Applying Selfness --- brad johnson

Started by myststars, July 21, 2017, 02:39:26 PM

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Deb

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July 21, 2017, 07:31:50 PM
What an interesting coincidence that he would be talking about draining yourself and selflessness. Just today I was reading a book a friend gave to me years ago, "Gift from the Sea." It's basically a book about what it is to be a woman. It's an old book, now 60+ years old, so times have changed to some degree since then but I think her wisdom is not only still valid today, but extremely advanced considering the book was written by a wife and mother of five, in 1955!

From the book:

"I might spill myself away!
Is this then what happens to a woman? All her instinct as a woman—the eternal nourisher of children, of men, of society—demands that she give. Her time, her energy, her creativeness drain out into these channels if there is any chance, any leak. Traditionally we are taught, and instinctively we long, to give where it is needed—and immediately. Eternally, woman spills herself away in driblets to the thirsty, seldom being allowed the time, the quiet, the peace, to let the pitcher fill up to the brim."

She goes on about purpose, "What we fear is not so much that our energy may be leaking away through small outlets as that it may be going "down the drain." We do not see the results of our giving as concretely as man does in his work."

Her solution is setting aside time for solitude, in order to re-find oneself, recharge the batteries, put things back into perspective.

We cannot serve others if we are not coming from a place of strength ourselves, and it's our obligation to ourselves to, as they say on the airplane, put our own oxygen mask on before before helping others.

I also liked Brad's take on forgiveness, because that's the trend with various teachers these days. He makes more sense to me: "You do not have to forgive others, they have not done something wrong. You only need to forgive yourself." That puts the ownership of creating reality back onto the individual: has someone wronged me? Or was it simply my interpretation of the situation? I am responsible for how I react to things. While forgiveness sounds so noble, it is basically acknowledging a judgment or emotional reaction, and then letting it go—and moving on.

Nice!
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