A Journey of a thousand miles....

May 26, 2010

El Dejar Ir A Mi Historia -La sanación del Niño Interno


Miércoles, 26 de mayo 2010


Nuestra historia es lo que a menudo equivocadamente nos referimos como “nuestra vida”. Los capítulos de los cuales están llenos de nuestras experiencias pasadas, nuestras decepciones, nuestras penas, nuestras heridas, y nuestras creencias. Los personajes dentro de esa historia son aquellos que hemos amado y nos han amado, y los que nos han herido y a su vez nosotros hemos herido. Estos capítulos son unidos y nos referimos a ellos una y otra vez como un manual de referencia sobre cómo vivir nuestra vida. Nos aferramos a ella con fuerza sin darnos cuenta de las limitaciones que nos imponemos atreves de lo que estamos haciendo.



Es nuestra historia y las páginas de nuestra historia nos definen y nos dan un sentido de quiénes somos. Siempre que nos enfrentamos a una nueva situación en la vida, sin darnos cuenta, la enfrentamos de la misma forma. Nos referimos al manual de referencia llamado "Mi Historia" para saber cómo responder. Nunca nos atrevemos a mirar más allá de lo que fue, con el fin de ver lo que podría ser.



Finalmente llegamos a un punto en nuestro viaje en el que nos sentimos "atrapados". Tenemos el deseo de ir más allá de nuestras limitaciones, pero nos sentimos incapaces de hacerlo

.

Para mí ese punto lo alcance hace unas semanas y me lleno de desesperación. Sabía lo importante que era dejar de lado mi historia, o como Eckhart Tolle se refiere a ella "encontrar la vida debajo de mi situación de vida", y con toda honestidad, yo creía que ya lo había hecho. Yo había dejado de utilizarla como excusa de porque mi vida era como era hace mucho tiempo. O al menos es lo que yo pensaba.



Empecé a ser muy consciente del hecho de que había algo dentro de mí que me manejaba que yo no podía identificar, ni tenerle acceso. Mis anhelos espirituales, aunque grandes, se veían obstaculizados por una fuerza invisible que no podía controlar. Mi mente estaba corriendo su propio programa.

Así, la semana pasada me retire del mundo y viaje dentro de mí en un esfuerzo para sanar mi vida y eliminar los obstáculos que se interponían en el camino de la verdad. Y me lleve una gran sorpresa al ver que el primer obstáculo que tenía que enfrentar era, "mi historia". Todavía estaba allí!! Mi negación no la había hecho desaparecer. Simplemente se escondió en las sombras, y aún marchaba en mi vida de forma autónoma. Y ahora, lo único que podía hacer era hacerle frente, pero de una manera en que nunca la había enfrentado antes. El contar mi historia como lo había hecho en el pasado había significado que lo único que hacía era proyectarla hacia el exterior y la simpatía y la compasión que recibía reforzaba el hecho de que yo era en realidad una víctima. Para realmente enfrentar a mi historia tenía que "sentirla", sentir cada parte de ella que todavía existía dentro de mí y controlaba mi vida. Fue muy inquietante, pero con la dulce voz del “amor” guiándome a cada paso del camino, encontré la fuerza y la voluntad para moverme a través de mi dolor.

La mayoría de nosotros nunca tenemos la oportunidad de hacer esto. Enterramos el pasado en un esfuerzo para poder seguir adelante con la vida, y esperamos y rogamos que se quede enterrado. En suprimirlo, lo que estamos haciendo en realidad es negar nuestras emociones, nuestros sentimientos reales, y en el largo plazo la creación de más problemas en nuestras vidas. Para algunos de nosotros este comportamiento es el resultado del miedo, para otros es el resultado de nuestro condicionamiento. Se nos enseña que mostrar o expresar nuestras emociones está mal. Simplemente no nos damos cuenta de el daño que nos hacemos a nosotros mismos en esta negación. Emociones reprimidas requieren un montón de energía para mantener en su lugar y como resultado sufrimos los efectos de nuestras acciones de una manera física que resulta en enfermedad, depresión, ansiedad, dolores de cabeza, fatiga y por supuesto, enfermedades como el cáncer. Negar nuestras emociones nos lleva a mal-estar.



