The Rune Dad

No one is coming. It’s just you and the shadow at hand. You’re stuck, paralyzed, captured, bogged down. You’ve exhausted yourself from struggling. You’ve had a good cry, and now it’s time to come to grips with your new reality. You’ve hit bottom and it’s time to climb out. Your mind is now calm; sharp. You start looking for the vulnerability – that one anomaly that can be to your advantage. You’re looking for the gap.

Nauthiz ᚾ is not always a welcome rune. It’s attributed to situations of desperation and need. But it’s also the unexpected outcome of freedom. It can be that spark of genius derived from difficulty. It’s the exhilaration of triumph from seemingly impossible situations that will forever change you.

The secret to overcoming the negative side of Nauthiz is realizing that it’s you alone in the situation. It’s your responsibility. You and you alone can get you out. For the religious readers, you may ask for divine intervention. It may even be granted. But, you have to actually climb through the window that was opened.

The beauty of Nauthiz is that through difficult times comes freedom. We’ve all had situations where we’re trying to get somewhere in a hurry and we’re blocked at every corner. We’re late to a meeting, a flight, or we’ve simply been stuck for hours in a traffic jam. Feel that frustration and angst… All of a sudden, there’s a gap – an opening in the standstill – and you take it. The path clears. Pure elation. You can’t tell me you don’t slam on the accelerator or get an extra kick in your step. It feels too good to leave all of that behind you.

In the book When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, she has a passage about facing your fears. She writes about a woman challenged to fight Fear himself. But instead of launching into attack, she bows three times before Fear and asks permission to engage. Impressed by her respect, Fear shares how she can defeat him. Respect him, but don’t listen.

Fear is healthy. It keeps us alive, but it can also be irrational. We must respect the jitters and the apprehension. But we move beyond fear when we simply don’t listen to what it’s screaming into our faces. We move beyond paralysis and become resolute to pull ourselves out of the mess we got ourselves into. We find the zone where we become receptive towards every slight possibility and begin to innovate. WHAM! That light bulb above your head appears like a childhood cartoon and a solution is hatched.

When you’re in the thick of your situation and you gain the clarity to pause, remember Nauthiz. As desperate as your situation appears, remember the duality. Recall the feeling of elation from newfound freedom. That feeling makes the next part worth the pain of realization that it’s all up to you. It’s time now to get into the zone. Survey your situation, calm the noise of Fear, and find the gap.