2nd in series on The Untethered Soul

Hello everyone, This week we have been talking about how we build in protection that ends up restricting/crippling us. In Michael Singer's book The Untethered Soul, he gave the metaphor of the thorn. Think about having a thorn in your body somewhere. It hurts when it is touched but otherwise we can ignore it. But, it is in a place that it gets touched often. So, we are careful where we might go that might have things that would reach out and touch it. We are careful what people we get around because they touch it, sometimes with just a word. If the wind blows too hard, it can hurt. We roll over on it in our sleep. It is so upsetting. So we construct a defense. We start by building up a small wall around it, but that doesn't fix it completely. So, we build a bigger defense Pretty soon, in protecting the thorn, we restrict our movements, our involvements, our very happiness in an effort to avoid pain. This thorn and our need to protect it takes over a large portion of our lives. Instead of living, we are protecting. When we have been hurt, unless we have dealt with it and released it, we spend lots of energy in trying to avoid that particular pain again. One example that comes to mind; if we ask for what we need, people won't like us anymore. The child who was told they were selfish and Mommy was angry when they asked for what they wanted and needed. So we avoid asking for what we need and end up unhappy, lonely and frustrated. We are going to talk about falling behind the thought to a place of observing. Simple yet very challenging concept. Have a great week. Rev. Carolyn