Me di cuenta durante el transcurso de la semana que si yo realmente quería sanar mi vida, entonces tenía que enfrentarme yo misma por completo y dar salida a todo lo que estaba en el camino de mi libertad. Sólo haciendole frente a lo que yo había negado durante tanto tiempo pude entender completamente el comportamiento que yo había puesto en marcha con el fin de "sobrevivir" mi dolor. Con el fin de descubrir la verdad de quien soy, tuve que entender primero quien no soy. Y así con cada máscara falsa que me pelaba, me acercaba cada vez más a la esencia de mí ser.

Pero para llegar allí necesite viajar a través de la rabia, el resentimiento, el miedo y la tristeza. Fue un viaje difícil, y los efectos de lo cual no los sentí solamente en mi psique, sino también muy profundamente dentro de mi cuerpo físico donde sentí dolor y enfermedad. Todo esto lo llevaba dentro de mí, toda está toxicidad que no había dejado lugar para la felicidad, la paz y la alegría que tanto deseaba, pudiese entrar y tomar su lugar.



Al enfrentar estas emociones y permitirlas a que subiesen a la superficie, temí que me iban a consumir y que nunca sería capaz de dejarlas ir. Pero yo no tenía de qué preocuparme, porque muy suavemente el Amor me tomó de la mano y me acompaño a nuestra siguiente parada en el viaje, el "perdón" y ahí fue que mi curación comenzó de verdad. Ahí perdone a toda persona que sentí que me había herido de alguna manera, tanto vivos como muertos, ya su vez les pedí a los que yo había herido que me perdonaran a mí. La pesadez en mi corazón empezó a levantar. Pero el acto más profundo y transformador del perdón que tuve que enfrentar fue el perdonarme yo misma. Resistí por un tiempo hasta que me di cuenta que hasta que me liberara yo misma de la prisión de la culpa, yo no sería verdaderamente libre. Mis lágrimas fueron como una válvula de escape que alivió toda la presión que había llevado dentro de mí durante tantos años. Me sentí tan increíblemente liviana. Tan libre.



Y de repente, mi historia desapareció. Yo podía recordarla si quería, pero ya no era "yo". Y viendo que no era yo, el aferrarme a ella ya no tenía sentido. El descubrimiento más hermoso de este viaje de sanación fue encontrar la joya que estaba escondída debajo de todo el dolor. Esa joya por supuesto fue el "Amor”. Ese amor dentro de mí me permitió ver que cada persona está en su propia etapa de su viaje, y con ese regalo llegó la aceptación. Ya no necesito que “ellos” cambien, ahora soy capaz de amarlos por quienes son. Nada fuera de mí tiene que cambiar. "Todo" existe dentro de mí. He descubierto mi esencia, mi verdadera voz, mi luz, mi amor. Y ahora doy un paso adelante y comienzo a vivir mi "verdad".

May 25, 2010

Letting Go of My Story-Healing the Child Within

Wednesday, May 26, 2010


Our story is what we often mistakenly refer to as our life. The chapters of which are filled with our past experiences, our disappointments, our pain, our hurts, and our beliefs. The characters within that story are those who we have loved and have loved us, and those who have hurt us and we have hurt in return. These are all bound together and referred to time and again as a reference manual on how to live our life. We cling to it tightly never realizing the limitations of what it is we are doing.

It is our story and the pages of our history that define us and give us a sense of who we are. Whenever we face a new situation in life we unknowingly confront it in much the same way. We refer to the reference manual called “My Story” in order to know how to respond. We never dare to look beyond what was, in order to see what could be.

Finally we reach a point on our journey where we feel “stuck”. We have the desire to move beyond our limitations but feel helpless to do so.

For me that point was reached a few weeks ago and it filled me with despair. I knew how vital it was to let go of my story, or as Eckhart Tolle refers to it ‘find the life beneath my life situation”, and in all honesty I believed that I had. I had stopped using it as an excuse for my life being the way it was a long time ago. Or so I thought.

