Here are a few anti-hiding factoids: If you’re in resistance to—pushing away—your life, you’re in some way hiding. On the other hand, if you’re flowing with your life and allowing yourself to experience everything coming your way…you are not in hiding. Most of us are in some form of resistance at any given time, whether it be in our relationships, in our world, or simply in our body.
Right now I sit, watch the rain pour down, and console my dog, Paco, while he resists the loud noises and shakes through another thundery monsoon storm. I survey and ponder the effects of the landscaping that I’ve been diligently working on for almost a year. Is it helping with the flow of the water? Are there even better ways to allow it to easily flow through my yard?
Water.
My monsoon-afflicted hometown is the same one that I grew up in. At 18 years old, I joined the U.S. Navy and then spent the next 36 years on or living by various oceans. Water is a beast. It’s the most powerful tool in Mother Nature’s toolbox. Water covers over 70 percent of Earth’s surface and 60-70 percent of the human body. You and I can’t survive more than a few days without it. It is a force for good and it can also create so much havoc. Just last week, water drenched and devastated Cuba, a lot of Florida and the Southeast U.S. with Hurricane Ian. I rode out Hurricane Hugo in 1989 in the Caribbean and got first-hand knowledge of that kind of power. Rocks and wood and sandbags and sea walls and barriers are strong, but if water wants to flow somewhere, it will prevail.
I think a lot about the force of water. Then I do what I do and I turn my thoughts to the places where I have inner resistance—something that we all experience. I wonder how to better engage the water within…how to release my resistance, breathe, and trust that it’s safe and necessary to “go with the flow.”
Many of us are in this pattern—hiding, holding our breath, bracing with our bodies, hoping that no one sees that we’re fearful, insecure, dorky, lonely…hoping we aren’t seen in all of our humanness. We don’t want pain—yet our bracing creates pain. We want joy and freedom and connection, yet we manage our relationships in ways to avoid being truly seen. We end up creating resistance, when what we truly need is to give ourselves permission to let go.
To flow.
Swiss Psychologist, Carl Jung (1875-1961) famously stated that “what you resist not only persists, but will grow in size.” I also believe this to be true. Anything that you’re pushing away—any part of you—is a part that you’re rejecting. It will get bigger and will not let go until you see it—until you embrace it. It’s not asking for metaphoric walls and barriers and sandbags. It’s asking for you to let your guard down—it’s asking to be set free.
That part of you knows that your strength is in your flow.
My next Coming Out from Hiding course is full. However, if you’d like to do one-on-one anti-hiding coaching to help you in your journey of reclaiming your life, contact me here.
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Thx.