Steinbeck wrote

Steinbeck wrote that there are those who must live in rooms of experience that the rest of us can never enter--perhaps we should quit trying to intrude into these places, and simply learn to guard the door.

Indeed, maybe Dylan put it in best perspective:

I received your letter yesterday,

about the time the doorknob broke;

When you asked how I was doing,

was that some kind of joke?

All these people that you mention,

I know them; they're quite lame.

I had to rearrange their faces

and give them all another name.

But right know, I can't read too good;

don't send me no more letters, no--

Not unless you're mailing them

from Desolation Row.

On Creation and Spiritual Awakening Recovery with Determination

151    On Creation and Spiritual Awakening  Recovery with Determination

EXPERIENCE has taught us that some of us pursue joy, happiness, and freedom with grim determination. We are serious; we always have been and we always will be. The best/worst example is the perfectionist. 

Always measuring and checking and making sure. When we think about it, what an odd combination—joy, happiness, and freedom all taken together in the same sentence with grim determination. 

Don’t Certain Words Make Odd Bedfellows At Times?

Making a Switch

To make the switch from indirectness to directness you need to replace the negative self talk that governs your life and replace it with self talk that will support you in asking for what you want. The most important aspects to come to terms with are:

1.     It is important to ask for what you want. You can ask ... you may be refused ... and no one has to comply ... but it is important that you ask.

2.    Who you are is ok.  You are not fractured and broken ... Perfect, Up Right and Beautiful ... is what you are ... You have to accept that and ... know it ... as you proceed through each day of your life.

3.    Your feeling and thoughts are ok ... they are your God Given Right to think and feel how you do. Your feelings are always a true response to life and how you think ... sometimes, because of life and its circumstances, how we think about things is skewed ... but that can be fixed ... your feelings are telling you the truth about what you are thinking and how you are seeing ... Your interpretation of life ...  if you recognize that as a truth and then if you notice that your life is not a very uncomfortable place to be, and it does not seem to be the same for most everyone else ... You can now do something about it ... there is no need to dig the hole deeper ... you can change how you are looking..

4.    It is acceptable to talk about you, your problems, your life, your circumstances  ... it is an absolute necessity that we share who we are with others ... not everyone ... that’s why we got dropped off in a place with 7 or so billion other souls ... to practice sharing ... With, We and Us

5.    Your opinion counts ... what you have to contribute may not be much but don’t ever not contribute because what you have to say might just be the missing piece that we all need.

6.    There will be times when you need to say no and it is ok to do so ... it is ok to say no ... or I don’t know ... You're allowed to not know and say no ... that is a basic human right ...

7.     Telling the truth ... not what you think they want to hear, just the truth ... that will set you free  ... the truth has a knack for standing up all by itself ... it doesn’t need your support all it needs to be is true...

Know this: Once you create beliefs that support these concepts asking for what you want, doing it will become much easier.

If we are going to break the grasp of “Denial” it helps to understand that it is a cultural pattern that has been handed down from generation to generation. Mostly by well meaning souls who had it handed to them by other well meaning souls.  

In order to break out of the denial patterns we have to take on several important tasks:

·       Learn when we are being our own worst enemy ... when my best thinking is not my best friend and when I am working against me before I start.

·       Learning how to take credit for what I have accomplished and have pride in what I do and who I am.

·       Becoming able to listen reflectively ... that is listening with an open heart and not a gaping wound.

·       Asking for and receiving feedback from those around me on how they see me.

·       Discovering my blind spots ... Simply knowing they are there and learning how to look into them to see what it is that I have been blind to for most of my life.

·       Learning that your inner world experience is just as important as your outer world experience and in some cases more important.

·       Understanding that it is important that you have a “Dream” of your direction in life ... your desires, wishes and wants ... then taking the time to see if your dream connects with those who are close to you...

·       In a relationship taking the time to enquire what your partner’s dream is and seeing if it complements your dream ...

·       Finding out if you are addicted to someone, or something or some activity and then seeing if you can do without it totally for 5 days ...

If you begin to look at you ... and your inner workings ... that is a design that encourages growth ... we become More when we can see who we are and where we are going ... and why we want to get there.