Comments | emeraldsedai: 8/30: An Industrious Girl

emeraldsedai

8/30: An Industrious Girl

Feb 09, 2015 13:50

One of my great teachers sent out her quarterly newsletter the other day, and in it she recommended a little exercise for the new year:

Consider in a playful and loving way what symbol or image arises when you imagine being YOU, fully and completely. When you are expanded and unlimited, joyful and brilliant, ask, "When I am my True Self, I am like ( Read more... )

attempts to categorize myself

Comments 8

roxymissrose February 10 2015, 00:05:41 UTC

An Industrious Girl

yes! I love that description and I love this conclusion.

It's okay that the only result is me having fun.

emeraldsedai February 10 2015, 02:39:26 UTC

I would be remiss not to note that retirement makes this stance a whole lot easier to justify. But yes, I was happy with my conclusion too!

twasadark February 10 2015, 06:29:23 UTC

Great observations. You know, from the time I brought my daughter home from the hospital I could sense what her personality was, and it hasn't changed even though she's now an adult with kids of her own. Despite all that we learn and how we age I guess we are fundamentally the same as when we were small children.

emeraldsedai February 10 2015, 07:56:01 UTC

My sister, who has four kids (now all adults) says the same thing: each of them was who she or he was from the first day, and they were all so different from one another. My sister tried hard not only to let them be themselves, but to encourage them in that way. They all seem to have turned out pretty happy in their wildly divergent ways.

What about you? Did you always know and accept your True Self, or have you had to spend time peeling away the accretions of society and culture to rediscover it?

twasadark February 10 2015, 18:37:20 UTC

Hmmm. That's a good question, and one that I haven't really considered much. I grew up in a difficult family, like so many of us did, and in order to survive in a somewhat healthy and productive way, I decided to follow the promptings of my spirit while quite young. I was raised in a Christian home so that's usually how I explain spirituality, in Christian(ish) terms. Anyhow, I decided to follow what I thought God was urging me toward, and in that way I suppose that was my true self. Hand in hand goes the doubts and anxieties and fears, though, and although it's antiquated language, I think of them as devils, or Satan. I'm probably freaking you out with all this talk, huh? lol sorry! Anyhow, I'm not sure that answers your question, but that's what comes to mind. I'm still chasing after that true self because it hides behind obstacles and challenges that appear real and are frightful even if they are just noise and fury.

emeraldsedai February 10 2015, 22:02:13 UTC

You're not freaking me out in the slightest, and I really value your having explained things in those terms.

in order to survive in a somewhat healthy and productive way, I decided to follow the promptings of my spirit while quite young.

This is so clear! And it reminds me that I did somewhat the same thing--I'd even use the same terms to describe it, although in my case, my family was vehemently secular (I wouldn't say "atheist" precisely, but leaning that way) and I didn't feel much support for my more naturally-mystical leanings. I always felt a little bit in the closet about it. Still do, I think. My world, particularly the liberal/progressive/yay-science slice of the internet I've tended to inhabit, is also vehemently secular and often actively anti-spiritual (under the rubric of being anti-religion, which I consider quite a separate thing).

So anyway, the decision to follow what felt to you like God's guidance and to me like...let's just say "the promptings of spirit" seems to have been a big part of both of our lives. Like ( ... )

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