Now that you know, YOU get to choose.
Now that you know, you get to choose.
Doesn’t matter what it is. If you recognize something about yourself, you now get to choose what to do with it.
Vast amounts of our lives are lived unconsciously, and many of our responses are triggered by assumptions that were forged in our depths, assumptions that we don’t even know exist. Our perspective of the world and relationships were formulated, at least in part, on early and possibly misunderstood experiences, (positive or negative) fears, and reinforcements.
Living consciously is all about LOOKING at ourselves. It is about noticing how we respond, what we think, what triggers some emotion in us. It’s about taking those clues, and beginning to ask questions. And that is where the MAGIC can happen. Once we begin to see it, once it is no longer enshrouded in the realm of the unconscious, we are offered a door into a new way of experiencing the world.
And, oh, yes, that’s also where the RESPONSIBILITY lies. Because once you see it for what it is, it is yours in a new way.
A few examples:
- When you at last grasp that your anger shows up because you have given away your power, you get to wrestle with what it means to regain personal power in a healthy way.
- When you at last realize that you are dismissive of people who differ from you because you are afraid of being wrong, you get to explore why you are so afraid of being wrong and what to do about it.
- When you at last recognize that you are reacting negatively to your partner in the same way you reacted negatively to your parent, you get to figure out how to choose new behaviors and responses that work in your current relationship.
No, it’s not just flipping a switch. Seeing doesn’t automatically translate into change. But GROWTH as a person is recognizing that once you see, once you know, YOU ARE NOW BLESSED WITH THE POSSIBILITY AND THE RESPONSIBILITY of finding a way forward into a more healthy way of relating, living, and being. Even if you find, for whatever reason, that you wish to remain in an old pattern, then you do so because you have chosen to do so, and no longer because you are a victim of unconscious triggers.
