Working with people every day, teaching workshops and doing my personal work, I often reflect on a few questions. I want to share them with you this week with the hope they may help bring clarity and depth to your life.
- Are old wounds running the show?
- What am I ignoring?
- What is the lesson in this?
Are old wounds running the show?
There are old hurts we carry with us and maybe we know they exist, or perhaps we have buried them. Asking ourselves this question can help us begin to notice if this is so.
Jeff Brown has this wisdom to share:
“It’s up to you – its always up to you. You can deny, repress, distort, and bury your unresolved wounds all you want. You can re-frame them, pseudo-positivity them, detach from them, spiritual bypass them. You can re-name yourself, hide away in a monastery, turn your story around. And you can spend all your money on superficial healing practices and hocus-pocus practitioners. But it won’t mean a damn thing, if you don’t do the deeper work to excavate and heal your primary wounds. Because the material is still there, right where you left it, ruling your life and controlling your choices. This is the nature of unhealed material- it is alive, and one way or the other, it will manifest itself in your lived experience. It will language your inner narrative. It will obstruct your path and limit your possibilities. It lives everywhere that you live. And so you have to decide- excavate it and bring it into consciousness where it can be worked through and integrated, or repress it and watch it rule your life. It’s one of the hardest truths we have to face: If we don’t deal with our stuff, it deals with us. There is no way around this. Choose.”
What am I ignoring?
There are patterns and ways of being that show up in our lives. We are often taught as children to ignore them, stuff them way and pretend they are not there. Sound familiar? We grow up believing this is the best way to move through life. Knee jerk reactions, niggly little pains in the body, having a short temper, feeling easily frustrated can all be indicators of ignoring an unhealed part. Over the next while, pay close attention to what triggers you and take a mental inventory for yourself. Awareness is the first step in noticing what we might be ignoring. Then we can do the work needed to resolve it.
What is the lesson in this?
Most things that occur in our lives contain an opportunity for us to learn something. It might be a new way to approach part of our life, an insight that changes everything from that moment on, or seeing something we don’t like in someone else that is a reflection of ourselves. Those are just a few lessons life brings us. Pay attention to the moments you love and the ones that make you feel uncomfortable. Life is rich with the opportunity to reflect, see the gifts and adopt a deeper awareness.
I wish you an abundant fall season filled with much love, passion and adventure. As always I am here to support you in this life journey – and welcome your feedback.