So, Where is the Balance?

Opening Insights

When it comes to living with emotional intelligence and emotional maturity in today’s world, it’s easy to get mixed messages. We often see-saw between too much emotion and not enough emotion, and we struggle to find equilibrium.

Informational Insights

Traditional Therapy Practices

The practice of therapy and counseling in its various forms has been popularized since the early 1900’s. For many years people have sought counsel and turned to therapists and psychologists for answers. However, challenges of the application of the theory have resulted in therapeutic and patient relationship models that often resemble a Shakespearean play (Victim-Persecutor-Rescuer). Thus, while the original intention and practice was pure the evolution has resulted in questionable outcomes at times.

Many of the psychoanalytical tools used with patients have resulted in the confusion of feelings (of today) and emotions (of the past), as well as the classic over-expression of feelings. “How does that make you feel” would probably take the cake as the most widely used phrase while on the couch. But answering questions from a perspective of our feelings (or emotions) is very different from answering questions from a perspective of facts and reality.

Sometimes we get trapped in our feelings and live there. Sometimes we confuse our feelings of today with emotions from the past and we get stuck there. When these events occur our hurt, anger, guilt, shame and apathy become what fuels our being. Punching pillows, screaming, blaming and using words like abandonment, rejection and disappointment only deepen the crevice of emotions and drives us deeper down into a cave of inner chaos.

The News on New Ageism

On the opposite side of the spectrum, many people are now turning to New Ageism for answers. This is a world in and of itself where spiritual exploration and self-empowerment reign. There are many who are concerned that the new age movement is deceptive and even risky.

A blog written by Erin Janus of www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com titled “5 Common New Age Misconceptions You Need To Understand” explains some potential hazards.  Read her perspective below:

1) Ignore The Negative

Many people have been misled to believe that you “give power” to something that is harmful simply by putting your attention upon it and becoming aware of it. Therefore, you should never pay attention to, or talk about anything that is “negative”.

CORRECTION: Seeing the negative for what it is creates the ability to prepare oneself against its harmful effects, and possibly even avert those affects entirely. Refusing to look at critical information just because it makes you feel scared or uncomfortable is willfully choosing to remain in a state of ignorance, and therefore to remain un-conscious.

2) Never Get Angry

Many people have adopted the notion that anger is something to overcome or shut out completely. They categorize anger into the “negative” basket, and instead promote replacing it with feelings of peace, love and light. The danger in this is it creates apathy and passivity to the injustices happening in our world today.

CORRECTION: We have a moral guidance system for a reason. For example, watching an innocent person be tortured, or seeing animals being abused will naturally evoke anger in a morally sound individual. This anger is not to be mistaken for something that needs to be shut out, but something that should be channeled productively. Righteous indignation, a form of anger when one senses injustice— can be a major motivation to create positive change in the world and should not be condemned or suppressed.

3) There Is No Right and Wrong

A common, widespread misconception is that there is no such thing as right and wrong, and that the concept of right and wrong is “dualistic” and therefore invalid. Furthermore, many who have been convinced that there is no objective right and wrong will often try to convince people (and themselves) that everything is OK.

CORRECTION: This way of thinking is known as moral relativism, and is not only delusional but dangerous. This makes people feel comfortable and justified in failing to take responsibility for their actions (or lack of actions) and the effects that has on others. There most certainly is objective right and wrong, and although we share unity as beings on the same planet or similar spiritual journeys, everything is NOT okay.

We are living in times of great injustice, violence, inequality and preventable suffering. Anyone who tries to convince you that immoral actions cannot be proven immoral due to their uncertainty of ‘reality’, or claim that all things that happen are part of a ‘divine plan’ are unfortunately part of the problem.
It is common for people to twist and re-define what is right and what is wrong based on what is easy for them, what works for them, and what is most comfortable for them. However, right and wrong are not modifiable to your convenience. Immoral actions remain immoral regardless of how you view them.

