What you see is What you Get

I am all of the above. I am my gifts and my strengths and my light. I am also my weaknesses and my liabilities. I am my darkness and I'm not ashamed of an ounce of it. What you see is what you get - Parker Palmer-

I was reading a conversation between Rabbi Ariel Burger and Parker Palmer.  Both have written books on suffering, healing and joy.  The above quote I felt was so powerful.  Embracing yourself exactly as you are is a process.  It is an ever evolving journey.  How can we look at ourselves and not be ashamed of the light and dark within us? It takes courage and vulnerability to see ourselves exactly as we are.  Sometimes seeing the dark can lead to a state of depression.  The suffering we feel can make us become brittle, angry and cynical.   Years of shame and doubt have been embedded in our psyche and we don't know what to do with.  

A helping hand that you can lean on across the way is often the gateway to even look at your darkness.  The hand could be in the form of a spiritual teacher, a therapist, an energy worker, a personal trainer,  a friend.  That hand is non-judgmental, ever loving and a supportive person.  It allows you to face the negative and make small steps to get to the other side.  But our darkness never goes away.  What we learn to do is manage it, and with the help of someone,  find tools to keep it from shutting down.   

We all have experienced suffering in some form or the other.  How does it affect us?  What do we do with that suffering?  Do we use that as a blessing knowing that it can have the potential to heal another.  

Take for example, my experience as as breast cancer survivor.  It was a form of physical suffering in terms of what the body goes through - but it was also a time of really looking at my darkness and accepting it.  Whether it was eating habits, or lack of exercise, or not knowing how to say no - all of these takes honesty and vulnerability to admit "I need help."  

And Help is not bad.  It puts you in contact with others who have gone through similar situations and provides you with that extra support to embrace yourself.   And now that I am okay with the "all of me" - how can I be a source of support to someone else who may need that.  

Imagine a world if it was filled with that kind of healing - and we use it as a blessing.  How wonderful would that be?   

Journaling Prompt:   Begin with "What you see is What you get" - and write for 2-5 minutes.   

Happy Journaling!