Visability

[Gem]

Originally Posted by hazada guess

I've just come across this Thread and something has urged me to respond.
Just to say that I feel everything is hidden in my life, mainly for fear of being ridiculed.
There is so much ,infact,I would go as far as saying everything is hidden, I don't want to upset the status Quo but I myself know the truth.
Please don't think that I am mad,(I'm not),and that folks is all I will say.

"...like the most of us are. Very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad"

Originally Posted by Gem

"...like the most of us are. Very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad"

thanks Gem. Lets say thanks to this Forum I've been able to look onto this world in a completely different way and come to realise that everything makes sense.
I'll never forget how much the people on here helped with my awakening, as when I joined I was a complete novice mourning the loss of my mother, not giving any thought to Spiritualism. Now I know my true path thanks to signs and synchronicities throughout my life.
All I can say is that this forum is a Godsend.

[Native spirit]

That is a lovely thing to say and everyone does what they can to help others on their path.


Namaste

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by Gem

I think there is good reason to hide away, so I'm not one who says you should be open and revealing etc, and even though it is not healthy to go further and further into the dark hole, it might be a better option at the time. I really wouldn't know. I know about hiding things away in shame and the like and parts get blocked off so you don't function as a whole person anymore, and you'd think there has to be a process of recovery for all that, but it might involve getting worse before it gets any better. I just say 'might' because to me it's all a big maybe.

there is a kind of honesty involved, that you don't get any other way. and that can help with spiritual endeavors depending on your outlook i guess. not that i'm saying it is any fun, mind you...

[sentient]

There is the story about the thieves who wanted to steal the village bell.
In order not to be heard – they blocked their own ears.

*

[Native spirit]

No one will think you are mad i think there is a space in all our lives that we keep hidden.
for various reasons some through Trauma etc.
I have always said never condemn anyone until you walk in their shoes.


Namaste

Originally Posted by Gem

I think there is good reason to hide away, so I'm not one who says you should be open and revealing etc, and even though it is not healthy to go further and further into the dark hole, it might be a better option at the time.

It depends on the individual really. There's all this stuff about self-awareness within Spirituality but everything you're talking about here is how we perceive ourselves and how we respond to that. The things that we hide away are the things we have created via judgement we've laid upon ourselves or not being able to understand ourselves at a deeper level. Many people would say that psychology has nothing to do with Spirituality but how we perceive ourselves and our response to that often 'colours' our Spirituality. That might be the whole reason we decide we're Spiritual in the first place, because a 'Spiritual me' is better than this 'thing' my perceptions have created.

Can't we have the compassion for our flaws, can we not forgive ourselves for being human? Is our Love for ourselves conditional in that we might Love ourselves better if we didn't have flaws, we might Love ourselves more if we lived up to our own projection of what we think we should be?

If we can't do that how Spiritual are we really?

Sometimes being human is the most Spiritual thing we can do.

[blackraven]

Originally Posted by Gem

I think there is good reason to hide away, so I'm not one who says you should be open and revealing etc, and even though it is not healthy to go further and further into the dark hole, it might be a better option at the time. I really wouldn't know. I know about hiding things away in shame and the like and parts get blocked off so you don't function as a whole person anymore, and you'd think there has to be a process of recovery for all that, but it might involve getting worse before it gets any better. I just say 'might' because to me it's all a big maybe.

I have to agree with this statement, at least from a personal experience stand point. I have a lot of shame, mostly from not being what I deem a better person, one with higher standards and more integrity. I've disappointed so many people in my life that I have crossed paths with that at this point in life, I'd rather live with those secret memories than bare open my soul.

I also believe that every person has the right to privacy. Some people would call this concealing the truth or indirectly lying about oneself. But the way I see it is if I have changed over the years from who I formerly was or at least make a conscious effort to be a better me with other people, why should I have to dig up the ugly past. Don't I want respect in my current life? Sure do. I'm loved by the people that really count in my life and that's all that really matters to me.

I don't have so called friends anymore because I just don't do well with others once they see my flaws and judge me and abandon me. Have had enough of abandonment for a lifetime. I'm happy for other people that have genuine happiness with having friends. It's just not for me.

I recently looked up someone I let down in life only to find out he died 5 months after he retired. It left a emptiness in me on a level of unfinished business and inability to apologize. Just can't torture myself like that every day by revisiting all my past misgivings. Some people need to go through life reviews via therapy or other means (maybe journaling), but I've done it all and the surface was barely scratched and in the end I was made to believe all my problems stemmed from "mommy issues". Ugh. Probably true to some degree, but I'm much more complex than that.

I just live life. I take it one day at a time and try to do better each day than I did the previous day. That's enough self-pressure there.

I rambled on much too much, but I think I expressed everything I wanted to.

(Just realized I started every paragraph with "I", but it's all my personal opinion so don't mean to be full of myself. This is a good thread and I look forward to reading other's input.)

[Anala]

This thread is simple and complex all at once. There is the way we see ourselves, with our labels and perceptions. There is the way others see us. There is the way we think others see us. And there is the way we see ourselves in others. There are probably many more I have not thought of... At times it is like a house of mirrors, with ourselves in control of where and how to look. We are our own harshest critique.

Sometimes I feel as if we are so willing to forgive others, yet have a difficult time forgiving ourselves. I was listening to a podcast in which the person described forgiveness is not forgetting, it is learning to stop telling the event.

Life events large and small are lessons, not always fun or comfortable, but lessons all the same.

The forum is a safe place for me to explore a new aspect that may have always been there but was unacknowledged, due to fear and shame and judgements of others. Here I learned new words to help learn concepts that seem more fluid than solid at times.

Few in my town are like me. There is only one irl person can I talk to and I am thankful for this person. I can not order books on the subject in my library and no one in my family knows this side, the spiritual side. I do have a child who is an empath and I fear for him. But, he is wiser and tougher than me. Autism has its perks.

In this small judgmental place that I live in, I am an outsider, I look different, I talk with my hands, I am weird or crazy or wonky or...insert label here..... I am very invisible, where I live.

But here, I am free to listen and read and learn and I am thankful. When I have questions, there are people I can reach out to, to ask...

Maybe we are to extend the love and compassion not only to others but to ourselves and treat ourselves more gently with a softer focus.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Anala

This thread is simple and complex all at once.

Yes, it is.

There is the way we see ourselves, with our labels and perceptions. There is the way others see us. There is the way we think others see us. And there is the way we see ourselves in others. There are probably many more I have not thought of... At times it is like a house of mirrors, with ourselves in control of where and how to look. We are our own harshest critique.

Sometimes I feel as if we are so willing to forgive others, yet have a difficult time forgiving ourselves. I was listening to a podcast in which the person described forgiveness is not forgetting, it is learning to stop telling the event.


Life events large and small are lessons, not always fun or comfortable, but lessons all the same.

The forum is a safe place for me to explore a new aspect that may have always been there but was unacknowledged, due to fear and shame and judgements of others. Here I learned new words to help learn concepts that seem more fluid than solid at times.

Few in my town are like me. There is only one irl person can I talk to and I am thankful for this person. I can not order books on the subject in my library and no one in my family knows this side, the spiritual side. I do have a child who is an empath and I fear for him. But, he is wiser and tougher than me. Autism has its perks.

In this small judgmental place that I live in, I am an outsider, I look different, I talk with my hands, I am weird or crazy or wonky or...insert label here..... I am very invisible, where I live.

But here, I am free to listen and read and learn and I am thankful. When I have questions, there are people I can reach out to, to ask...

Maybe we are to extend the love and compassion not only to others but to ourselves and treat ourselves more gently with a softer focus.