I want to start today’s message with this thought –
“Whatever you water will grow…”
… take a moment to let the thought marinade in your mind for a bit, and then we’ll get back to this thought in a moment. In the meantime, let’s get into Carl Jung’s message for us today.
“We don’t so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.” – Carl Jung
No matter how much we learn or how good we may become at dealing with life, having problems or encountering difficulty will be ever present during our human experience. And as we develop the ability to allow the experience to be felt without the overwhelming need to run from it, or change it, or control it – we grow our capacity to become bigger than the problem.
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. They will practice Indian yoga and all of its exercises, or observe a strict regimen of diet, even learn the literature of the whole world – all because they cannot get along with themselves.” – Carl Jung
“Somewhere, right at the bottom of one’s own being, one generally does know where one should go and what one should do. But there are times when the clown we call “I” behaves in such a distracting fashion that the inner voice of wisdom cannot make its presence felt.” – Carl Jung
“A man likes to believe that he is the master of his soul. But as long as he is unable to control his moods and emotions, or to be conscious of the myriad secret ways in which unconscious factors insinuate themselves into his arrangements and decisions, he is certainly not his own master.” – Carl Jung
Consider this example: when you drive to work in the morning (and you could insert many more examples in here), you naturally come under the influence of various different stimuli around you – the drivers on the road with you, the messages on billboards passing by and perhaps the radio.
By the time you reach your destination pay attention to your emotional state – if how you feel and the thoughts you think have become completely hijacked by the behaviour of other motorists, the messages on billboards or the news on the radio then understand what Carl Jung means when he says, “you are certainly not your own master.”
So whether we encounter an experience from the environment around us or an experience created within ourselves, when we are able to “be with” the experience – allowing the experience to be felt – without reacting to it, then we start to understand what Jung meant when he said, “problems don’t go away, but we gain the capacity to become bigger than the problems.”
Now we find ourselves inside that window of opportunity in which, “the inner voice of wisdom can make its presence felt,” as Jung suggests.
Let’s get back to the thought we started with: “What you water will grow.”
Whatever consistently holds your attention is what you are pouring your energy into. And anything that you consistently give your energy to WILL expand, and its presence will grow in your life.
Will you continue to let the world around you decide what captures your attention or will you grow bigger than the noise of the world, and as “the master of your soul” make a conscious choice about where you will pour the water of your attention?
… but first we need to become bigger than the problems around us by being able to have the experience, without the compulsion to react to it. And then take action only on what IS ours to change.
Today’s meditation is an exercise in sitting with the experience and finding that we are able to be ok with whatever the experience is.
A few thoughts to help you water only what you CHOOSE to grow:
- Be present. Be present in the experience and find that you are in fact ok, there is no need for instant reaction.
- Embrace your emotions. Emotions are also an experience that can be fully felt, without any need for instant reaction.
- Where attention goes, energy flows. Choose what gets the privilege of holding your attention.
- Choose where to pour your water. Once you’ve gained clarity, take inspired action to move forward.
Either we take the responsibility of consciously choosing our actions, or the world around us will hijack our reactivity and determine every step we take.
Have a beautiful Saturday peeps!
– pierre –
Today’s LIVE meditation is: Come to your senses.