Sometimes when I look at social media, the news or talk to people I’m flabbergasted by the amount of people who go out of their way to cause pain in another. I recently posted this video about how transgender people really need people to go out of their way to be kind to them and wanted to examine the motivations behind why so many people go out of their way to cause them pain. I truly believe people feel the need to hurt others because they hurt themselves internally.
Personally the more I look within and learn about myself the less I feel the need to worry about what other’s are doing and how they are doing it (unless they are in my way). The fact is many spend more time learning about and studying other people and making sure they fit in with a particular cultural paradigm then they do learning about themselves.
While we are social creatures yes, we also are individuals. We should know and love ourselves. Many cannot sit in a room with themselves and always need someone around them. Many can answer superficial questions about themselves such as what they’re doing and wearing but not deeper questions about who they are and their motivation to keep breathing everyday. This can only cause pain and confusion.
Pain is unbearable, we don’t like it and it’s hard to believe we are the cause of the pain so we deflect this pain on to others and blame them for the pain. Which is how we get so many people going out of their way to be mean to another. A person who has spent a lifetime disregarding who they really are out of fear of not fitting in with a cultural paradigm, abhors someone who has the audacity to be themselves to the fullest. They secretly hate themselves but can’t handle the pain of it and want others to hate themselves too.
This way of being is all too common and accepted as “how it is” and I’m determined to combat it. Some ways I’ve gone about learning about myself is being brutally honest (but kind) about the things I do and think and why. Or forcing myself to hang out with myself sans television or any other distraction. Just being alone in nature, observing all around me and following the flow of my thoughts teaches me a lot. Another big help for me has been spiritual plant medicine, this is often hard to talk about in Western culture as we are laden with quick fix pills, numbing agents and doing things just to get “f’d up”, so people do not understand fundamentally what I mean when I talk about my experiences but when approached with the right intent, mindset and through research and finding experienced teachers spiritual plant medicines can serve as a huge asset in learning about oneself.
The journey to the self is a personal one and we all get there in different ways but I implore you reader to take the journey and learn what works for you if you have not started. You will be able to increase the joy and peace within yourself exponentially if you do.
We hurt ourselves just as much or more than the other when we take time out to spread hate while we heal ourselves just as much or more as the other when we take time out to spread love. When we dig deep, learn who we really are and to love who that person is we are able to radiate love with ease. So why don’t we all give it a try?
