“Let's challenge ourselves but gently...and with compassion”.
To read my full article, please go to: online@yogamagazine.com
A little taste:
Could getting it wrong be right? Could stumbling through life, finding our way and inevitably making mistakes, actually be the way we’re supposed to live? I believe so. We are programmed from a very young age by the adults in our lives. Parental figures, teachers and those in our circles shape our perception of right and wrong. That is our ‘taught’ concept of life. We may grow up being confused by those who have been taught differently. We might change the way we behave in order to ‘fit in’.
Some of our coping strategies may be healthy and others may be unhealthy. We might manipulate, lie or avoid people. We could also unconsciously pretend and end up forming several personalities – one for each of our environments.
The difference between how we view the world and others and how we think others see us can clash in our minds. The effect can be startling and may cause us to play games and wear masks as we struggle through suppressing feelings of awkwardness...
We have a choice. We can carry the weight of the handed down and tattered baggage from how we have been parented – our hunched shoulders pulling us down into the ground as we drag ourselves along to keep bearing the load. Or, we can learn how to return to sender, massage and ease the released shoulders, lift our heads up high, look long and forward into the road ahead wonderfully and lightly free to work out our own way and method of reliable transport.
In my opinion, being your truth is knowing who and why you are. Only then can you make conscious choices. Through reflecting we can become aware of the things we do unconsciously and we can change what we don’t like while accepting what makes us human and, therefore, flawed. It takes hard work, courage and dedication to strip back the layers...
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