A dear friend of mine shared a powerful insight she had recently that will forever change the way she views herself. These insights will also open her to an even richer expression of who she is. This insight came on the mat of her Dojo. She is studying to be a Ninja and her teachers are wise and understanding of their students.
She was learning a new move and was told to stand open. She said “I am open” and the teacher said she was not. My friend insisted not only was she standing open but was in fact an open person with an open heart. So the teacher came behind her and gently helped her move into an open position and my friend felt a deep fear arise. It rose up with such power she wanted to run from the Dojo and never come back. She was mindful enough to know this reaction was important for her to face. In that moment she actually opened her heart to herself in a way that was spacious enough to take in all of who she is.
She processed with her kind teacher and her fellow student what had come up and this deepened her insight into who she was beyond the story she had told herself. With this awareness of not being who she thought she was, she began to turn her inner light toward who she was beyond her self-perception and the deeper false belief of not being ok.
When we got together to talk she had deepened the journey of self-discovery to the point of now being open to really looking at herself with a curiosity free of judgment. From her now impartial viewpoint she saw herself as guarded and protected and more alone than she had realized. This was not who she was but who she had become.
Emotions began to flow but the ride was more energizing than disappointing because a part of her knew this wisdom about self would help to liberate her to be who she wants to be. She wants to be an open and loving person and now she can because she sees what’s in her way. The blockages of the past now no longer have the restraint they once had. With awareness comes choice and her choices are now informed by a richer view of what is possible.
When awareness arrives with such clarity it offers the recipient the chance to transform him or herself. This transformation becomes possible with a focused intention and the willingness to look with kindness and interest at oneself. This interested looking will take the person to a place of more aliveness and personal freedom.
When we see who we are beyond the story and reactivity of our conditioning the light of potential will be almost blinding. As the Buddha said, “When you wake up, you are filled with love and compassion.”