What's Personal?
Note: I am co-hosting an evening online event with Russell Bishop called The Myth of the Spiritual Path next week on Wednesday, February 8th, at 4pm Pacific/ 7pm Eastern (8pm here in Puerto Rico). It is free to attend. Register here.
I recently wrote a newsletter titled It’s Not Personal, and in a nutshell it relates that what others do and how they see you isn’t personal, but rather is a culmination of all of their own inner belief systems about the world, about others, about God, about existence, and about themselves. That each relationship resides primarily inside of each person. You can read the whole article here.
So, if what others do or say to/about you isn’t personal, then what is personal?
How you relate to others inside of you, and how you relate inside of you to the experiences you are having is personal.
When I was taking the Spiritual Psychology course through the University of Santa Monica, one of the reoccurring reminders was that “how you relate to the issue is the issue”. With this in mind, the feelings you have, your thoughts, your points of views and your opinions are personal to you. How you relate to other people inside of you is personal to you. What you take the experiences you have had in your life to mean about you, others, the world, God, is personal to you. How you view difficulties is personal.
What do I mean by personal? I mean it is your responsibility to handle.
There are positive ways in which we relate to our world. They are positive because they lead to our greater learning, growth, health, wealth, happiness, loving, caring…you get the idea.
There are also negative ways in which we relate to our world, and they lead to disturbance, disease, contraction, poverty consciousness, depression, anger, hate, etc.
All of those experiences are available within us. And each person has a responsibility to themselves first, but also to others, to handle the inner experience of life in the most positive way they can.
We have the opportunity to heal those past hurts, whether ours or generational traumas, in order to relate to the world in a more positive way inside of us, which if you haven’t caught on, actually is reflected in our outer world. When we truly heal the wounds of the past, there is an observable change in behavior. Trying to change your behavior ‘out there’, without addressing the underlying cause, is a fools errand in my experience.
So, now that you know what is personal, how to you start on your path to healing?
Getting to the point where you ask that question with meaning is so important, because asking that question with the sincerity of your beingness moves you into a state of openness, and in a state of openness, you can find the way. If you get no answers in what I am writing, but walk away with a question that won’t leave you alone, then I have succeeded because that kind of question will give you the motivation and energy needed to find the way to your own salvation.
There so many tools and techniques and paths to venture for your healing. Each person must find those that work. The most important quality to look for in any method is a basis of loving. The loving of the highest good for you and all concerned. The loving that brings compassion and empathy to those parts inside that have experienced pain and trauma. The loving that shines the light into the darkness. For this is the loving that heals.
If you are interested in finding out more about working with Nat, respond to this newsletter or visit his website transcend.online