Embrace the darkness within you

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[Music]

i am a house in me is darkness

my consciousness is a lonely light

a candle in the wind

it’s flickering here and there

everything else is in the shadows

everything else is in the unconscious

but they are there the other rooms

hallways staircases and doors

at any time and anything that lives

within you

and wanders within you it is there

it works and it lives within the house

that is me

many of us cringe at the thought of

embracing our inner darkness

i haven’t met anyone who said that i

enjoy being afraid

i enjoy being angry or i

fully and wholly embrace the fact that

i’m insecure

at this point in my life however

these emotions thoughts that we’re

taught are bad

and some that we personally dislike

these feelings of shame feelings of

anger

sadness despair feelings of loneliness

feelings of incompetence feelings of

inadequacy feeling like we aren’t enough

all these feelings we push

out of the light and into the dark

some of us mask these feelings

others let them define us

control us and even determine our lives

and for the rest of us we’re oblivious

to him

the uncomfortable thoughts the

unacceptable desires

and memories that we don’t want in our

conscious minds

life is about duality yin and yang

sun and moon day and night

emotions moods and our thoughts

also exist in duality and

each serve a specific purpose

one out of ten teens will go through

depression

self-esteem issues anxiety

as well as self-image issues

in their lifetime suicide at this point

in time is the leading cause of death

for youth globally

and so when we talk about depression

it isn’t being sad when everything in

your life isn’t going right

depression is when everything in your

life is going

sorry take that back um

yeah sorry miss stepping

okay depression is actually being sad

when everything in your life

is going right rather than when

everything is going wrong

and often than not what causes us this

discomfort

what causes us distress and suffering

resides in our unconscious minds

the part of our mind we don’t want

to see or we don’t have immediate access

to

this is what drives our defenses and

drives most of our behaviors

your senses help you to sense the world

and most importantly make sense of the

world

so when you ignore or shut out your

intuitive sense

you block the communication from within

yourself

you block that inner wisdom

therefore you’re more or less losing out

on a lot of information

about yourself and about your world

so how do you make the unconscious

conscious

um how do you bring light into what is

dark

how do you bring awareness to what

drives most of your

automatic actions automatic thoughts and

behaviors

the answer is simple

however it’s a little difficult

when it comes to actually putting it

into practice you basically have to

start by noticing

with conscious awareness these automatic

thoughts

these automatic actions these automatic

emotions

the ones that we immediately go to

things are going wrong or when things

are going right

in our lives start by questioning

these automatic thoughts these automatic

reactions these automatic emotions

instead of pushing them away and shying

away because they’re uncomfortable

or they’re they’re not sitting right

with you

start by being quite mindful of what it

is that triggered

those emotions because there

is where the answers lie there is where

you can

help yourself heal from those

uncomfortable feelings emotions and

thoughts

so today what i urge you

is to start building that bridge

not between yourself in an external

entity

but start building this bridge within

yourself building that bridge between

your conscious mind

and your unconscious mind start by

bringing the light

into what is dark start by being

consciously aware

of what drives your actions what drives

your behaviors

and what drives your emotions because

that is where your healing lines

in all my years of offering therapy

the most healing agent that i’ve seen is

not getting rid

of an uncomfortable situation or

unpleasant

context rather it is in awareness

it is in openness to learn from our pain

and i’m not telling you to start poking

at your pain for sadistic pleasure

because

that would be i would like to come see

me if that happens

but start poking at these pain points so

that you can learn more

learn about your pain because it is

there for a purpose

and there is something that your pain is

trying to teach you

and so if you’re uncomfortable you’re in

pain

you’re suffering there’s something in

that pain there’s something

in that suffering and perhaps there is

where your purpose

lies as well for a lot of people

that i’ve worked with that is what has

been their most

common healing agent that openness to

learn

and that awareness and mindfulness to

their emotions

their thoughts as well as their actions

namaste the light in me honors

the light in you for those who don’t

know what namaste means

thank you