This week in particular I’ve observed through a number of different situations how those on the spiritual path either don’t know how or resist doing the work necessary for healing to occur.
Yet another man I know took his life this week. A client believes me to be unkind and judgmental and a family member is reacting negatively because I won’t engage in an old dynamic. All of which is distressing and confronting for me as I always do my best to be authentic and to be of service in the best and most appropriate way possible.
What has surfaced in me as the week continued and the lessons in boundaries intensified is my old pattern of putting others first and my fear of causing hurt and pain. Old patterns which I’ve worked hard to release and overcome. That they still exist is frustrating but thankfully I am aware enough to recognize that the roots are what are coming up to be seen, acknowledged and removed and replaced with more appropriate and relevant behaviors and actions.
I realize that not everyone is like me and willing to face the shadows, to see into the darker parts of oneself and to do the work needed to change and transform. What drives me to do the work is the desire to be the best version of myself possible so that I may be of service to the Divine and bring forth what is needed and necessary in each moment. It’s a work in progress and may take a whole lifetime to achieve but I’m committed. As a result, I don’t suffer fools easily.
In my healing sessions with clients, it is essential that the other person is able and willing to step into the healing space with me. There can often be a mistaken belief that I as the ‘healer’ will step forward into their space and somehow magically clear away the issues, traumas and or challenges one faces. This is impossible to do without the active participation of the individual.
I can share insight and clarity, support, and encouragement but I cannot do the work for them. I can help to highlight the behaviors, fears and beliefs that consciously or unconsciously block healing, but I cannot change anyone’s habits of thinking and behavior. I can remove the energy behind them but you need to do the work to actively change them in yourself and in your life. There are times where this approach is triggering and confronting especially for those stuck in a space of being the victim and have forgotten that what happens in life in serves them in some way….it’s not being done to us, it’s being done for us.
So what does doing the work actually mean?
Doing the work is putting in the effort to genuinely understand ourselves, our hearts, our minds, and our souls. Is the effort we put in to understand our thoughts and our thinking, our reactions, and our behaviors. It means looking inward at the trauma and wounding we have experienced and to see how and why our past is affecting our thinking and behaviors. It means cultivating self-awareness and developing the ability to respond to everything with consciousness and mindfulness which requires us to look honestly at ourselves. It means taking an inventory of who we are, who we want to be and the spaces in-between. It takes courage, patience, and compassion to look at and into oneself.
The concepts and advice we find online, on social media and in the millions of self-help books is often intellectualized rather than actually practiced. It is one thing to know something it is a completely different thing to actively practice it in our lives. Just knowing something without activating means that we avoid processing and integrating the knowledge. We stay removed from the wisdom and disconnected from the often painful truths that need to be explored and accepted for healing to occur.
We stand now at a time in our collective evolution where self-awareness and understanding are vital. If we are to navigate the crumbling and dissolution of the world, we must know ourselves truly and deeply. The world as we know it promises to become more and more unstable, unpredictable, and confusing all of which holds great purpose. The world as it is currently cannot continue. We are destroying our natural world, poisoning the waters, the earth, and the air and as a result, destroying the very environment that sustains us. Why, because we are so disconnected. Disconnected from ourselves, disconnected from each other, and disconnected from the Earth. All this can change in an instant when we are willing individually and collectively to find the courage and put in the effort it takes to do the work and heal.
As we stand in this time of the equinox take a moment to see, recognize and accept your own imbalance and the responsibility you hold to repair it. See where you continue to justify and or explain away the reasons why you are able to do the work needed and necessary to heal. Observe any resistance you have to taking full responsibility for yourself, your reactions, behaviors and actions. Be willing to face the truth and make the commitment to heal and change. Your soul and this world need you awake, conscious, aware, and alive.
What to work with me? Take a look at my website HERE