The initiation into being a ‘Firewalker” was a painful one. It’s not that I haven’t had my struggles in life. Addiction, cancer, pregnancy losses and the deaths of dear friends are all events I have walked through before. Yet with the loss of my dream home to a raging wildfire, the initiation was complete.
I have always been one to examine my struggles and see what I can learn. As with most of us, it’s not that I sit in the middle of a trauma and exclaim the fabulousness of the lessons that will come. It’s that I have been through enough in this adventure called life to know that gifts lie on the other side. No matter how murky or dark the path is, I know they will come. I know I will emerge from each struggle stronger, more confident, more clear in who I am, and more on purpose.
Since I had declared 2012 to be the “year of letting go of attachments” and then the biggest attachment in my life turned to smoldering rubble taking many of my lesser attachments with it, I knew this too would be one of my great life lessons. In 2011, I was “on fire” with my business. All the pieces had finally come together after decades of dedication and hard work. I was launching into the stratosphere. Then when a wildfire swept through on March 26th, 2012, everything came to a screeching halt as I faced an uncertain future and many soul-searching questions.
When we are at a crossroads like this, the first questions usually are:
- Why?
- How could this have happened?
- Will I ever make it through?
Later come the more purpose clarifying ones:
- What is the lesson I must learn?
- What is it time for me to let go of?
- How can I allow this pain to deepen my spiritual path?
- Who will I become on the other side?
I asked all these questions and more. And I truly allowed my grief process with no expectation that I have these answers clarified for a while. I gave myself that gift and day-by-day, I walked through my pain and grief. I walked through my fire. It was one of the most challenging years of my life. Now on the other side, the gifts are emerging.
How did I do this? I turned to my writing and wrote my pain and insights almost daily. As the words piled up, the pain loosened its death grip on my heart. What began as a necessity for survival turned into my life work. “Walking through Fire”, my blog, gave me insight into this next phase. Firewalkers, I realized, were who I had been speaking to the whole time. Firewalkers were my people, my tribe, my soul mates.
Firewalkers are those who have experienced their own personal fires – whether through external events that cause grief or simply the internal angst of what it means to be human. A Firewalker allows the experience to forge them into extraordinary humans who are committed to doing good in the world and using the wisdom of their pain and struggles to benefit others. For a Firewalker, the power lies in the willingness to allow fire to penetrate their souls while they seize the opportunity to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes.
Firewalkers are:
Deep thinkers
Brave beyond measure
Sensitive beings
Determined to transform their tragedy into triumph
Committed to allowing the pain of their experience to benefit others
Those with a gargantuan passion for life
Firewalkers have been around the block a few times, yet even after life has dealt its blows you continue to walk. You know that even when all looks dark, lightness still exists. You are willing to feel the depth of your pain and the depth of the pain in the world.
Fire is a catalyst. It both begins and completes a transformation cycle. As a Firewalker embraces the energy of fire, we become consumed, then lifted out of our limitation. This is not easy work and each of our journey’s looks differently.
Firewalkers recognize each other by the glint in our eyes, the cracks in our heart, the scars on our skin, and love in our hearts.
Each time we walk through fire, we are faced with the opportunity to be scarred for life – or to truly transform and rise like the Phoenix from the ashes.
Firewalkers will continue to rise, again and again.