I started to become acutely aware of the fact that there was something driving me from within that I could not identify, nor access. My spiritual yearnings although great, were being hampered by an invisible force that I could not control. My mind was running its own program.

So, last week I withdrew from the world and journeyed within in an effort to heal my life and remove the obstacles that stood in the way of truth. And much to my surprise the first obstacle I encountered was “My Story”. It was still there!! My denial of it had not made it disappear. It merely lurked in the shadows, still running my life autonomously. And now, all I could do was face it, but in a way I had never faced it before. Telling my story as I had in the past had meant I was merely projecting it outwardly and the sympathy and pity I received merely reinforced the fact that I was in fact a victim to it. To truly face my story meant I had to “feel” it, feel every part of it that I still carried within me and controlled my life. It was quite unsettling, but with “Love’s” gentle voice guiding me every step of the way, I found the strength and the resolve to move through my pain.

Most of us never get the chance to do this. We bury the past in an effort to move on with life, and hope and pray that it will stay buried. In suppressing it, what we are in fact doing is denying our emotions, our actual feelings, and in the long run creating further problems in our lives. For some of us this behavior is a result of fear, for others it is a result of our conditioning. We are taught that to show or express our emotions is wrong. We just do not realize the harm we do to ourselves in this denial. Suppressed emotions take a lot of energy to keep in place and as a result we experience the effects of our actions in a physical way through illness, depression, anxiety, headaches, fatigue and of course, illnesses such as cancer. Denying our emotions leads to dis-ease.

I realized during the course of the week that if I truly wanted to heal my life, then I must face myself completely and give an outlet to everything that needed to be released. Only by confronting that which I had denied for so long was I able to fully understand the behaviours that I had put in place in order to “survive” my pain. In order to discover the truth of who I am, I needed to first understand who I am not. And so with each mask of falsehood that was peeled away I journeyed closer to the core of my being, my essence.

But to get there I needed to journey through the anger, the resentment, the fear and the sadness. It was a difficult journey, and the effects of it were not merely felt in my psyche but also very profoundly within my physical body where I experienced pain and sickness. All this I was carrying within me, all this toxicity which had left no room for the happiness, the peace and the joy that I so desired to enter in and take its place.

As I faced these emotions and allowed them to rise to the surface I feared that they would consume me and I would never be able to let them go. But I needn’t have worried, for ever so gently Love took me by the hand and walked me to our next stop on the journey, “forgiveness” and there it was that my healing truly began. As I forgave every person that I felt had hurt me in some way both living and dead, and in turn asked those I had hurt to forgive me, the heaviness in my heart started to lift. But the most profound and transformative act of forgiveness I had to face was to forgive myself. I hesitated for quite some time until I realized that until I released myself from the bondage of guilt, I would not be truly free. My tears were like a release valve relieving all the pressure I had carried within me for so many years. I felt so incredibly light. So free.

And suddenly, my story was gone. I could recall it if I wanted to, but it was no longer “me”. And seeing that it was no longer me, holding onto it was no longer necessary. The most beautiful discovery of this healing journey was finding the jewel that lay hidden beneath all the pain. That jewel of course was “Love”. That Love within me allowed me to see that everyone is at their own stage of their journey, and with that gift came acceptance. I no longer need “them” to change, I am now able to love them for who they are. Nothing outside of me needs to change. It is “all” within me. I have discovered my essence, my true voice, my light, my Love. And now I step forward and begin to live my “truth”.

March 19, 2010

A LESSON IN HEALING GRIEF- A Tribute to my Sister Claudia


Saturday 20th March, 2010
Almost 40 years ago when I was four years old, my sister Claudia left this life after suffering a heart attack. She was only 12.

The pain and the heartache and the emptiness that ensued is not something that needs to be elaborated on here. The purpose of this is not to re-live the pain but to move through it and heal it. And pain can only be healed by moving through it, not through avoidance. I have watched my parents carry that pain unable to discuss their feelings let alone mention her name, without experiencing heartache. I have seen the effects of it on my mother in particular who has never allowed herself to cry for my sister. Her explanation for this was that I was so young and she could not let me see her cry. Yet 40 years on, she is still unable to release the tears she has kept imprisoned within the walls of her heart.

