#sacred threshold

[thresholdweaver]

COMFORT ≠ EASE

SAFETY ≠ COMFORT

I’ve spent years chasing what I thought was safety—

keeping myself small, unseen—

when really I was just repeating what felt familiar and comfortable.

Sometimes what we call comfort is just the absence of threat,

but not the presence of nourishment.

Sometimes the ease I long for isn’t soft—it’s sharp.

It cuts through the lie that says survival is the only thing worth protecting.

I’ve learned that real safety doesn’t always feel good.

It doesn’t always feel comfortable.

But it allows the body to stop bracing.

It lets grief rise.

It lets truth echo.

It lets the soul arrive.

I am no longer willing to contort myself for comfort.

I am no longer choosing silence and inaction

for the illusion and sake of safety.

I am safe in the unknown.

I am safe in the dark.

I am safe in the untamed current of my becoming.

This isn’t comfort.

This is liberation.

This is the path of ease.

[postmodernismruinedme]

Those who have no strong religious convictions or a connection to an ethnic or cultural heritage of their own are sometimes tempted to adopt symbols or traditions from another culture. While you might feel you are honoring the culture in question by using its tradition, the true holders of these customs and practices often consider such "borrowing" a form of cultural piracy. They feel it is disrespectful to usurp what is freighted with meaning, possibly part of their secret rites, sacred, ancient, and an important aspect of their own identity. Furthermore, it rarely ever works. Outside of its own context, it loses authenticity and comes off as contrived.

-Sacred Threshold: Rituals and Readings for a Wedding with Spirit, Gertrud Mueller Nelson and Christopher Witt