Things you’ll always have that can never be taken away

Counselling is simpler by far than a lot may think. By far and away the most important thing is to de-mystify the snares of life that emanate from the frailties of our minds—the false narratives we create, believe upon, and sustain by a shoddy lack of introspection; but equally that which we’re reliant on others to show us.

… what liberates us most is that these are common to us all.

… what liberates us most is that these commonalities of human frailty are common to us all; or at least to those of us who choose to be honest. From such a point, the invitation to spiritual healing is proposed. Encouragement abounds.

~

The first truth we must trust in is the fact of our common humanness. Accept this and existential freedom abounds.

We are so much like everyone else, even if we’re unique in every way. We all get mired in guilt and shame. We all think things are our fault that really aren’t. All of us who take too much responsibility for our maladies.

Of course, we either take too little responsibility (narcissists) or too much responsibility (empaths) in this life. The wiser person discerns adroitly their exact responsibility and they take only that portion. That’s a path that the empath can take.

There are two tasks here: 1) the discernment, which can feel cryptic, and 2) the courage to act, which can feel a bridge too far; “you mean I have to stand up for myself now; won’t someone do that for me?” No, they won’t. They shouldn’t. It’s ours to do that.

The things you’ll always have that can never be taken away are vast and true and ever yours. Of course, we are all walking miracles, powerhouses of God’s creative might, biology in regal stereo, with minds that can think awesomely, and hearts equipped to not only feel, but to compel action from feeling.

We have been forgiven. I repeat, we have been forgiven; for ALL our frailties, for all our capacities of lack, for our at times warped minds, for the wiles of our propensity to coerce. We experience this forgiveness, as justice would have it, when we admit our fault, our need of grace, and that we are constantly owned by the truth. All sounds so negative, doesn’t it? It isn’t. Nothing negative about it. The truth sets us free! But only if we accept we’re slaves to the truth.

The things we’ll always have that can never be taken away are vast and true and ever ours. Nobody is ahead of us and we’re ahead of nobody. It doesn’t matter how many ‘followers’ the next person has. They are human and so are you. It’s so sad that some people set themselves above others. Those who are given to comparison become either depressed or envious; neither is good. The paradox is that the person who sets themselves above others is least of all because they deny the truth that God put into all our hearts. Nobody is ahead of you even if it appears they are. And why would it matter if they were? We must stop coveting what others have and be grateful for what we have that nobody else has.

Things we’ll always have that can never be taken away are holy and good and ours. Even as we submit to fear, guilt and shame, we identify as human. Better to raise these to the layers of our consciousness than drive them deep into denial. Better to take responsibility for these frailties and admit them so we can grow through being unafraid of being weak for the guilt and shame we bear for being human. Healing comes through forthright, humble admission.

What can never be taken away from us—the Saviour of the world died for me—is something we will always have.

Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash