I learnt a big lesson about pain and suffering this week. Pain - both physical and emotional - is unavoidable in life, because we have a body. Emotional pain - in the form of sadness, grief, fear, anger or a messy combination of all these darker feelings - is damned uncomfortable but it’s actually nothing to be afraid of. If you are prepared to turn towards the pain with great compassion, to … [Read more...] about I hurt, therefore I am telling a story
Pearl Within blog archive
The power of decision is my own
As I was sitting at home this morning, gazing at my bookshelves, my eyes fixed on the distinctive blue and gold spine of A Course In Miracles. After a minute or so, I felt moved to pick it up and open it at a random page. It fell open at Lesson 152. The opening paragraph reads as follows: "The power of decision is my own. I cannot suffer loss unless it is my own decision. I cannot suffer pain … [Read more...] about The power of decision is my own
My own personal longing for fellowship
I have been reflecting today about fellowship. What it means, where you can get it, how you can become a part of it. To me a fellowship, in a non-religious sense, means a company of individuals connected by a common purpose, with similar interests and values, who are committed to that goal or purpose. Each individual works as part of a team to support the other individuals on their … [Read more...] about My own personal longing for fellowship
When is an obstacle not really an obstacle?
Question: what do you do when someone places what seems like an insurmountable obstacle in front of you? Do you try to climb over it? Squeeze round the side of it? Or just give up and back off? Or do you play with the metaphor to see if there is a solution your conscious mind hasn’t yet come up with? OK. Let’s play. What kind of obstacle is that obstacle? It is a great big boulder that has been … [Read more...] about When is an obstacle not really an obstacle?
No more Nice Girl: unleash your Inner Mean Bitch…
I used to believe that I wasn’t an angry person. That I didn’t “do” anger. I avoided loud people, rarely had arguments and condemned aggression. Anger did not fit into my self-image. No, I was the nice girl - calm, balanced, sensible, controlled, reasoned, a people-pleaser. All sweetness and light. Except that I wasn’t. A covert hostility lurked beneath the surface, which manifested itself in … [Read more...] about No more Nice Girl: unleash your Inner Mean Bitch…
Finding a safe space in the pages of an old book
I want to talk about books. Not just any old books - I mean the books that either sit on your shelves, unloved and unread, or the books that you keep for years after you’ve first read them, waiting to be called to them once more. One of the books that had languished unread on my shelves for some time was Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I bought it years ago when it was … [Read more...] about Finding a safe space in the pages of an old book