There’s Boy George, who, whilst in prison, has “found himself”. There’s Lola who seems to be in that process. And, then there’s me.
It’s difficult to explain. I’ve said (somewhere, at various times) that this blog is my own process of finding myself but that’s not actually true. I know exactly where I am; exactly what I am. This blog explores some of that and permits me to organise my thinking on it in a more logical way, allowing me to make conclusions and decisions based on what I find. I think it is better defined, not as me looking for myself but, rather, for me looking for a way in which me, as the person I am, can come to terms with the world around me and, also, for this world to realise who I am.
There’s a lot of ‘I’ in that. Perhaps, though, I have it wrong. Perhaps I should be reading the book that Boy George did or perhaps this follow up and, perhaps this is what it’s really all about.
I love the idea of the ‘Pain Body’ – that is (from my understanding), the part of you that holds and keeps safe all the emotional pain throughout your life. This all makes sense. In the same way that you don’t tend to put your hand in a candle flame more than once, you tend to shy away from things that have caused you any emotional pain or stress. As human beings we ‘learn’ through our experiences. But our experiences also hinder us from doing things that, maybe, we should do.
I also, particularly like Echart Tolle’s suggestion that accepting the present is the way forward, for this is what I try to do anyway. In fact, Wiki’s description of the final chapter of A New Earth, seems perfect (for me) as I’m already partly there (although, maybe, only a very tiny part).
‘Tolle’ explains the several ways to finding a more peaceful way to live. There are three stages in the inner consciousness of an individual. The three stages are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Acceptance is when you may not enjoy what you are doing but you have to be able to accept it. This is essentially being able to take responsibility in your life and to take action with certain things that are not enjoyable at all and to find peace within these activities. Enjoyment is the next modality and it is being able to make the present moment a pivotal part of your life. This doesn’t mean that if you want to do something that you will find enjoyment in it. It means that with everything you do that you need to enjoy it in the present; you can’t let the moments pass you by or tell yourself you will enjoy something in the near future. The final modality of the inner consciousness is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm entails that there is a deeper enjoyment in the actions you do and being able to work towards a final goal, with a sense of urgency, but without stress.
Hmm. Perhaps these should be my next two books to read?