There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul,
Una de las formas menos discutidas pero más poderosas de alinearte con tu verdadero propósito es identificar y liberar los desencadenantes emocionales que te están ralentizando y desviándote del rumbo.
Everywhere you look in my area (the southeastern United States), the 90s are back. The sundresses with little flowers on them, chunky white tennis shoes, and even cartoon nostalgia printed on sweatshirts and backpacks. These bucket hats are lighting up a part of me that I had long forgotten. A part of me that I worked so hard to cover up as bills, responsibility, and taxes got in the way. My guess is that this part of me reflects a part of you that you have also numbed out to or simply judged and shoved away.
I can feel the clear blue water around my calves. I can see the white sand that’s sinking my toes into its body. It’s cradling my stance as I look next to me and I see my grandmother and her mother standing in a line with all of my cousins, my father, my aunts and uncles, and my grandmother’s cousins. We are all in the water and the sun is shining, making priceless diamonds as it reflects on the blue-green ocean. The ocean water is carrying away the fears and the trauma of our lineage.
I will never forget the moment I decided to become a therapist. After a bout with art history and a laughable stint in the political science/pre-law department, I found myself sitting in an "abnormal psychology" class. I am positive they don’t call it that anymore because, what actually is “normal”? Anyway, I could see so much of myself in the pages of the “abnormal psychology” textbook. I could see so much of my past and how it was showing up in the way I moved about in the world.
I have heard it all. “Isn’t that what friends are for?”, “Why would I pay someone to listen to me complain?” “What good is it going to do to dig up the past? I’m fine.” And my personal favorite, “(insert coping skill here): it’s cheaper than therapy!” Yup. I am a therapist. And these are some of the common themes that I hear from friends, family, and the checkout person at my local grocery store when I am asked what I do for a living and I begrudgingly respond.
For the Ask Roger column, Roger Gabriel, Chopra’s Chief Meditation Officer, answers questions from our community. If you have a general question for Roger around meditation and spiritual practices, please send an email to askroger@chopra.com, and your question may be one he answers next.
The journal was sturdy and thick with a long, brown silky ribbon for a bookmark. Its pages boasted inspirational quotes I had never heard of before (“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings” – Eric Hoffer) and provided space for the eye to breathe. The font was modern, blue, cute. And on its sturdy fluorescent orange cover, it hollered “Okay Fine, I’m Grateful!”
Something about the twinkly lights, early dark nights, and the cooler temperatures makes us want to reflect. The holiday season could really be renamed, yearnings of yesterday because of all the feelings that come up during this time.