After a rather showery start its been a sunny and warmer day. As I walked home I saw the blossom had appeared on the trees. The flowers nodded their heads in the slight breeze. It was an uplifting sight. Even if my hay fever has been very bad all day! Seeing how the trees had burst into flower, almost overnight, I was reminded of a couple of conversations I’ve had today. At the Centre I offer a peaceful space so people can step off the world for a while. There are also groups to give people space and time for reflection and healing. It’s lovely to see people burst into their own blossom as the weeks roll by and they acknowledge what has been troubling them.
We arrive here in this human form with all the potential for a positive life. We have skills and abilities. We want to belong and be part of a community. From the earliest age we learn so that we can adapt and belong. If we are praised we are able to take risks and explore our potential. If we are told we aren’t good enough we shrink into ourselves, perhaps never to take a risk of being ourselves again. As we grow up its hard for us to believe in ourselves if the people around us don’t. We develop an ego mind. A mind that wants to keep us safe. It will interfere in all sorts of clever ways to keep us safe. It doesn’t care if we are miserable or happy. It just wants us safe. It becomes more active if we threaten to burst out and blossom.
The debate that the ego inspires can be really confusing. The fears can be hidden deeply away from our concious mind. Emotions can be stirred up that we thought we had got over long ago. We can once again feel small, inferior or invisible. To burst through the ego restrictions takes a lot of self belief. Not easy when your own mind is telling you that you have little or no value. Perhaps that judgement has been with you for such a long time you have forgotten who said it in the first place. It’s not only family surroundings that affect us. School environment, social groups we go to or society’s values also influence our feelings about ourselves. Today there was a protest about testing 6 year olds for numeracy & literacy. Six year olds have no need of labels, to feel like they are underachieving already or to be classified in this way. Children of such a young age are learning all the time. They are curious and enjoy exploring. Leave them to play, ask the questions their way and follow their interests. At eighteen they will be happy, well rounded citizens ready to burst into blossom, creating for all of us a new future.
It may be a challenge for all of us to burst through our limitations but it is a necessity. How can we enjoy the life we are capable of if we stay wrapped up in the fear the ego creates? I know from my own experiences that changing things requires a lot of effort. If I had stuck with the limitation my art teacher passed on to me at thireteen my beautiful art would never have emerged. I was frightened to paint or draw. I found out I was actually frightened to create because of a throw away comment so long ago. Something I was proud of then, that my family enjoyed me doing, was taken away. My uncertain, scared steps into creating works of art were hedged with the fear that people would laugh at my art. Or that it would be judged and found lacking. Yet the pressure to create kept building inside of me. One day the paintings burst out. Almost overnight like the trees today. I realised that I loved painting. That each piece was a personal victory over my ego. Years later I happily describe myself as an artist. I have blossomed.
Where in your life are you the budding tree? What abilities are pressing to burst out of you, to flower, to blossom? What is your ego saying? How much is it holding you back from contribution your uniqueness to the world? The flowers bloom. The force of Nature makes it so. Be the force of Nature in your own life. Embrace all of your skills, talents and abilities and share them with us. The people who are a true part of your community will love you for the efforts you are making. They will encourage your steps out of your comfort zone. They will be as proud of you as you can be of yourself when you are in full bloom.
Day 169 of my blogging challenge.