It is such a human response to pick out all that's wrong,
All the ways that we have perceived ourselves to have failed or fallen short or being not good enough in some way.
So when you find yourself in this place,
Rather than becoming identified with that state,
With the heavy emotions and the hostile thoughts that it brings,
See if it's at all possible to meet that suffering,
That pain,
That wounding from a place of compassion and love.
Instead of reflexively being swallowed up by the darkness,
Inviting it to sit alongside you as you gently turn toward it and see it for what it is,
Not badness or wrongness,
Just pain.
Knowing that to judge or attack or reject it will only strengthen it,
Like pouring fuel on a fire.
And just like the child that is acting out and behaving in ways that are so challenging to offer kindness and understanding to,
They are merely asking for love in unlovable ways.
Your wounded parts are doing the same.
They may present in unthinkably cruel thoughts,
Stories,
Judgements,
And yet if we can be present and wise enough to see through the hostility,
We would witness scared,
Abandoned,
Hurt,
Wounded parts,
Parted for the elixir of our love,
Our inclusion,
Our acceptance.
Begging for love and validation,
Longing to be told they matter.
They belong.
We spend entire lifetimes and immense amounts of life energy fighting with these elements of our shadow,
Willing and wishing them away,
Condoning their expression,
Denying their existence and disparaging the ways in which they seek attention.
But they are here,
And however much we may wish them away,
They are a part of our story and a part of our journey.
And the paradox of it all is that the way to unburden and heal them isn't through denial,
But through acceptance.
