"Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end."

sunnuntai 2. syyskuuta 2012

(w)here am I

I have gone through a very interesting process within the past week through certain actions, their consequences and the way they were handled. I have realized what actually happened, how and why it happened the way it did and learned new things about myself and the laws according to which the human mind functions. I will now open it through writing to clarify and internalize.

On Sunday I was faced with fears, some of which I was conscious of and some of which I wasn't. The ones I had been conscious of were of the kind I had been dealing with for some time but without consistency, and I had been hoping the progress I had made thus far would be enough for me to face the situation without addressing the issue with others involved. The ones I had not been conscious of have been opening up little by little during the week as I have been conscious of the issue, and more will probably be revealed as I venture deeper into this issue.

As I decided to leave the issue unaddressed, the situation ended up in confusion. It was not properly discussed immediately after, as we, the participants, didn't stop to clarify what had happened and why. We let it slide out of fear and everything was left unresolved.

The situation was discussed a few days afterwards. I had gone through the discussion in my head beforehand, “rehearsed it” so I would not be misunderstood, and while going through how I would say what I wanted to say I did find an actual point of stability when I realized that I would be able to let go of the ones involved and go on with my life without them; not a resolution I hope for, but one I would be able to face.

As we discussed I gave into fear before the issue was even addressed. I was going to address it directly, yet I didn't, and I waited around for other participants to bring it up and ask me directly – as is visible, the “rehearsing” didn't help at all. I knew what I was going to say even without the mind-preview, as I knew what I was talking about, yet I did not trust myself.

As we discussed, I faced an unexpectedly aggressive reaction from another. I have discussed this issue with others before and depending on the person it has always been handled differently, yet I have never faced a reaction of such rejection before. I reacted to the reaction with a fear I closely relate to the issue at hand – the fear of abandonment. I reacted by becoming “less”. I went with the reaction of the other and validated it by making myself “less”, and experienced guilt, shame and a need to apologize.

After the discussion I was alone in my apartment and felt a crushing need to “fall”: to let myself crumble and turn into a hystericly crying mess. I knew I do not want to allow myself that, as it is an explosion of energy that could be directed otherwise, and as all the emotions driving me towards “falling” are of the kind that can be let go of and handled without crumbling. I forbid myself to collapse and focused on my breathing, and within the act of forbidding I made a mistake – I suppressed the emotion trying to get out and stopped myself from seeing what was actually driving me, and instead I created a new kind of a demon. I got trapped into a state I now call being “possessed by energy”.

As I was focusing on my breathing I really thought I had returned here, but as I could have noticed from my physical symptoms (crying and shaking) I really was not. I tricked myself into believing I was doing ok. I have been introduced to the tool of self-forgiveness and I know it can be used to free myself of anything I face, and as I thought I was ok and as I really wanted to let go of what I was experiencing, I ended up using the tools, but as I noticed afterwards, if utilized from within energy it is nothing but abusing the tools for ones own end, making no real progress nor actual change. I had trapped myself within the energy demon that consisted of a myriad of fears, and from within the fear I tried to face the things I was at the moment blind to. It was useless and led to writing I published on my blog (http://toepoe.blogspot.fi/2012/08/what-your-soul-sings.html).

As the energy psychosis faded I little by little started to see everything that went wrong. I now see that I “failed” even though I know failing is unneccessary on the path of progress. I asked myself what could have been done differently – how could this have been avoided – and realized this is not the question to ask, as the situation could have been settled during the discussion, or on Sunday, or ten years ago in my childhood, or a hundred years ago when our culture was developing – you probably see my point here, as I could go on and on. Things have been leading up to this point for god knows how long.

As I had been going through these realizations I also experienced impatience. I wanted to discuss this stuff through immediately, but then I asked myself why, and realized that there too lies fear: I fear a delay will cause the other to make a decision within which any and every “explanation” I present would not be heard – thus I fear I will be unfairly judged and abandoned – and then I acquired a point of stability from within myself that has been within me from since. If I am not heard even though I speak that which is true in self-honesty without aggression, and if it is not even discussed, then the one who does not hear is not what I am looking for and can be let go of with no remorse.

For a few days I have been assisting myself in maintaining that point of stability and it has been. I didn't sleep for three nights in a row and the fourth was nothing but restless dreams, and the night time when I cease my daily activities is when my mind attacks me, but I have been pulling through surprisingly good even without sleep. (I have been active during the day simply because I have had a lot to do, not because I would be escaping my thoughts – a welcome pause, yes, but I am also conscious of how one could be escaping into work.)

I will turn to self-forgiveness, now knowing my tool better.

2 kommenttia:

  1. How greatly deeply Emmi! You have great skills of analytical writing. Your description of "rehearsing" a feared discussion resembles the endless "rehearsals" I conducted in my mind during my difficult teenage years. They were imaginary discussion with my bullies where I was trying to invent snappy replies to their snappy teasing. It was doubly counter-productive: I "lost" most of the debates even in my own head and even the ones that I "won" in my head never turned out to resemble any real situation or help in them. If anything, the real situation got even more difficult because I was getting more mechanical in my replies and more confused when things did not go "according to the script".

    I am sorry for the heavy emotions you have been through. I am sad you did not sleept for many nights. I wish good rest and strength for you.

    VastaaPoista
  2. Great skills accumulate from great amounts of practice. It's not rocket science once you get down to it.

    There are times (recently quite often) when I would just like to yell a big fat "shut up!" to my mind for constantly blabbering and planning things beforehand. The more frustrating it gets, the more I realize the only way to silence my mind in a way that's not suppressive is to deal with the fears and desires that cause me to live from within my mind. It might be a slow process, but consistency will bring about change.

    VastaaPoista