The spiritual journey is one of constant transformation. in order to grow, you must give up the struggle to regain the same, and learn to embrace change at all times.
One of the most important areas requiring change is how we resolve our personal problems. We normally attempt to solve our inner disturbances by protecting ourselves.
Real transformation begins when you embrace your problems as agents for growth…
~ Michael A Singer taken from The Untethered Soul
Many of us had childhood experiences that were upsetting to our immature minds. These disturbances affected us, and often we thought that we had made it happen. We blamed ourselves, but we also didn’t want to have the feeling of guilt, shame or fear. We tried to protect ourselves, by avoiding situations that might upset us again or by soothing ourselves to take our attention away from the upset.
Michael Singer uses an analogy of being pricked by a thorn. Imagine that you are pricked by a thorn when you were young. It hurts and we want to protect ourselves. As we grow up we find ways to avoid getting close to things that might aggravate the thorn. We might build a protective covering around it so it isn’t exposed, and go through life protecting it. Avoiding the pain could become our life’s focus.
Of course, the alternative approach to deal with the painful thorn is to pull it out. Yet, it takes courage to approach it so directly and deal with source of the pain. To a young mind, it thinks it will make the pain worse.
So we find ourselves later in life, still dealing with old issues and beliefs that have become a part of who we are. We may not even remember how we got the thorn in the first place, and accept our adaptive behavior as “normal”.
Then one day, something happens that pulls the rug from underneath us. Life isn’t as we expected it to be. We lose our bearings. As we begin to gather ourselves back together, we become aware of our conditioning and the old wound.
This is the call to wake up from the trance we have been in for so long. Only when we can pause and look inwards with curiosity and compassion, can we begin to break free of the old thorns.
When we confront the wounds we have been protecting and denying we can heal and live authentically in the world.
This is the key to becoming who we truly are and for our continued transformation and growth.
Namaste
Find Your Middle Ground 
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