“I’m a work in progress.” This remark struck a cord with me as it was spoken by a very bright young man who has had his share of ups and downs in life. It was a very insightful and honest statement from a person I have learned to respect. He spoke a great truth for we are all a work in progress.
Every day we wake up as a slightly different version of who we were yesterday. We are constantly in the motion of change, whether or not we realize that. The days’ experiences, the people we encounter and our perspective on everything that happens influences how we change. Sometimes life sends us rough patches and we have a choice when we are in those briar bushes with stickers. They hurt and we say “ouch”, but the real test is how long we allow ourselves to be stuck, and when we decide to push our way out of the stickers. We learn the most about ourselves when we are in hard times – we learn how strong, resilient, creative and innovative we can be. It forces us to grow and stretch in ways we didn’t know we could. If we will “hang in there” we discover a part of ourselves not known before.
The following quote expresses the essence of our work. “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold metals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.” by Jesse Owens In truth we all face the same garden variety struggles. Many of them stem from how we feel about ourselves – whether we feel lovable, loved, valuable and worthy. Some stem from long-standing internal battles that we are working to resolve — our buttons keep getting pushed to allow us to clear and release the issue. We fight it and it takes longer. If we understand that we can use this rough patch to grow and change, it sheds a new light on the issue. An “ah-ha” moment of insight and understanding changes us – we have progressed in our work.
Think of it as peeling an onion — there may be tears as we peel off a layer, but when the fresh skin of the second layer is exposed – it is different than the one we peeled off. It is new – shiney – fresh – just as are when we have grown or changed as we go through our life journey. This is a never-ending process. There will always be another layer to peel off because we are a living being. Thank goodness we are! I know that when we are in the middle of a struggle it is hard, but please be patient, kind, loving and compassionate with yourself – you are worth it. Much love from I.M. Heart.