It doesn’t have to be this way …
At your core, you deeply desire to be seen and known. And yet, at the same time, you may have a visceral reaction to that idea.
Because our culture was not designed to keep us safe while also being seen and known at the same time.
This culture was not designed for most (maybe any) of us. Somewhere along the way we were taught to
stop feeling instead of being taught to stop what harms us, as though the feeling were our enemy, as though the feeling were hurting us. ~Prentis Hemphill
The same can be said of our true nature.
From the time we are born, we are molded into “productive, contributing members of society” within the context of the social, cultural and religious norms that inform our belief systems and our constructs of “good and bad.”
And so many of us cannot be fully present in our true selves, in our embodied emotional and physical experience, because we are not confused, despite plenty of gaslighting to the contrary.
Out there in the world and sometimes even in our own homes, we are not safe.
Even those of us who have the affects of belonging–such as my blond haired, blue-eyed son–know that the margin for belonging is razor thin. Having been mocked by his peers since elementary school for the ways in which he does not “conform.”
For those of us who contort ourselves into other shapes in order to “belong” (and to survive), the price tag is devastating.
We might be able to fit the mold for a little while. While our bodies ache and become diseased from our soul’s cry.
All while deep inside of us there is a lingering suspicion, a knowing, that even though we are “playing by the rules” we still are not safe.
We are not seen. We are not known. And as a result, we cannot be deeply, truly loved. By other people. And perhaps most importantly, by ourselves.
And for those who dare to overtly challenge the norms, who refuse to choose fragmentation, contortion, disease and death of the soul, we can be sure that they will be burned at the stake soon enough–whether figuratively or perhaps quite literally–for having the audacity to speak, live and embody a different truth.
We wonder why we are so ill … why our mental health is on the decline. Why our children are lost. And why our bodies are breaking down despite advances in technology and health care.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can choose a different path. I invite you to walk it with me.
Love,
Booth
p.s. If you are ready to step more fully into your own power, voice and wholeness and desire support with that end in mind, check out the ways to work with me during the last quarter of 2024.