Courage and Compassion

It was a dark night in Memphis. I was heading to the hotel. Friendly people on the corner greeted me. As I turned to respond, I missed the curb and BAM! In an instant I was on the ground. My glasses flew off my face and my bag went flying. Yowee. Kazowee!

All is well, just a scrape here and bruise there. No big deal. The big deal came later as I sat down to reflect on what happened. I have fallen in the past, on ski slopes, in the back yard, on stage (during rehearsal, thank goodness) and countless other places. In fact, I remember my father saying that I could trip over a rose in the carpet. It seems I was way over due for a little self reflection about this pattern.

A practice of self reflection can help us unearth old tendencies and release patterns of feeling and being. Moreover, self reflection goes a long way towards cultivating greater self awareness. Engaging in rigorous and honest self reflection demands both courage and compassion. For in order to cultivate a life long discipline of self reflection, you need to know that you are not going to beat yourself up every time you find yourself "less than" some ideal image you hold of who and how you should be...so you need self compassion. And, courage, hooboy do you need courage to be honest with yourself as you reflect!

Can you see how this works? Because if you are going to be rigorously honest with yourself, you need the courage to face what you find. And if you are going to willingly address what you find, you need to be compassionate with yourself so that you can face whatever you've found with a kind heart.

What I found is an old pattern rooted in a fall I took as a child and the guilt I felt about that fall. I also found a feeling of fear about my body. Armed with this knowledge, I was able to dismantle the intrapsychic structures supporting this old tendency using spiritual technology.

Spiritual technology processes are fabulous tools that aid in releasing the tensions that accumulate in life and beyond that, they provide a means of releasing the pain caused by being caught between pairs of opposites. In this case, it was the duality of confidence and fear along with guilt and freedom that were influencing my behavior and my state.

What might change for you if you approached your self reflection with greater courage and compassion? Are there pairs of opposites showing up in your life that are contributing to patterns that don't support your well-being?