Keeping quiet.

[jonathan123 2368]

I may have posted this before but it is worth repeating.

"Out of evil much good has come to me. By keeping quiet, repressing nothing, remaning attentive, and hand in hand with that, by accepting reality - taking things as they are and not as I wanted them to be - by doing all this, rare knowledge has come to me, and rare powers as well such as I could never have imagined before. I always thought that when we accept things they overpower us in one way or another. Now this is not true at all, and it is only by accepting them that one can define an attitude toward them. So now I intend playing the game of life; being receptive to whatever comes to me, good and bad, sun and shadow that are for ever shifting and in this way accepting my own nature with its positive and negative sides. Thus everything becomes more alive to me. What a fool I was. How I tried to make everything go according to my idea".       

  Letter from a patient of Carl Jung. 

 

We have talked about acceptance many times and it does get confused with "putting up with" which is negative. True acceptance is positive.  By keeping quiet. stopping the insistant craving of the mind to change things; to get everything the way we think it should be, can work wonders. How to keep quiet? By the practise of Mindfulness (which see in previous posts). Be attentive to the moment and if that involves being attentive to the suffering then so be it. Being attentive means that you look at it rather than run from it, which is self defeating. "IT" will pursue you. Turn and face "IT". To be looked at is "IT"'s worst enemy.     J.   

[JOYCICLE 654]

...........attentive to the suffering does not sound so fun eh?  

 I am about to venture into some of this much with my therapist. We've had 2 sessions, mostly background and how my anx FEELS and what are my symptoms and what not. I told her I did not believe in ' repressed memory ' and she told me that it was real.........so that gave me a little bit of UHOH for going forward. I guess we will see. I do have a pretty good recollection of what went on but perhaps some details and some horrors still await. YIKES ! 

[jonathan123 2368]

The most important thing. Joy, is not to be fearful about the revealing of repressed material. If you were going for an operation you would feeel aprehensive. Of course you would. We all would but, in a way, this is no different. It may be painful when you 'come round' but it's all over and you start to feel well again. A poor analogy I know but it will do. Not horrors, Joy, but things you could not cope with as a child but as an adult you will see in a different light and resolve them. The basic details of trauma can be remembered but it is the repressed FEELINGS that need to be recognised. A soldier may remember the bomb going off but how he felt after may be lost (repressed) and may cause trouble later. By reliving the experience and coming to terms with the pain he can find peace. In my view the biggest mistake we make is trying to escape the pain. Understandable but not helpful in the long term. By going 'through' the pain and not 'getting over it' is redemptive but it takes courage and perseverence. Something not many are prepared to endure.  Good luck Joy.     J.