4) There Is No Truth: Perception = Reality

Many people have adopted the idea that you can never really know the ultimate truth about the reality we live in. This is also known as solipsism; the ideology that only one’s own mind and perceptions are sure to exist. Another common misunderstanding passed around is, “Perception is reality” or “reality is perception.”

CORRECTION: While the solipsistic ideology is often confused for a high-minded philosophical outlook, it is really nothing more than a way for one to be vastly disconnected from reality. Objective reality DOES exist. The truth CAN be known. One’s perception and actual reality are not one in the same. How one perceives reality only changes how they perceive it— it cannot and will never change what is actually taking place.

“Solipsism is a defining hallmark of spiritual infancy. Departing from this disease ideology is a sure-fire sign of the beginnings of human maturity and spiritual development.” —Mark Passio

5) What You Resist Persists… So Don’t Resist

A very common belief in the New Age movement is that one should overcome ‘resistance.’ The natural urge to resist almost anything has been coined as negative or detrimental to our happiness and health amongst spiritual individuals and new-agers. We are taught to overcome resistance using spiritual techniques like meditation, yoga and acceptance. We are also taught that what we resist… will persist.

CORRECTION: Resistance itself is not a bad thing. In fact, it is necessary if we want to take back our power and control over our lives, and ensure the safety of the planet and future generations. If we do not resist evil that is destroying the good in the world, freedom, health, happiness— it will continue to. (If we do not resist the evil that is destroying freedom, health, and happiness in the world, then nothing will change or improve.)

The New Age movement has twisted and abused spiritual practices such as meditation and yoga into means to take people’s minds off the fact that they have been enslaved, and make it easy for them to just accept the current condition of the world as their lot in life. Shutting out your resistance is a good way to ensure that you will never take action to try to change the things that are wrong with the world.

According to Janus, if gone unchecked,
 the New Age movement 
 can easily lead one down a road of delusional mindsets
  that cater to not taking responsibility for ones actions 
 and the effect that those actions (or lack of action) have on the world!

“The world does not need any more un-affected gurus or passive, apathetic followers. It needs activists, change-makers, speakers and do-ers. Be the change. Don’t get sucked into the misunderstandings, misconceptions and delusional dogmas that come with religions such as New Ageism. True spirituality includes responsibility, morality, and using your will to take action for positive change and the good of this planet and all the beings we share it with.” – Janus

The pull between traditional psychology and new ageism leaves us on tilt. We teeter back and forth or sway from one extreme to another. Either way, we are not finding a balance based on reality.

So, Where is the Balance?

 How can we continue to grow and empower ourselves without becoming self-centered
 and without ignoring that which exists outside our own self?

The balance can be found within a Discovery-Recovery approach found with the Pocket Wisdom Insights community.  Pocket Wisdom Insights provides people from all walks of life the means to explore a variety of principle-based resources; encouraging and empowering people to become active participants in their own growth and learning and supplying proven and practical tools to make it a reality.

Pocket Wisdom Insights are built upon a foundation of universal principles that have been around for centuries. These principles offer a perspective of life that creates balance, clarity, understanding, and harmony and success at home, work, socially and spiritually.

Pocket Wisdom Insights describes a new way of perceiving, experiencing, thinking, feeling, behaving, and relating to ourselves and others, and is rooted in the teaching of great thinkers, philosophers, and visionaries of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Pocket Wisdom Principles brings together the wisdom to understand how humans are “wired” on an intellectual, emotional and spiritual (IQ, EQ and SQ) level. This understanding empowers us to trust our inner voice, sharpening the dimensions of our human experience and developing true emotional maturity (freedom).

Source: www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com

Possibilities for Consideration

Take a moment and examine…

• As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?
• What is the potential impact, economically and/or socially?
• What action is needed to stop or support this idea?
• You may want to consider whether you:
  • want to be aware of,
  • should become supportive of,
  • would want to be active in this topic?

Add Your Insight

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI