The Boulder
In Greek mythology,
Zeus punished Sisyphus by forcing him to push a boulder up a hill for eternity.
When Sisyphus neared the summit, the boulder would roll back down the hill,
causing him to start the uphill journey all over again.
Do we have the courage to realize that we may be just like Sisyphus, endlessly pushing a rock up a hill as self-punishment? If we crack our boulder open we may find it filled with guilt, shame, anger, and even a few self-destructive thoughts. Any negative thought or belief can prevent us from living our best life. We may be constantly rolling these issues uphill, hoping for a healthier way of life if we reach the top.
Life may have its challenges, but do we have to carry these struggles with us each and every day? What would happen if we chose to step aside and let the boulder roll down the hill, never looking back as we continue our ascent toward a better way of living.
Much of the pain we have endured through life can be healed if we choose to forgive ourselves. Even though we believe we may have done nothing wrong, we can forgive ourselves for believing we must push the boulder of our pain up the hill of life every day.
One of the things that helps with forgiving ourselves, is the loving belief that we have always been doing the best we could, given what we knew at the time. This belief can be hard to accept, because we have been taught to judge ourselves against people who have entirely different lives than we do.
No other person has lived the life you, or I, have lived. Each life is unique with its own set of circumstances. So this makes our self-judgement based on what others are doing, worthless. Yet if we have experienced emotional pain in our life we can begin to heal through self-forgiveness.
Why forgive ourselves? When we go through emotional pain and setbacks, we may carry the burden of guilt, shame, and confusion, within our consciousness. These negative emotions can shape the way we react to the world, and how the world reacts to us. Knowing we did the best we could, helps us release these negative emotions from our awareness
Something to think about when it comes to healing through self-forgiveness, is the destination is self-love. We do the work to forgive ourselves, because we want to feel and experience, this never-ending, unconditional source of love.
The problem with pushing our painful emotions up the hill is it prevents us from experiencing this love. The weight of the burden can become too much for us, and oftentimes we collapse emotionally, and the boulder crushes us.
Yet it doesn’t have to be this way. When we learn to forgive ourselves, we allow love to flow into our consciousness. This love gives us the strength and courage to accept that we did the best we could, and there is no need for our harsh self-judgement.
The more we begin to love ourselves, the more we will experience reasons to love ourselves and enjoy life. Self-love gives us the strength to know what is true and right for us, and then move our life in that direction. Self-love also gives us the courage to step aside and let our boulder of negative emotions roll down the hill without harming us.
For Sisyphus, his penance was to push the boulder up the hill for eternity. Unlike his punishment, we can choose to let the boulder roll away by beginning a healing process founded in self-forgiveness, powered by our own unconditional self-love.
~
Can we love
ourselves enough to let the boulder of negative thoughts, and emotions roll
away?
Let me know what you think. I’m always open to exploring the subject further. Leave a comment below, or email me at paulhudonauthor@gmail.com.
Each week I email an article to those who have subscribed to my weekly, this week I wrote about the words we speak. Here is an excerpt.
With these thoughts in mind it may cause us to reconsider the words we speak to ourselves when we make a mistake. Rather than dive deep into negativity, we may take a step back and ask, “What can I learn from this experience?” This will help keep us in a positive frame of mind, allowing positive energy to flow through our body.
If you would like to read this article, or receive these weekly articles, scroll to the very bottom of the page where you will find a place to subscribe. Or email me at paulhudonauthor@gmail.com and I’ll add your name to the list.
To purchase a copy of my book, “Your Inner Guidance, The Path to Discovering Your True Happiness” here is the link. Please feel free to leave a review.
I’m fortunate to write a monthly column Conscious Shift Magazine. This month you can find my article, “All The Difference”
https://consciousshiftcommunity.com/all-the-difference/
If you would like to follow me on social media, click on the link below to find your favorite platform.
Thank you for reading this post and being a part of this wonderful adventure called life. I appreciate your support.
Peace and Well-Being
Copyright Paul Hudon 2022
Comments
Post a Comment