Spiritality of Struggle

A challenge dissolves the way we are and makes the boundaries more fluid, we are feeling a certain uncertainty. We are challenged by the way we look at our self and it takes us to an unknown place. So the challenge gives us the possibility to take a step forward and allow our self to roam more freely in the way we are. It involves a bit of sadness and fear. We start to wonder what is happening inside us.

There is different ways of coping. One thing for sure is that I feel lonely, that is what makes us uncomfortable but this is normal. A challenge is unique to us and the loneliness means this is a lonely path; we start to learn different type of skills if we accept the path of loneliness. We are alone in what we have to deal with. In reality, nobody can understand us. It is one of the best ways to engage with myself in a different way.

Aloneness, I choose, loneliness I don’t choose and it becomes a struggle, but it will start to push forward the start of creativity, the direct effect of loneliness is that the challenge becomes bearable; we get the strength to survive the day. It takes us to the point of who we are and this is not a bad thing.

Our main problem is that we don’t take responsibility of our life; all of us have to face issue bigger than we are use to sometimes. To find the way out, we need first to have a basic attitude of survival. We need to do everything to survive like reading, swimming, walking, sports, etc ... and then we need to be creative, we need to take the attitude that we want to learn from the challenge we’re facing, or we want to creatively find a way.

Sometimes we can’t solve all the problems. Sometimes it is ok to carry an issue. Creativity will tell us if it’s not the right time. It gives us a deep consolation. We can live with an issue without trying to solve it.

Remember that the most important thing is the attitude. It is ok to be lonely; it is ok to have an issue. We allow it to be, we accept this part of us we don’t understand. When I can’t understand myself, how can I expect someone to understand me? And then something happens. We learn to see our self differently because this issue has made us different. We have to realise that this is ok, that we can’t find a shortcut and some issue takes time to evolve.

There is nothing better in life to understand who we are, to accept the grey, the white and the black, It is ok to be the way we are. It brings us a deep sense of peace and we no longer struggle.

The experience of peace is the building block of our life. Carrying the burden is the learning process, and something new happens. We can be at peace even if we are not complete, therefore we need to have compassion for our self and for the others. Compassion is loving without understanding and it takes us beyond our problems.

Self Identity - Intimacy

Self Identity is born with us and will stay until we die. We are all trying to understand who we are and this question is so important that we would do anything for the answer.

Our environment, family and friends will push us to use the self destruction or the self loving. When we choose self destruction, it leads us to a low self esteem and depression. It is a direction we take as we choose all the things that make us unhappy (films, relationships, books...), and we’re ok with it because of low self esteem, we think we are not worth being loved. This idea is reinforced by people, or by a belief system. Some people will put us down to feel comfortable; some are aggressive because they want to take our power.

At some point we need to realise that we are worth being loved. It is a tough challenge, and we need to build a spiritual path with a strong foundation. When we’re not respecting our self, when we are not using life affirming ideas, we are losing contact with our self and we remain on a superficial level of intimacy.

Intimacy is the way I see myself in truth, it is a deep and honest view of who I am, and being honest is not easy, sometimes, but if we aren’t then we lose touch with our truth. It is a decision, there is no magic. Small incremental decisions every day will help us to stay on a life affirming path. And to be able to do that, we need think about the exception. If we live in a cloud, there will always be one day of light. When we think of that particular day, we go there and we stay for a moment that is how we open a window. When we choose life affirming energy, we find the seed that will help us to start something we think is impossible.

Le'ts activate our free will and we will discover our own spiritual path.

The Wheel of Life Harmony Center

Five Gateways - Our Journey of Ascension

Deborah Marshall-Warren - Hypnotherapy

The Mandorla

The Mandorla is a tool that helps us to explore our shadow side to move into the path of owning it and understand the dark side of our psyche.

Sometimes there is resistance to become better because the price to pay is too high for us, so we prefer to stay the way we are.
Issues keep coming up in our life, and we keep on having the same patterns of thoughts. They are triggered by a low self esteem, the feeling of being rejected, seeing people as a threat. We have issues of abundance (affection or material things) and issue of self identity.
- Some people are craving for attention and affection and will always be on the alert, they need the other to recognize their presence and will do anything to get the attention, even if it makes everybody miserable
- If somebody has a low self esteem, he would try to mirror his self esteem through money for example, the more he has, the better he thinks he is.

We have to identify with our inner power. We don't need extension of ourselves (like a car for example) to be ok. We don't need to have the perfect body to be ok. When we're in touch with our inner power, we don't need to excuse ourself, to explain why we think the way we do because we're ok with ourselves. We are crushed when we are not in contact with who we are really.

But how do we relate to our shadow ? The society has been telling us to fight our shadow side, it is a sin, it is black and bad. We have to hide it and discipline it, because Religion has interpreted it with shame.
Do not fight, do not try to destroy your shadow, you will hurt yourself big time. This is not the way to relate to our our shadow. What we need to do is become aware and become friends with it. Be curisous : what is my shadow part telling me ? Be interested, why is it here ?
The black and white are complementary. So whatever does not function is complementrary to my wholeness and whatever functions is complementary to my wholeness.

The Mandorla can help us to integrate our shadow.

The Mandorla is an ancient symbol of two circles coming together, overlapping one another to form an almond shape in the middle. Mandorla is the Italian word for almond. The almond is an ancient symbol for the closing up of valuable contents in a hard, almost impenetrable shell. It is a mysterious image of concentration upon the light that shines from within. Christ's true nature is supposed to lie beneath the surface of the corporal (bodily) being.

During medieval times, the almond was interpreted as a symbol of the embryo enclosed in the uterus. The form of the almond which suggests a stylized vulva may have contributed to such an interpretation. It is also a variant of a halo which surrounds the whole body of the holy person.

The Mandorla is also known as the "Vesica Piscis", symbolizing the interactions and interdependence of opposing worlds and forces. Although the symbol has its origins before the Christian era, the early Christians used the symbol as a method to describe the coming together of heaven and earth, between the divine and human.

The circles symbolise interacting but complementary opposites. The space within the overlap is the place in which we are called to "remain". This is the place where you arrive after you leave one room and have not yet entered another. In this place, you are living on the threshold and this requires faith. All transformation takes place in this space.

If we deny one of the opposites (our shadow), the circles may only touch; they do not intersect. In this situation, we are polarised, out of balance.

Our temptation is to keep them separate, the challenge is to allow them to meet. When opposite meets, it is a generation of living, it creates energy and passion. It is like the 4th stage of Alchemy, the creation of Gold :

1- Darkness

2- Lightness

3 - Mixte

4 - Gold

This creation of Force and Energy will help you to move forward ans we know that it is a life struggle to work on ourselves ...