Safety And Growth

Safety And Growth ©2018 Joan M. Newcomb, CPC

In spiritual classes and groups, it’s important to create a safe place for people to learn and grow. A good teacher or facilitator will hold a space that is clear and grounded or focused, and the group will agree to things like confidentiality and respect.

When these things are established and these requirements are met, a wonderful container is created where people can go deep and evolve and develop in new ways.

Convex Lens by P.C. Anton

Yet, our greatest growth happens when we’re outside of those environments, when we’re in the “real world”, when shit happens and we just have to deal with it. What’s up with that?

And, honestly, when I reflect back on pretty much all of the “spiritual” classes and groups that I’ve ever been involved with, even though there was an intent for it to be a safe place, there were still personalities and patterns going on that weren’t safe in the least!

This is a planet of dichotomy, of polarities, where opposites exist, for every Truth there is a contradiction.

As much as the ideal is for nurturing new beings into bodies or ideas into form, outside reality is tough. Kindergarten can be brutal. Disneyland isn’t necessarily the happiest place.

So then we create external solidity, a “scar tissue”, of personality and concepts, protective identities
that restrict our ability to expand.

Which is why we end up going to spiritual classes, or therapy, or twelve step groups, to help us peel away the layers.

An important part of maturing is to be able to hold an inner space of safety while allowing for evolution and growth.

How do you do that? There isn’t one way. This is a planet of duality, remember. What is right for you at one point may be different later on.

The one constant in all of this is You, the essence of who you really are. The You that came in when your body was born, the You that has been navigating the physical world, the You that is reading this.

As much as you may not know how to do this externally, the inner You absolutely does. The inner You never changes, your experience of yourSelf is what expands as you grow through time and space.

What I do know, is when I navigate from my greater self that I currently call Consciousness, things are much easier. No matter what hardship or difficulty I may be facing, when I operate as Consciousness, the external world reorganizes in my favor. Regardless of how the storyline unfolds, it feels beneficial as Consciousness.

When you shift your perspective from your personality to yourSelf as Consciousness, you gain a feeling sense of how to discern which way to go. If it feels constricted, or distorted, you’re clearly encountering dysfunctional patterns.

If it feels bright or open, it’s clearly Consciousness.

That doesn't mean, don’t go towards construction or dysfunction, because if you’re a light bringer or a healer, you’re going to want to dive into those situations to bring light to them or help them.

But you can go into them with your own inner clarity and not lose your connection to your essential Self in the process.

When you shift to being Consciousness, the issue of safety disappears. Life becomes one big Improv class, and you have the freedom to experiment with all sorts of different ways to respond.

So play with this, this week, and see what happens!