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What You’re Not Supposed to Feel When Being Blessed by a Monk

16 Apr 2015, by michelle in personal development, Self Talk

Peace, grace, love is what you feel when in a holy setting right? Well, yes and no. Read on.

Big BuddhaThere I was at the “Big Buddha” in Phuket, Thailand. Peace, grace, and love exuded everywhere. In the corner of my eye, I saw a monk giving a blessing ritual and like a magnet, I was drawn to him.

The monk sat on a small stage. Before him was a long mat. Prior to stepping on the mat, you must take off your shoes, and then walk on your knees up to get to the monk.

Before me was a mother and her young daughter, then a group of three teenage Thai girls. Everything felt beautiful and holy, as the monk prayed for those before him and sprinkled holy water on their heads.

Then suddenly, something different happened. Since I didn’t speak Thai, I wasn’t sure what was said, but what I SAW was that one of the Thai girls was “selected” to receive a unique gift. While most were getting bracelets made by the monks themselves (think friendship braided bracelets), she received a beautiful necklace, which he further blessed and prayed upon before giving it to her.

Next, I was up, and truth be told, I wanted one of those necklaces too. Yes, there before the monk, I was jealous. Thankfully, I quickly got over it so I could appreciate the experience. Tears trickled down my face to have experienced the blessing and I left.

BlessingBut I had to think “What was the jealousy about?” Then it quickly occurred to me – Oh yes, that need to be special.

Quite frankly, I think we have a specialness epidemic on our hands. We so desperately want to be seen and to do that we feel we need to stand apart from others. We can see it with young kids yearning to earn a trophy, healers believing they have been specially “selected” for their spiritual gifts, or even our constant addiction to selfies.

Yes, we are all unique and have different gifts to share but the Infinite Intelligence did not have favorites in which “specialness” is bestowed upon only a chosen few. While none of us are more special than another, our egos can run a “specialness” trip to try to “help” us get over not being enough.

Yes, that most common of shame themes of not being “good enough” is what is behind our specialness epidemic. And there I was, in front of a monk mind you, experiencing it.

After receiving the emotional surge of jealousy, I had two options.

Option 1: shame myself. My ego would want to go with something like “What’s wrong with you? You having this jealousy demonstrates your not spiritual enough to receive that necklace. You don’t deserve it!”

Option 2: Understand the empowered message to jealousy/envy, which is: you can have it too. Obviously, I can’t have the necklace but I can give myself the meaning underneath the necklace. Which then I quickly reminded my little girl (inner child) “You are beautiful and enough just as you are.”

Will our shame still rear it’s head in obscure ways? Um, YES!

And, that’s okay because:

1. You know that our negative emotions are the gateway to recognizing when shame is triggered AND
2. You know that our emotions teach us how to provide for ourselves internally what we need.

What this means is that while unconscious shame will trigger you from time to time, you have a path to change the outcome of BELIEVING IN THE SHAME.

It is our belief in our shame that limits us from having a fulfilled life.

In order to take away our belief in shame we need to have PERSISTENCE. This means, every time a negative feeling appears, we need to understand both the disempowered and empowering messages. Then we have CHOICE: the choice to choose which message to believe. Each time a negative feeling appears, you have a choice. Choice 1, sweep it under the rug. Choice 2, understand the deeper meaning.

Although Choice 1 seems easier, in the long run it isn’t. Not knowing how to provide for your internal needs means your emotions go SIDEWAYS and ultimately you’ll feel like your needs aren’t fully being met.

GO THE DISTANCE for yourself by going into what you truly feel. You are worth it and when you demonstrate your self-value, guess what? Your self-value is reflected back to you! When we aren’t willing, the lack of self-value gets mirrored back to us as we struggle with finances, relationships, or reaching our potential.

YOU are MORE THAN WORTH the time and persistence to make your life feel fulfilling to you! Just let your emotions support you- okay?

As always, if you need to brush up on your emotional empowerment, go here to get your complimentary FEEL training kit.

Talk soon!

Warmly,
michelle signature


PS: CHOICE is our greatest gift but it can also be the hardest to implement. If you could use help with getting out of your shame, sign up for a complementary clarity session here: http://mbersell.wpengine.com/evaluation-form/

I’ll support you to work thru the shame and determine if working with one of our Emotional Empowerment Coaches can further assist you.

Interested in learning Emotional Empowerment so you can help others in your life learn to receive the gift of all their feelings and get to the core of shame? If you are an emotionally sensitive person, this training is for you! Find out more here: http://iiee.training/

1 COMMENT
  • Nice story that has made me look at the negative emotions I have been feeling and tried to look back at how I dealt with each. Forgetting about it is not the answer. Understanding its deeper meaning helpes you resolve the issues behind such feeling. Great post.