I don’t recommend searching for issues to fix in ourselves. That just cultures a sense of being broken. It can be pretty hard on relationships too, if their sharing gets an “I’ll fix you” response from us. Instead, I’ve had the concept that if an energetic issue or contraction becomes conscious, it’s ripe for healing. That’s when to bring our attention to it and let it go.
For smaller stuff, that is often true. But for bigger stuff, there’s usually a lesson in there to learn. This stuff isn’t there randomly, but for good reason. It’s not evil, just the dust of our past. If we don’t learn the lesson before clearing the energetic debris, the issue isn’t really healed and the detritus of the issue will build again.
For example, as we shift into a detached witness mode, the stories the mind is regurgitating become more obvious. We see some to be silly. Once seen through, they fall away, no longer believed in. By seeing, we recognize the falsehood, learn the lesson, and let go.
“I have learned that there is always a deeper lesson behind each imprint in your field and that they all intertwine. It is not random. Source is not random. The amount you are willing to shift at a given moment dictates how much transformation can occur in a moment.”
– Malika, recent newsletter
“The amount you are willing to shift…” means how deeply you’re willing to allow, to let go, to surrender that contraction or identification. How deeply are you ready to let it go? It’s fine to peel off the layers one by one. Yet deep enough, we get to the source of the contraction, learn the lesson, and let it all go. Once the dust settles, it’s done. And we have a new perspective on life.
Our physiology is built from a shared causal template, adjusted according to our specific laws of nature. This, karma, and our ancestral influences give us our distinct body.
However, that expression also goes through the mind and emotions on the way to physical expression. In time, because our form is constantly being recreated, contractions will gradually affect even our physical body. This leads to various kinds of issues that we may attribute to things like aging.
For example, long-held anger will lead to inflammation. That can show up as arthritis, heart disease, hardening of the arteries, and more, depending on where we have a weakness. (Of course, there are other causes too, like diet and lifestyle.)
Many carry a “not-good-enough” self-conception that can lead to muted abilities and weakness.
Yet we can heal everything with time or a deep enough letting go. It’s astonishing how deep healing can change the entire context of our life.
Davidya
I liked the idea of ‘the amount you are willing to let go of’–I assume you mean this with reference to the degree of intensity of our general desire for enlightenment (outside of meditation). But if some misunderstand it to be an idea we take into meditation, then it would be a lack of innocence, and an effort, which would be incorrect and lead to some unnatural behaviour in activity–some strained attitude..
Hi Richard
Actually, no. Our intensity of desire for enlightenment is the opposite. It leaves us attached to an idea of it. That desire is valuable for sustaining the path but it’s not unusual for it to need to fall away before we can actually wake up.
I mean a letting things be as they are, not how we want them to be. When we deeply surrender, we can let go more deeply. The same holds true of letting go of stress.
But yes, I’m not talking about something we take into meditation. I’m talking about energy releases. In fact, an effortless meditation cultures the experience of letting go, of allowing it to be as it is. Nothing needs to be “done”. Letting go isn’t a doing, it’s an allowing.
Yes David it has to fall away when the time is right–the concept of enlightenment (the desire) does a good job in carrying us to the doorstep where it is left like our shoes. Always increasing effortlessness..
I’m finding God and Mother Divine/Universe to be very merciful about providing excellent work-arounds with issues. Like a powerful and loving river flowing down a rock-filled mountain, gently but relentlessly eroding those rocks and simply continuing on its course. Dharma!
Beautifully put, Sharon. One such river is the Ganges, falling from heaven onto Shiva’s forehead, then on down to earth. This keeps it gentle, lest it erode too fast or too much. We need a few rocks for the form of the world to be sustained. 🙂
Thank you for the advise of not seeking the issue to get it fixed. Just let it come to the surface and let it go. This surrender and letting go, I get it conceptually, but challenging when it comes to execution. Often times, I feel the ego wants to hang on to it, because it loves the drama, or it is an identification, or its what makes the little ego alive or have feelings. I think I have been witnessing more when I am awake. I observe my thoughts have a pattern, and almost always I am thinking of the same thing. I am vigilant and replacing thoughts with MMY’s favorite upanishads sayings, or replace with gratitude. I’m still a work in progress. This is a useful article for me.
Hi Lynette
Yes, it’s always a learning experience as we discover new ways we’ve contracted or resist. And yes, identification can cause the ego to resist letting go. Meditation helps soften those bindings over time.
Gently changing what you’re thinking about or what your attention is on is fine. But be careful “replacing thoughts” isn’t just another way to control, another non-acceptance.
Yes, we’re all a work in progress. It’s the nature of being in the world. 🙂
I tried to post a picture of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day with a quote from Chodron that “Nothing goes away until it’s taught us what we need to know.” I have to admit I’ve been a slow learner regarding certain old issues that keep finding creative ways to reappear. The personality knows it’s just stuff/impressions that need resolution and compassion but the soul seems to have its own timing for the shift. I am realizing that when the old GHD issues no longer trigger my usual coping or defense mechanisms it’s likely the lesson’s been learned. It’s natural not to take anything personally when there’s no personal self there to do the taking or resisting. Of course getting to that degree of no-self realization and resting there when the old pain arises is no small endeavor. Glad to have the company of fellow travelers on this journey and guides who know the way. Thanks!
Hi Harrison
Yeah, these comment boxes are not very sophisticated. You can use HTML codes though, like 👍
(laughs) Slow learner here too. Some life experiences became sledge-hammer style so I got it.
And yes, when we’re not the person, we’re not triggered anymore. But then you have to learn a new way of remembering because events no longer have an emotional charge that triggers memory. 🙂
Happy to have your company. 👌
I’ve read that age 4-6, language acquisition is augmented by the child telling the mother stories about their day. If mother is absent during this time, that part of the brain doesn’t develop. One might need to continue storytelling to heal and/or develop that part of the brain later in life. The solution is to tell fuller and fuller stories that contain fuller and fuller truth. Fuller stories often lead to feeling compassion for all involved.
Hi Sharon
Yes, that’s around the age when development shifts to the mind. Kids become ready for school.
I wouldn’t say it’s that black and white. School would certainly help then, but circumstances may delay development. Many of us have had absent parents in one way or another. We learn to cope in our own ways. Later, we may find some of those coping strategies were less healthy, like sweets, drugs, or booze. Perhaps we can find healthy strategies, like reading fuller stories like the Upanishads or Yoga Vasishtha. Or writing poems and stories. Or painting. Or learning a musical instrument.
And yes, when we find peace, we can open to compassion and let go of our burdens.
Our evolution changes once once we learn TM. Meditate and act, or acquire and integrate silence. At that point, everything else takes care of itself.
I remember Maharishi say that only in Kali Yuga do people believe that suffering helps our evolution. Certainly we should make changes in our life when our behavior causes problems. But as a whole, just be easy and meditate and act.
Hi Jeff
Broadly, that’s good advice. However, at some point on your journey, you’ll run into a very hard nut that’s clearly an issue and that the practice alone isn’t softening. Sometimes, our daily life is reinforcing the nuts.
I’ve found developing energy awareness has been very helpful. It helped shed the barriers to awakening. I’ve gained insights into some of my old habits of being that were less evolutionary. And I’ve been able to facilitate some very big releases. These days, I’m working on collective traumas that shadow all of us. This is helping raise clarity in collective consciousness.
Each of us has our own dharma though.