If Self Acceptance was a country, Dick Olney would be its Poet Laureate.
If Integration was a country, Zivorad Slavinski would be its Minister of Wholeness.
Dick was fond of the ancient Arabian aphorism, “Trust God and tie your camel.” I found the seeming tension between these two compelling. The phrase stuck with me. It wasn’t until I met Zivorad that I accessed the mysterious spacious wisdom of the phrase.
These days there are plenty of us experiencing the tension between trusting God and tying our camels. Those of us and our clients journeying with anxiety, grief, or the awful pain of loved ones confined in residential facilities tangle with this already activated tension.
As stay at home orders are lifted in some states, many of us, our clients are now facing the cognitive dissonance of the tension between those two – trust God and tie your camel.
The instability of uncertainty is real. Simple choices become less than simple.
Taking responsibility for and tending to our inner state grants us access to an inner pillar of strength that most of us need when facing uncertain times. This kind of dedication to emotional regulation cultivates resilience.
We all need resilience to offer a little grace in these times of needing to trust God and tie our camels.