For me, my own real journey with reflective practice started as part of a comeback. And I know I’m not the only person for whom that is true. At some point or another, we all find ourselves broken. As we sit with our brokenness and remember who we used to be, we start questioning if we can come back and, if so, how to go about it. On the other hand, why would we even want to try? Who’s to say we can’t settle into our brokenness, nurturing the pieces and refusing to let them come together to form our new selves. Where do we find the inspiration and motivation to start the next part of our journey? And if we did decide to try, where is the pathway that leads to where we were? Does it even exist? Since we cannot erase the experience of what broke us and bend time so that all is as it was before, are we truly coming back? If we can reach where we were, will it be the same now that we have changed? Are we instead actually really talking about going forward? Or climbing out?
I love this short video from NOWNESS of Lauren Cuthbertson, principle dancer at the Royal Ballet in London, in which she describes coming back after injury again and again - coming back to where she belongs. Her solo at the end is a stunning and inspiring piece on brokenness and coming back.