Grief is a natural process, yet there was nothing “natural” in how my parents dealt with it and I must state, that there is absolutely no judgment in my saying this.

Last night I decided to share photos of my sister with family and friends via a social networking site. At first I resisted sensing that it would cause pain to those who knew her and evoke pity in those who have known me, and the effects her passing has had on my life. Despite my initial resistance, I went ahead with my plan. As I edited the photos and for the first time “really’ looked at them, the ache in my heart was overwhelming. But it took me completely by surprise that for the first time in my life, I did not cry.

And then I received a message that changed my life completely. A family member wrote to me expressing his sorrow for the pain I still carry in my heart and reassuring me that she is still with me. As I started to reply to his message I felt that having evoked that sadness in him by putting the photos up in the first place, I had a responsibility to heal it and give him peace.

My intention was to heal it within him; I did not realize at the time that what I was in fact doing was healing it within myself.

As I wrote I forced myself to confront that pain head on and I could only do so by turning my attention inwards and focusing it entirely on that tightening sensation that gripped my heart and threatened to crush it completely. The moment I had avoided for so long had finally arrived and it astounded me to recognize that the fear that had stopped me from doing this time and time again was just not there. As I felt the sensation fully, I was able to identify it and what I discovered was not what I had expected. What I expected was pain but what I found was love, a profoundly intense and overwhelming love. As I focused further on what I was feeling it only intensified and as it intensified my heart felt like it was filling beyond its capacity to the point where it would burst. At that very moment I felt an intense pain, and in that instant I was healed. I suddenly realized that it was not the pain of losing her that I was carrying, but the pain of withholding so much love for so many years. My heart was brimming with love, a love that had no outlet. And to withhold love is painful.

I suddenly understood so much of my suffering but am now seeing it with a healed sense of perception. I had always felt that a part of me had died when she did, but I was wrong, for the truth is, that part of me was only crippled by my lack of understanding and at any point I could have let the pain go had I only been willing to face the feeling that I had defined as pain. Love is energy and suppressed energy can only lead to dis-ease. When we lose someone, the love we have for them does not leave with them, there is no hole in the heart, the love continues to flow, that is, if we allow it to. We think our heart is broken at the loss, but our heart feels broken because we are denying it the ability to do what it is meant to do, and that is to love.

On those rare occasions when we are willing to open our hearts to someone, we do so tentatively and fearfully as we have defined our hearts as fragile and weak. We fear being hurt, we fear that if we love, then we may again lose the object of our love and the thought of more heartache is unbearable. We do not realize that our heart aches because it yearns to give love freely with no limitations.

November 10, 2009

“Goodbye Ruby Tuesday……….”

