Let The New You Emerge
Three thoughts:
One of the biggest challenges during healing is what happens after you start going inward. Sometimes, there are moments of profound release, where your mind will first feel heavy and tumultuous as emotions that were accumulated from the past come up to the surface so that your mind can be relieved of the weight you once carried. The process of knowing yourself and letting go is not always smooth, sometimes you will feel down for a few days as things that were once consciously or unconsciously suppressed find space to rise to the surface.
Even without suppression, much is accumulated; what you feel, especially strong emotions, leave an imprint on the subconscious of the mind, which sets you up to feel that same emotion again when the mind perceives a similar situation that reminds it of the past. Healing helps clean the mind, but first it will show you the patterns that cause you the most struggle, seeing yourself with greater clarity can feel intense, especially if you have spent much of your life running away from your truth.
These down moments can be to your benefit if you manage them in a way that sets you up for present and future success. The down moments, where you feel old hurt again, is a new opportunity to process things in a healthy way as opposed to repeating what didn’t work in the past. Ultimately, down moments will keep happening, but you will know your healing is effective when you feel well equipped to handle your down moments with gentleness, acceptance and with the patient understanding that no emotion in the history of your life has ever been permanent.
Another challenge during healing is letting go of the old you. As the deep work of release continues, your conditioning will become lighter and lighter. This will cause major shifts in your likes, dislikes, interests, behavior and it will transform what you look for in connections. It is common to feel an inner struggle where you unconsciously try to hang on to your old self, because that is what you know best. There is often an attachment to how you used to be, even if there were aspects of yourself that caused you a lot of tension. There may even be a push and pull regarding your perception, where you struggle to allow yourself to see the world in a new way. Since so much of your perception is governed by what you encountered in the past, it will feel simultaneously strange and refreshing to look at things and take them for what they are without constantly evaluating them according to what you remember. Having your perception focus on the present takes intentional action. Just as you had to do the work of letting go, you will have to accept the new you that is emerging and follow through with the positive habit building that supports your inner renaissance. If you are serious about your healing, you need to let your identity be flexible and flow in the direction that best supports your happiness.
When you use your intention to stop living from a place of survival, you take the power away from the human habit that used to control your actions. Human habit is a series of defensive tactics, usually driven by fear and greed, which may temporarily protect you or give you what you crave, but it cannot bring you substantial happiness and it leads you further away from thriving. Survival is often a reaction that sees your past better than it sees your present. To live beyond survival, you need to sharpen your ability to be present, this connects you to your human nature, where you have greater access to the love, compassion and creativity that can help you solve problems, act authentically and create a life where your well-being can excel to new levels.
As you do the deconditioning work that helps your mind become lighter, less traumatized, and less dominated by your old human habit, your human nature becomes more predominant. The innate qualities of a healed mind become easier to access, but even so they are like seedlings that have just appeared to see the sunlight, these qualities can breathe now but they are not yet mature. As you cross this threshold, it is important to not expect a perfect ability to love, a continuous flow of present moment awareness, or a constant positive energy for life – there will continue to be ups and downs.
The key to taking more steps forward as the best version of yourself is repetition. Practice love for yourself and others and it will become stronger; pull yourself out of your perspective to take a look at how others see things and it will empower your mental agility; intentionally feel happiness for the success for others and jealousy will lose its power; take time to feel gratitude and eventually your mindset will flow in that direction more easily. The qualities that can support your happiness become available when you use your present moment awareness to live from a space of human nature, but even so you need to take time to strengthen those qualities so that you can continue elevating the parts of your mind that can help you thrive. When you understand the malleability of your mind, it brings energy to your courage so you can start taking back your power from your past.
Clarity & Connection:
Clarity & Connection will soon be 3 months old! It is finally available all over the world, in bookstores and online, it took a while because of the pandemic.
You can get a copy through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Book Depository for international orders, and at your local bookstore.
If you loved the book and have the time, please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. A good review makes a big difference.
Journal Prompt:
Have you fully accepted the new you that has emerged since your healing journey began? What is a habit that you know is good for you but that you struggle to build? Do you fear that if you fully strengthen this new habit, the old you may disappear? What do you want your life to feel like a year from now?
Links:
Clarity & Connection Barnes & Noble