Mud

October 2025 Newsletter "No mud, No lotus" / Feature Story

Mud. Wet, cool, squelchy dirt that oozes between the toes.

We talk about dirt time - giving a new skill its due practice - but we rarely talk about mud time.Probably because, for many, mud symbolises stagnancy, stuckness, a lack of clarity or direction or worse - mistakes.

“Your colours are muddy!” my colour teacher, Peter, used to cry as I mixed my fiftieth decoction - as if it were the worst possible insult to shame me back into perfection.

“Oh, I love mud,” I would reply, to his great dismay.

“Well, just don’t pair it with orange,” he’d mutter, “or you’ll take us straight back to the atrocities of the 1970s.”

But it’s true - I do love mud.And being a therapist, this comes in handy.

When I recognise someone doing some mud time, I know we’re heading somewhere meaningful. It’s that stage when things feel fixed and unchangeable - depressive feelings, dense darkness, believing there’s no hope… truly in the thick of it.

Here’s the thing I love, and our feature metaphor this month: “No mud, no lotus.”By this logic, if a lotus grows from mud, then mud must be the sacred holder of the lotus seeds - the nutrient-rich womb that nurtures something magnificent.

Like my colour teacher once said, mud is an unexpected mixture of colours - deceptively rich.The more that gets added, the darker and denser it becomes, forming layers that protect the seeds of the lotus.

The metaphor of water matters, too.People like their water fresh and clean.Muddy water invites patience - to wait for the silt to settle, for the turbidity to ease.It reminds us that what we desire may not quite be ready yet, because we can't see it or its possibility.

So why the bad reputation for mud?Why do so many hide or rush to clean it off?I’ve seen parents wipe it from their children quick-smart, as though it were shameful or scary.Perhaps because, quite simply, mud is obvious - we can’t pretend it’s not there. And it speaks of imperfection.

It’s hard to admit we’re not seeing clearly, or that we’re so lost in something it feels all-consuming.Mud implies there’s still work to do, that things are not yet resolved - but it also implies something is coming.

Maybe we can embrace the mud, just as it is, regardless of where the lotus is at in its growth.Maybe we can slow down, as the mud invites us to do - notice the short-range view and marvel at the millions of tiny granules within a single dollop, notice how differently light and darkness behave in this place.

Perhaps mud asks us to look closely - to appreciate the sensory nature of being human.

How does it feel?Thick? Dark? Cooling us from the heat?Or does it remind us that the sun is waiting on the other side? Does it feel like ruin?

Wilderness guides sometimes use mud as natural sunscreen, or camouflage - a way of belonging to the landscape.We can think of our mud time like that: a place where we don’t need to stand out, where so much happens unseen beneath a nourishing surface. The perfect mud-mask.

Just as trees lie dormant through winter, seemingly lifeless, until spring returns - so too does the lotus rise from the mud.

Instead of resisting our mud, or white-knuckling our way through it, perhaps we can simply say:

“Yes, mud. Yes, lotus.”

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Healing doesn’t always begin in calm waters. Sometimes it starts in the thick of life - in the everyday moments that feel messy, uncertain, or full of feeling.

Our collective of therapists at the Community Clinic are opening their doors this week, 20 - 24 October 2025, offering affordable, meaningful, and holistic one to one therapy sessions ($50 / 50min).

Because the beautiful truth grows in ordinary places.

All of you is welcome.

Book your session

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About the Writer

Michelle McCosker is a vibrant and creative person, certified in both Holistic Psychotherapy and Art Therapy. Her life experiences and playful approach provide profound wisdom in her work. She gently guides her clients through old wounds at their own pace, utilising the resources already within their own inner landscape, offering compassion and clarity, helping them access their innate wisdom and self-acceptance. She calls this 'healing from the inside'.

Michelle also offers 1:1 online Holistic Psychotherapy and Art Therapy Sessions (online and in-person) outside of clinic hours.

Michelle is currently a Community Steward for the Connection Culture Community which includes care-taking the Clinic, Mentoring Students and offering focussed study sessions 'Empowered Practice' to Holistic Psychotherapy students studying Lee Trew's model.

Read more about her here.