Wednesday 11th November, 2009
For some time now I have been aware that my internal guidance communicates to me through song lyrics. It would drive me near insane to hear certain lines from songs repeating over and over and over again in my head. Originally I had thought that at some point during the day I had heard the song and as a result, “I” kept singing it in my head. But I soon became aware that this was not the case as some songs that I heard the words to, although familiar, the lyrics were not really known to me. And as I “noticed” the words that I kept hearing, I became aware that that they always related to something taking place in my life. And upon reading somewhere that some people did in fact experience this also, I really started to listen.
This morning I awoke in sadness, completely unaware of the song playing in the background. I was aware of a certain “noise” but my sadness had my full attention.
Three days ago I was certain that my life had changed forever. I do not know how it happened but for the first time in my life I felt my life was “normal”. It was so easy being me. I felt light and unburdened, and so very much love. When I awoke the next day I was so happy. I had not had that feeling since being a child of waking up excited about the day ahead. Within a matter of hours I watched it all come tumbling down.
How it happened I do not know. Why did it happen? Because it had to, I see now.
That morning as I engaged in a “normal” conversation with my partner, something within me shifted and I watched helplessly as the joy I had felt so intensely just slipped away from me. All rationality left me and I could do nothing to speak up, speak my truth and stop what was taking place. It was like I was trapped inside my head, a prisoner, whilst someone else took over and destroyed my happiness. I was completely aware and it was very painful to witness.
Within hours I became psychotic and suicidal thoughts and the desperate urge to do self harm overwhelmed me. Nothing, could bring me back. In despair my parents were called and hospitalization seemed the only solution. I kept screaming for salvation but all I got was my own pain back everytime. I could see no way out.
Finally it was my dad who got through and pulled me from the depths of the abyss, when in his awareness of my sensitivities, my empathic nature, he sat me down and said “My daughter, this isn’t you.”
In an instant I was back. But it still hasn’t left me.
I cannot even begin to communicate what I have been feeling. That part of my life has seemed like another world away. It has nothing to do with my present reality. I believed that part of me was gone forever, healed. And I have spent the last three days trying to comprehend what took place and why.
I keep hoping that I will one day just wake up “happy” again, but upon awakening this morning to sadness again, that idea just seemed ever more elusive. And I don’t know whence it came but suddenly I understood why the events of three days ago took place. To help me attain a better sense of whom I am not, in order to know who I am.
On that day as I watched myself “lose it”, I was fully aware that what I was putting out there, was not what I was really feeling in my heart. In fact it had nothing to do with what was going on in me. But it was like “I” had no voice and as my thoughts took me deeper into despair,” I” had no control. I could not override them. To be completely honest it scared me. It still does when I think back on it. But this morning I suddenly understood. I understood that in order for me to heal, I needed to see the truth and that truth is that the “psychosis” or “mental illness” is not me. I know that because I was completely detached from it as it was happening.
And as I absorbed that realization I heard the following words ;
“Goodbye Ruby Tuesday,
When you change with every new day,
Still I’m going to miss you.”

As I focused on those words I started to cry and a deep sadness overwhelmed me. I am still feeling it as I read the last line, “Still I’m going to miss you.”
I just couldn’t get it at first. What is the significance here? So I lay there trying to understand when the fullness of what had taken place this morning hit me. In my recognizing that the “sickness” wasn’t me, I had let it go. A part that I thought was me had suddenly died. My sadness was grief and I realized that for the purpose of today’s lesson, I was Ruby Tuesday.

Don't question why she needs to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained And nothing's lost
At such a cost

There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind.
Ain't life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday……
Goodbye…………….

November 9, 2009

On the rollercoaster again!!!

Tuesday 10th November, 2009
Confusion reigns supreme at the moment. The truth can only set you free if you embrace that truth as your own. The moment you question it, you are once again imprisoned.
Accepting that I am an empath has been a struggle.
First I questioned God’s place in all of this. If this is not “on purpose” then it has no place in my life. For days I questioned this until I realized that His creations are perfect. He does not make mistakes. I am His creation and He created me as I am. So to deny this is in effect to deny myself. Ever so slowly I am absorbing this as my truth.
Then came the painful part, understanding this, in relation to my life experience thus far.
I had until that point made “some” sense of it all or had at least “talked” myself into an understanding of why I had been the way I was. But I still saw myself as a victim to my depression in that I still could not predict when things could turn bad. And once they did all I could do was brace myself for the ride until it was over.
Now, viewing my life through new eyes, I am slowly letting go of so much guilt that I have carried for so long.
At this point it is difficult to write about.
I have glimpsed moments of true clarity which overwhelmed me. And I have had moments of utter confusion and despair where I feared I would end up back in hospital.
It is slow going at present but I am moving forward and that is all that matters here.
I think I have to stop looking for validation and acceptance of who I am in the eyes of others and really start to search deep within me. I keep hearing the “soft inner voice” guiding me gently to turn inwards and stop looking outside for the answers I seek.

November 2, 2009

And the truth shall set you free……….

