All journeys have value and all journeyers have equal opportunity to advance in their lives, no matter their starting point. Everyone is born into a life of potential. Some people seem to have it all, very early in life, and they breeze through without a care in the world, while others have many challenges to overcome. Everyone is born into the circumstances that they need and that will help them to advance. Some people will not travel far in their life while others will make great leaps and bounds that carry them far from their beginnings. Without judgment, notice what your own life has challenged you with and how far you have come. Without judgment of others, notice how they are doing what they need to be doing to advance, based on what they have to undertake, just as you do. All beings are beings of light and love and goodness, even those who may not show it; just give them a chance. And don’t forget to give yourself every chance to take up the opportunities that you were born with too. Life! Its purpose is all about being where you are and taking up the challenges that life itself offers you, each and every day, as your stepping stones to greatness.
Let yourself off the hook a little more often. You are not as bad as you think you are. A little self-knowledge goes a long way as does a little self-compassion. One way to gain a little more self-knowledge is through experience, and by that we mean not just having experiences for the sake of doing things but having experiences with the goal of learning something from them. When you have an experience, and it can be any kind of experience, you are naturally going to feel something, gain something that might be of benefit to you, whether it be that you don’t want to have such an experience ever again or that indeed it was something that you enjoyed. What are you learning about yourself as you experience life and dare yourself to try new things? What more can you say about your experiences? Can you go deeper in finding out what they actually mean to you? Are you satisfied with yourself? Disappointed in yourself? Bored with yourself? Examine your feelings to the fullest, and then decide if you have gained in self-knowledge. If not, then perhaps it’s time to have a different experience.
When we get triggered we are involuntarily seized by the power of an archetype. Archetypes are the core building blocks of human experience that lie dormant in the ocean of our shared collective unconscious until called forth to define and respond to a situation we encounter.
The terror of a trigger is a tidal wave of emotional archetypal energy that floods both body and mind with panic. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” is an apt definition of the Shadowarchetype, as presented by the 1930’s radio mystery series. When we are caught off guard by an encounter, the Shadow archetype—the mystery and danger of the unknown—is activated, and we are in its grip.
Jung defined the shadow globally as everything that we are but don’t know about, which exists in the dark; hence, the term, shadow. Many things that exist in this dark region of the unconscious mind are purposely kept there because they evoke both fear and anxiety, which greatly compromise our stability and ability to function.
We are all frozen children in relation to our triggers. A child state is one of innocence. Shadow shatters innocence. We are no longer safe. We then install the protection of constrictive body armor. Our freedom of movement is checked by insistence of advance notice of everything. Our breath is shallow and often held. Our mind is either hypervigilant or not present at all.
The normal child state precedes the age of responsibility. The child, by definition, is taken care of. The overpowering danger of the greater world is held in abeyance until it is confronted by the shadow of the unexpected. When our adult state of confidence and autonomy is overpowered, we too become like children, overwhelmed by the unknown.
If we choose childlike defenses, we are caught in the existential kink of anguish, which contains the emotions of archetypes, generating the illusory belief that we are in control. Truthfully, however, we are like children playing hide and seek. We are victims, clinging to the child state of non-responsibility. We become like Little Red Riding Hood, haunted by the shadow of the Big Bad Wolf.
To defuse the power of archetype, we must first be willing to turn on the light in the shadow. This can be initiated by stating the intent to master the unknown trigger. Here, consciousness is taking a stand and presenting a suggestion to the subconscious mind. Previously, the subconscious mind was given the suggestion to avoid the trigger. That became its marching order and, consequently, an automatic habit.
This intent mobilizes the subconscious mind to channel the High Self, who then arranges a series of experiences tailored to achieve the necessary steps toward mastery. These experiences will show up in outer synchronicities, dreams and relationships. Slowly, the shadow archetype will be refined to reveal other archetypes that are the root causes behind the trigger.
For example, fear of approaching a woman might reveal the overwhelm of the Goddess archetype in all her piercing beauty; or terror of the Witch archetype, who threatens to castrate. Reflection on the terror experienced with an authority figure might reveal an encounter with a God archetype like Kronos, who would not even grant his children life.
The basics of achieving dominion over shadow require that we, as ego, undertake the Hero’s Journey. This will likely require that we revisit the triggers many times, as we gradually desensitize from them. When a trigger actually becomes boring, we are freed of emotional disruption. We are done.
There may be many other tasks to complete, as well, such as talking with or confronting someone, despite our trepidations. Inner mastery of the central nervous system through various kinds of breathing practices and body practices will support challenging tasks and build needed confidence.
Perseverance in all of these practices will eventually lead us to neutralize and integrate the shadow of all of our triggers. With this comes the restoration of a child’s innocence in the personality, coupled with an adult knowing that indeed, we can navigate the big bad world with truth and right action, the essence of love and wisdom.
No one can really say, for certain, what will happen at any time because free will is an active ingredient in every life on earth. Every person has free will, from the most powerful to the most helpless, from the wisest to the most ignorant. Free will is just that, a decision-making power that has no rulebook, no brakes, and no restrictions. It is that which takes action in spite of what is known or not fully known. It is the energy that leaps and either accepts the consequences or denies the consequences. It takes no responsibility for its actions. It is also the energy that rarely thinks of others, that seldom sees the bigger picture, that in the blink of an eye can make a decision that will affect all that it cannot see, all that it cannot understand, and all that it will not acknowledge. Beware of free will.
Remember who you once were, a small child with big dreams, an innocent figure in the big world, wondering how you would ever be able to do the things you dreamed of. Perhaps you felt invincible and untouchable and those feelings propelled you forward into life. Or perhaps you felt weak and unworthy and those feelings followed you into life. Perhaps it took you only a short time to achieve your goals or perhaps it has taken you a long time to finally feel like you belong. Either way, you all started out from the same small place of childhood innocence and thus you all had equal opportunity to grow, whether you felt that at the time or not. Everyone born into the world is filled with hope and wonder and possibility. Circumstances that challenge are the things that make you really innerly strong. If your inner life is strong and resilient, so are you. Look to your strengths rather than your weaknesses. In gathering the truths of your abilities, be in amazement every day at how well you have done and how wonderful your life really is.
