Stillness 7-22: No one knows for sure where the word “furl” originated and we don’t use it much nowadays anyway. We say the opposite: “Look at that lovely blossom unfurl.” But “furl” probably came from Old French and Latin sources that meant to chain, tie up, lock away, bind, to tie. So unfurl is the opposite.
It’s lovely to think of ourselves unfurling like a sleepy leaf. We tend to think of ourselves as static entities: our bodies are shaped like this and they weigh that and our lives are measured in coffee spoons and constrained by tasks and obligations …
But when we unfurl into our vast potential, the ties that bind us loosen, and we expand into infinite time and space. As light beings, beyond just the physical, we are limitless.
Today, practice unfurling. Curl into a tight ball and then slowly expand outward, uncurling your fingers and toes, releasing the hold you have around yourself, spreading out your arms and your legs as though you are an expanding, sparkling, five-pointed star. Contract again into a seed-like formation, held by boundaries and thoughts. Then consciously open up and expand outward again. Each time you do this—slowly and mindfully—you’ll feel yourself relaxing more. You’ll feel yourself growing free to radiate outward—farther and farther—into your joyous, boundless potential.