Tuesday 2nd November, 2009
This has not been an easy day to endure. Yesterday I felt on the verge of a new beginning. Today I feel stuck. Sickness and anxiety have dominated my state of “being” today and it has taken me practically all day to realize why. I am afraid.
I have pleaded and begged God to reveal to me the truth of who I am. Now I know , I am afraid to tell.
In my despair in the last couple of days as my world started to disintegrate around me, the need to understand grew ever greater. In fact it was reaching a critical state. I reached a point where I could not be around people anymore, hence my relationship reaching the point that it did. I could not tolerate the sound of the constantly ringing phone, the sound of voices. In short I could not tolerate “anything” that invaded my personal space. I felt overloaded, like one more word entering my brain would make it snap and I feared I would not be able to come back from that.
I had reached my limit.
At the same time I was aware of how it was hurting those I love, yet there was nothing I could do. I instinctively “knew” that if I didn’t withdraw from the world for a while, I would not make it.
It feels like those days passed in a constant state of prayer. Praying for help. Praying for answers. Praying for a way to “live” in this world.
And my answer came………..
But, it was not what I was expecting.
I cannot recall how this came about, but somehow I made my way to a website called mysilentecho.com and before me on the screen, this is what I read,


(Please note: The following extracts were reprinted without the permission or prior knowledge of mysilentecho।com. My intent in using direct quotes was because they were Jad Alexander’s words and ideas, and I did not want to deceive and try and make them my own. My apologies if I have offended anyone by doing so.)

What is an Empath? An Empath is an intuitive personality type, usually hypersensitive, especially to the emotions and conditions of other people. Empaths are also prone to extrasensory perception and strong intuitive reactions. Welcome to the Book of Storms Series Online”.

Curious I start to explore the site although I know I am resiting the fullness of what I am reading because I know that “empath” is another word for psychic, and that is not how I see myself. Fortunately, the part of me that isn’t resisting overpowers my reluctance, and as I read I discover that the site owner, Jad Alexander is also an empath. Not only is he an empath, but he has a degree in Psychology specializing in mental health counseling. The further I read the more it resonates within me as truth. And then I come across this,

“Many Empaths suffer from anxiety due to an overload of incoming stimuli and intuitive information. Some suffer from depression due to being overwhelmed with all the "storms" going on inside. It is not uncommon for an Empath to tell me that he or she has been diagnosed as "bipolar/manic-depressive." Now, that does not mean that if you were diagnosed as bipolar that you are automatically an Empath - it just means there is a possibility that we are quick to put medical labels on things without fully investigating them.
The interesting questions that arise are: Are Empaths more susceptible to mental illness? OR Is the mental illness/distress the result of being an unbonded Empath? Which comes first? This research still goes on. I have met plenty of well adjusted Empaths - yet will still find that they seek some sort of comfort somewhere, either in mild medication or counseling, something to soothe those internal storms” (click here for the complete article “
What is an Empath” by Jad Alexander on mysilentecho.com)

In that moment I knew that resisting further was futile, I had to know more. So I commence the coursework with the intent of understanding “this” and also join the Yahoo Empath group in order to share my experiences with others who are like me.
That evening the “fullness” of it hit so hard my reality seemed surreal, I could not feel the ground beneath my feet. In a flash, I saw my whole lifetime with depression, and saw it wasn’t mine. All the guilt I have carried for hurting people for the way that I am. A whole lifetime spent feeling inadequate and incompetent. (I knew I was not the only one in the world with problems, yet everyone else still seemed capable of living life. They could hold on to jobs, have friendships and relationships, have a social life, have a family. All the things that I couldn’t do, or was afraid to do because of how I was.) I felt different, an outcast. Not for this world.
And in that instant I saw the truth. I was not mentally ill. I was not crazy. I was just being Monica. I just didn’t know how to deal with who I was.
There, I said it!

