Personal Psychology Series - Our Personal Psychology [1]
The First Inkings Of Desire To Understand Our Personal Psychology indicate a significant point in our lives has been reached. We are being prompted to explore the relationship as between self and self. The timing of these nudges is varied. I have lived through quite a few nudges. To my chagrin, I found that having reached my fifties thinking I had it sorted, I found that one comes up against the biggest nudge of all.
The nudge to unpack all you have learnt, peel away the carefully constructed petals that have become your feminine shell, traverse the dark night of the ego, and ultimately reveal your true self. This physical existence is a tough gig.
Let’s begin though by re-stating that my writings are based on my lived experiences thus are born from my 'knowing'. In using the term ‘psychology’, I feel as though I am treading on hallowed ground. My professional background is finance as it happens. Yet, this ‘feeling’ is exactly what pre-scripted society emphasises. We are living through times that deems ‘everything that moves’ must be academica-lised commercialised, monetised, legalised, science-tised, and medical-lised. I wonder, has society always been pre-scripted or am I now seeing more clearly what always was? The result of all this regulation is that people forget that they have their own expertise. Their instinctional knowing being the most powerful expertise of all.
We have been conditioned to seek answers outside of our selves. In placing undue reliance on others, we have subsumed our ability to intuit and think for ourselves. The machinations of society are very powerful; but not I think more powerful than the woman who realises that her individuality is for her to determine. As director of her life she has many options available to her, once she realises there are many way to navigate ‘what is’. There are numerous practices available to support our personal psychology which you will find when you open yourself up to the ‘idea’, that you are the best judge of what serves you, and stop giving your power away, by handing over your issue to another or a ‘professional’ and expecting them to determine how to fix it, whatever ‘it’ may be. Understanding our personal psychology is a very personal process, and there is only so much another can do. Interestingly, when watching a film recently about a trainee doctor, the experienced doctor said “Learn to listen. The patient will tell you ninety percent of whats wrong with them”.
The ancients recognised that life is a process. - A ‘process of becoming’. They accepted that we all pass through certain rites of passage and assisted that process using the arts of shamanism, flower and herb remedies. The process of awakening to self may be referred to as a 'spiritual awakening'. Is a very precious and deeply personal process. Its a time of death and destruction as all that no longer serves you is peeled away, the result of which reveals who you really are.
Societies however do not cherish the process of awakening to self as our ancestors did. It's boxed and labelled as depressed, reclusive, overly emotional, burnt out or mental breakdown to name but a few common terms, with drugs prescribed to numb the precious mind. Whereas when we place these episodes in our lives in the context of becoming and seek to unpack the source of our angst, we are led to the richness that lies within. We enter a journey of self-discovery. A journey that unfolds in proportion to your active involvement and level of desire to understand why you have chosen a particular experience. In ‘mans’ disparagement of the ways of old we have in fact disparaged and disempowered our very selves.
Joseph Campbell has a large body of work which describes the ‘heroines journey’ bringing the mythologies of old to life. We are all on a heroine or hero’s journey with our personal challenges designed to test our resolve to overcome self - our lower self. Carolyn Myss has built upon the work of archetypes, and Debbie Ford shadow work name the natural process that ‘is’ life - coming to terms with who we are in order to overcome what we are not. There are many far sighted wo-men working in the spiritual field for all of humanity. Find what resonates with you by listening with your heart. When we embrace different perspectives we come to see our humanness in a new light a light where we come to recognise our breadth and depth within is seeking to be heard. There are a vast number of methodologies that lay outside the mainstream prescribed way of addressing our personal issues, if we care to look.
Know Thy-Self encompasses the wisdom of the ages which honoured the journey of ‘becoming’. When we learn to work with and trust our intuition we find that we have the answers we need; answers that are tailored to our unique self. It’s time to remember the individualised self and her inherent knowing of what serves her best. We have infinite capacity when we remember who we are and look to natures intelligence. And I say that fully knowing that our challenges can be great indeed.
Consider this wonderful parable. There was a very old tree with branches reaching to the ground. Surrounding the tree was a group of people all of whom are unhappy about some aspect of their lives. They were invited to place their particular problem on a branch of the tree. Once this has been completed each person was given the opportunity to read all the problems hanging from the branches of the tree, after which they were invited to select any problem they wished. They invariably choose their own problem. For deep down inside each of us knows they have the ability to solve their own problem more easily than another’s. Looking within is the key to the bounty of this universe if only we took the time to Know Thy-Self.
My invitation to you dear reader is to choose what resonates with you in these writings, if anything, take it into your private self and leave the rest behind.
Date: April 8 2020
Authoress: Carol Lorraine
If you have found this article helpful to your personal narrative and wish to share, please attribute your sharing by linking to the web site: https://www.carollorraine-knowthyself.org
See HERE for full CopyWrite & Attribution statement. V1 2019