Within you lies the way of growth

 

Post by John Thorpe

 

 I just re-read my last post, slightly startled how it kicks off with a list of what I don't do enough of, channelled, without doubt, by my inner critical parent, I can hear the voice now, I hear it everyday. I have over time learned to recognise, that that voice, is the voice of all who sought to teach me, both things I asked to learn and things they wanted me to learn, how I should be and what I shouldn't be. It speaks, almost always in my own voice, it is, I have no doubt, my own inner dialogue, ensuring I adhere to what I have been taught and what I have been shown to be important, whether I agree or not, one simply does not question the voice of experience and wisdom.

  From an early age I was uninspired with the experience of education and developmental emphasis, my free child knew of a world vast and exiting where within each moment the universe itself articulates, inspires and guides the open heart and mind to a place where miracles can happen. Unfortunately the free child is not welcome in this culture, it has to be controlled and subjugated, to conform and develop in line with what is acceptable and laid down by convention, for most this experience is not a positive one;

                  As soon as you're born they make you feel small,     
By giving you no time instead of it all
                  Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
                                                                                                                                John Lennon

  ...But where there is life there is the free child. My free child, I recognise, is more than a voice informed by last years convention in this infinite ocean. My free child holds a magnetic compass, which sits at the heart of my being, when I become aware of this polarity I am naturally drawn to people and things which resonate with this growing aspect of me, the world becomes interesting and I am naturally educated by it. 

  How then do I grow beyond the script I have been living, the impasse within which I have always remained bound? The answer lies not only in how we move beyond self limiting beliefs but in how much we desire it and what we have invested in staying the same, searching the same mistaken places, drawn to the same impossible relationships and situations. After all change is scary, right? Better the devil we know right? or so our self limiting and critical voices tell us but if like me you are tired of the limits, the fear and anxiety, you need look only to yourself, for within you is the way of growth.



  The journey has been hard, we have travelled long and only on occasion has our destination come into view, our belief in reaching that place tested daily. Look at how far you have travelled, where you have come from and what you have already been through, you have already garnered enough wisdom and experience to make real your hopes and dreams. When we try to move beyond the conditioning which our inner critics impart freely, ours is to challenge gently, after all we are only challenging our selves, and we are but weary of this inner and seemingly eternal tension. The wisdom of our inner child is eternal and boundless, the wisdom of the inner critic is rooted in fear and conformity, I stress that it does have its place, it is a protector after all, but ironically it protects us from the self realisation expressed in Eastern religion, spirituality and more recently psychology. To move toward our ultimate destiny then is a process of growth akin to unfolding and as our own protective responses voice their concerns ours is to recognise their origin, express our gratitude and compassion toward how they have served us thus far and all turn and take the out stretched hand of the inner child who has walked every step of this miraculous journey.