November 1, 2009

I had the most curious dream……………

Monday 2nd November, 2009

Today I feel a bit like Alice as I nervously step through the looking glass, leaving behind what was once my reality, and embrace a whole new way of being.
When I commenced this journey eight years ago, I had no idea where it would lead me. All I knew at the time was that I could not stay where I was. I had tried all the conventional methods as well as the not so conventional, and I was still stuck in my despair and no way nearer to the exit. So instinctively I knew that if I wanted to get “better” and be able to function in this world like everyone else around me, I would have to do this myself.
So I armed myself with knowledge. I knew that my mind was running its own automated program because all the methods I tried in order to take back control, failed. Medication only made it easier to live with but did not “fix” the problem. I realized then that my starting point had to be knowledge of how the brain works, how the programs are put in place so to speak. So I commenced a psychology degree and did just that. The first step in “knowing myself”.
With this new understanding of how we process the world, I started to slowly pick my life apart. It took no effort in finding issues that needed addressing as when you make this commitment to heal, they tend to surface on their own. But what to do with all this information that was overwhelming me? Because simply noticing the problems wasn’t fixing them.
It was then that some courageous and inspiring people such as, Eckhart Tolle, Caroline Myss, and Wayne Dyer, entered my life through their teachings.
Through their knowledge and experience I learnt to really look at my life in an honest ego-less way, even to the point of giving my game plan away in situations where I realized that I was “reacting “ and not been authentic. I learnt about “patterns”, I learnt how environment and DNA impact on your ability to process the world, I learnt that all it took to reach some kind of understanding and somewhat heal a situation was to change your mind about it. I was tired of the games. I should re-word that, I was tired of the mask. I just wanted to KNOW who I was beneath all the pain because I knew that the pain was not me.
At that very moment, “A Course in Miracles” enters my life.
Thank you God!!!!!!!!
It entered my life at the exact point when I needed it to. (You can always count on Divine timing. It never lets you down!) I was stuck again. Learning all these things about myself made me not like myself very much. I was aware of the program that was running my life, but was no where nearer to overriding it. Awareness was hurting me. To be aware of what you are doing, to see that it hurts you and others and “feel” powerless to stop it is very disheartening.
It was not an easy book to read. When you have a mind like mine that does not know the meaning of “quiet”, it makes it very hard to maintain your focus and though it took me a long time, I made my way through the text and when I reached the end, I realized I had not retained much of what I had read at all. As I commenced reading the introduction to the workbook, I was not really sure whether there was any point as I felt i would have to start over in order to benefit from the teachings. With this in mind I continued reading and as I commenced paragraph 9, this is what I read,
“Remember only this: you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy……Nothing more than this is required”
So in faith, I proceeded all the while despairing because I was nowhere nearer to being happy and the further into the teachings I got, the harder it became for me to be around people. It seemed that the only way I could love them was from afar. My despair mounted as I realized that the path I was on was leading me in the opposite direction to where the teachings were intended to take me.
The inner turmoil escalated yet the teachings afforded me peace in that no matter what I had to face on any given day, inevitably the teaching for the day equipped me with the capacity to not only confront it, but see the truth in it. I also started to notice changes in my thought patterns that took no effort to implement on my part. My perception started to shift.
But still I had no idea where exactly I belonged in a world populated by humans that I found it difficult to be around. I loved them. Just couldn’t be around them. I felt so ashamed and such a hypocrite .And when those feelings overwhelmed me and brought on episodes of depression, I fought hard not to lose my way। I coped by transmuting the negative energy into a positive one। I turned my negative thoughts into prayer. Instead of holding onto them, dwelling on them and convincing myself that my life was a waste of time, I handed them over and asked to be shown the truth. This is what is referred to as the “Atonement” in A Course in Miracles.
And now I wait…and trust!!!
Trust is a hard concept to grab a firm hold of, particularly in the last couple of weeks as I have watched my life seemingly fall apart. In truth it is only beginning to come together as what seemed to me to be my life falling apart, I recognize as a letting go of that which no longer serves me. It is a painful process but absolutely necessary for how can I possibly find “me”, when I have defined myself by all these things in my life that are not me?
In terms of my relationship I cannot say for certain. On some level I know that “letting go” is not what is needed here. Change is. Whether we can implement those changes whilst remaining true to ourselves will be what decides the outcome. I did not undertake this journey alone and although I become quite self-absorbed as I try to understand myself, I never lose sight of this fact.
And as I read over what I have written, a summary of my healing thus far, it serves a cathartic purpose and I feel a certain release that may at some point develop into tears. I feel the tension building as I write. To see it like this as a whole, I sense a certain closure that I do not fully understand right at this moment.
I see now that it was necessary for me to go through the pain of realizing who I was NOT, in order to uncover the truth of who I AM……………..
 
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