, they\u2019re yet to clock\xa0
\nthat claiming your shoes\xa0
\ndoes nothing to keep them from theirs.)
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\nBut every now and then you wake up to the truth.\xa0
\nThat it's the world that's wrong - not you.\xa0
\nThese too-small shoes will no longer do.
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\nSo take your credit where it\u2019s due.\xa0
\nAnd when no-one offers it \u2013 give yourself a spoon daily.
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\nTake your space\xa0
\nTrading in the apologies for gratitude.
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\nMinimise your emotions no more \u2013\xa0
\nThey too deserve to expand to the full.
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\nFill your circle with champions\xa0
\nAnd learn to see yourself with the wonder of their eyes.
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\nAnd when you hit your stride, and weather whatever,\xa0
\nGive up the surprise.
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\nWhen those shoes once vast grow snug,\xa0
\nBe sure to celebrate well.\xa0
\nAcknowledge yourself, and your people, and the view.
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\nUntil another pair of shoes calls to you\xa0
\nBetween arrogance and avoidance\xa0
\nOn that red silk string\u2026
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\nYou Are Needed.\xa0
\nAnd this is no time, no world,\xa0
\nFor stealing.\xa0
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\nDebbie Danon, Jan 2023
\nwww.debbiedanon.com
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\nPhoto by Michael Wright on Unsplash
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