Self Judgment
Hi everyone, this is Peggy. I want to give you a quick summary before we jump into the blog.
Today’s blog centers around a conversation and teaching that happened on one of our recent membership calls and is presented here with permission from the participant. It starts when Kyle asks participants to share one thing they’d like the group to know about them.
It’s about how when we hold judgments on ourselves, we often also take the egoic position of the opposite side of that judgment. And, consequently, we are pulled in two directions: one of judging ourselves for not being x and one that is proudly asserting that we are x. In this blog, we explore that tension and what we can do to free ourselves from it. We invite you to read the dialogue and teaching below, or you can listen to the audio recording. The audio is a neat way to experience what the membership calls can be like and why coaching is helpful. We also find that often some of your own growth comes from experiencing the new awareness and growth of others. To learn more about our membership calls, click here
Listen to the audio here, or scroll down to read the conversation and teaching.
Client: One thing I’d like you to know about me is that... I’m shy.
Kyle: How does that show up?
C: I don’t speak up sometimes. Sometimes I just hold back.
K: What's behind you holding back?
C: Fear of judgment.
K: What’s the judgment you most fear?
C: I don't know what I’m talking about.
K: Ah, you fear the judgment that you don’t know what you are talking about. When did you first learn that one? How old were you?
[After the client feels into the original place/people this judgment came from, Kyle switches to some teaching]
K: When we have an existing judgment, i.e. “I don’t know what I’m talking about, “ our psyche puts on the opposite idea as a defense, in this case: “I do know what I’m talking about” or “I want to know what I’m talking about”. It’s not a defense in the moment, but it’s this idea that I’m supposed to do that other thing instead i.e. I’m supposed to know what I’m talking about. And, I start to hold that egoic position of: “I do know what I’m talking about”. And, I get attached to that idea. And, it pulls us in two directions - we have this judgment on ourselves, and at the same time, we find ourselves attached to that opposite egoic position. But, we don’t have to live in that tension. I don't know if you notice but when I’m teaching there is both a quality that I do know what I’m talking about and there is also a quality that I don't know what I’m talking about. The heart of inquiry is open curiosity- a total willingness to be informed differently, it’s kind of like: Hey this is kind of my best shot at it. There is so much freedom in having no position on knowing what I’m talking about, not that I do or don’t. Sometimes I do know what I’m talking about and sometimes I don’t. At the Freedom Experience, we sometimes put these opposing ideas metaphorically in each hand. In this example, “I know what I’m talking about” would be in one hand and “I don't know what I’m talking about” in the other. And we can see visually, that we get stuck in this duality. I’m trying to repress that I don't know what I’m talking about and simultaneously, I’m trying to amplify that I do know what I’m talking about. So, the hands/our psyche gets pulled apart. But, when we let go of the energy between them, the dualities come together (visually the hands come together). And, in this place where the dualities come together, it becomes a non-question- the whole issue of knowing or not knowing what I’m talking about disappears. It’s a non-duality, a non-question. I have the freedom to sometimes know what I’m talking about and sometimes not know what I’m talking about. So, there are all these things like this. And, this is part of what we do at the Freedom Experience. We identify all these places of duality
“I’m not pretty enough” and “I’m trying to be pretty”. It has this duality and tension rather than just being.
I may be trying to be smart but that means I also repress or shutdown not being smart. I hold this open question/judgment: Am I smart or am I not smart?
So, there are all these dualities in these thoughts and beliefs that we hold about ourselves. And when it goes away there is this freedom from the struggle in between these dualities (and that’s why we call it the Freedom Experience). Another judgment could be that “I’m too scared”. If you take the energy out of it, it collapses to “I can be scared or not scared.” And, then in any given moment it may be: “I can be scared or not scared, but I’m feeling scared right now. And, the whole resistance to it changes, it becomes “oh I wonder why I’m scared now, maybe I should pay attention.” So, the more that we can identify these dualities and let all the energy out of them, there is more freedom to just be. In the original example, once I let the energy out, knowing what I’m talking about or not knowing what I’m talking about isn’t even a consideration. It just doesn't occur. It’s more “maybe I do and maybe I don’t.” Self-trust comes in. There is a deeper truth that comes in when I don't have to know or not know. The more we get out of needing to know, the more we get into source. Every time we can collapse one of those dualities, the more we are connected to source.
To read more about our members calls, click here