1st Stage of Development: Returning-State, of the Child
It has been recognized that children come into this World as “pure beings”, closer to creation-time, or in a naturally vulnerable and innocent state. The circumstances of life, who raised us, environmental factors and a vast array of life- experienced-changes, all factor into the shaping of an individual. Therefore, one could also deduce that both positive and negative experiences and how we interpret them, can color, shape and influence a person and the perspectives he/she carry. This is fairly easy to see and understand, as we also come with our own tendencies, natural abilities, short-comings and growth potential. We learn by example but also have the ability to adapt or change the way we do things based of the unique mammalian quality of sensory-deductive experiential learning or adaptation. We can change at will.....evolve our options based on:
- sensory perception
- trial and error
- insight
- reflection
- creative-problem-solving skills
We can all agree that these abilities/capacities are present, but may or may not be developed equally in an individual. It is important to both develop and use these abilities as they are the core of learning and more importantly, how we learn and evolve our learning process. Learning to use these tools is the foundation,adapting them to life’s stages & changes exposes and teaches how ”filtered-perceptions” from past traumas,can color circumstances and environments, and seems to interfere with these inner qualities. Problems left unresolved tend to re-occur, and accumulate into “literal blockage” and further the creation of more imbalances.
Our innate, in-born skill-sets are based in natural-learning or refinement through life-learning-experiences. Our daily life-experiences provide us the “class-room” to refine our strengths and shape our innate skills, natural abilities, polish up our short-comings and provide a proving-ground for continuous growth.
It has been recognized through-out history, that certain life experiences/
environments support growth & development while other experiences/environments, what might be deemed as “negative”, impede and paralyze whole areas of growth and development. It is recognized that interrupted growth potential, traumas and “bad experiences” can shape and mark a person’s life in many un-natural ways & expressions, but this is only one of many possibilities.....It is at this point that we must venture into what might be referred to as “uncomfortable territory”, I am suggesting that healing, as painful as it can be, is a choice....and desire, convenient distractions or lack of desire/ignorance, all to often plays a part in many variations of self-supported-suffering, often at the sub-conscious level and left unattended..go viral, invading other parts of perception.
Desire in a positive sense attracts us to things in our lives and gives us the good feeling that is often associated with familiarity, memories and connection. Attraction carried into excess becomes attachment and attachment seems to stagnate the very core of life-force-essence; life must always change, move and stay in balance with all other parts of life..like a giant orchestra that plays together and is inter-dependent. So, we can deduce that “unchecked desire” (passion/temptation) is some-what unruly, and potentially can develop into “habitual-attaching”, undermining the very core of life-force itself.....But if we intend to play with the fire of passions, we need to “be clear” with ourselves....so we can pull ourselves from the burning flames of passion..... in time to live & learn for another day.....desire requires responsibility and awareness lest we find ourselves at the mercy of it ,self-inflicting our own suffering, blocked and stagnated by attachment. One would need to observe themselves and stay aware of all feelings to begin to interrupt this type of “garden-variety blockage”. I refer to it in this way because it is very change-able once we are aware of it and look at the infinite variety of possible options. Desire may go with some of Life’s teachings....but not all of them.....and still we need to embrace Life’s class-room......
- The key to moving with life-force is the ability to jettison our fears/limited perspectives (responsibility to ourselves), choose harmony(possible options) instead of resistance (last possible option), and change and move in accord to what is needed.
- In light of the previous statement, one might begin to recognize the feeling of how the past comes into the present when fears are evoked, or the habit to resist or comply (that which over-rides common sense) can block our common sensing ability to objectively find the best options.
These two bulleted points, are the crux of “unraveling our past traumas”, creating functional options where dysfunction exists and generally, embracing how to learn and continuous growth. Confusion and distraction are the symptoms of heart/mind separation, all types of fear-trap-thought-forms, compromises, unnatural expressions/expectations, compliance's and submissions, are potential deviations and should be regarded as, at the very least, questionable.
Each person is born with a life-line to their self-truth (said in this way because truth is mutable in accordance to our growth, change & development) and one can measure what to do in any given situation, simply by checking in with their own connection to all things...really, we all have this ability. This was given to all at birth, though we may have forsaken it, be unaware of it or be in dis-belief of it. It is also possible that we have allowed many other voices in that have usurped it or made it difficult to hear in and amongst the cacophony of “visiting voices”, that have moved-in, over-stayed their usefulness or worn out their welcome...like bad guests that begin to dominate the environment inside us.
Along the way of growing-up, we have been exposed to many opinions, guide-lines, rules, manipulations, teachings and trainings...most with a specific agenda and not as many with flexible standards based on evolving refinement. Fair enough, we are in-charge of how we use information or whether or not we are at the mercy of it, or others, at any given time...that is our responsibility, no one elses....In Summary, only we can heal ourselves, unraveling the traumas of the past that interfere with the present and learning to grow with out fears. How we do that is to return back to the state of the child, use the natural tools we were given to know ourselves, know each other and harmonize with the rhythms of life, having infinite options to work with change, and learn timely inter-action with life-movements and the many expressions of balance-in-flux. Tai Chi and Qigong are superlative neutral learning tools for this journey...The returning-state, of the Child.......