Have You Forgotten That You Live in a Castle?

I'm not talking about where you physically live. I'm talking about your body, mind, and soul. Yes, they live in a castle.

You see, here's the analogy that John Welwood uses in "Love and Awakening". We are all born into a castle and as we grow older we begin to explore the castle. We go through every room and inquisitively search for both its mysteries and its treasures. Sometimes we find things we like and sometimes we find things we don't. But we accept our entire castle.

Then one day people come to our castle and tell us certain rooms are no good and shouldn't be part of our castle. We feel ashamed, humiliated, and frightened. So we do the only thing we can think of and try to hide those rooms so that they'll eventually disappear. BUT THEY DON'T. And suddenly our castle becomes a very tiny makeshift house as we try to elminate the rooms that are deemed by society as inappropriate.

Those rooms are part of us. Those rooms are "the dark side" of our personality. The things we don't like about who we are.

The more we try to hide those characteristics, the greater they prevail. If we accept the qualities that we do not like and even find some small token of goodness in them, then we can begin to feel whole and complete. Our "dark side" doesn't grow and overpower us, rather it plays a role in our development in life that helps to serve the greater good of who we are and who we are becoming.

When we fully acknowledge who we are (flaws and all) we learn to develop a true liking for ourselves. We find that we are no longer trying to deny a certain part of our personality to suit others or to measure up.

It is in this state that we can find true self-love and peace. I fully acknowledge that this is no easy task and one I work on daily.

The book, "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers" by Debbie Ford explains, in greater detail, this concept. It's an enlightening read that will surely take readers on a path to greater understanding and love for all and most important themselves.