The Inside Work of Clear Seeing

Dear Rosies,

There is a direct relationship between the accuracy of how we see the world and how far we are willing to look at our own shadows. Every time we get honest with ourselves about our own inner shenanigans, the more our natural gifts of outer seeing come online.

The more we see inside ourselves, the more the dark and hidden parts come into the light. When those parts stay hidden, they act like filters, and color everything we see. We think we're seeing "the world out there", but we're seeing our own old stories laid on top of it.

Have a look and you might still find some unconscious stories running the show. Maybe stories about the body, age, worth, desirability. Notice how much of what you believe about yourself was never yours to begin with, but rather someone else's idea that moved in and stayed. This is especially true in sexuality, where so much pure life energy is trapped under old stories.

When you bring what's hidden, and what's ripe to be seen, into the light, the filters fall away. You see the outside world more clearly. You see without judging, without making things wrong. You may even deepen your capacity to see past the surface of things, past this moment, this body, this one lifetime.

Looking within starts with being the body, with learning to flow more feeling and sensation through the body, without running away from it. Sometimes that needs accompaniment by a coach or therapist. 

When you deal with your inner material, you stop throwing it onto other people. The little distortions stop. What's left is clear seeing.

And it works the other way too. When others project onto you, when they don't get you, don't attune to you, you can know that to be their stuff. You don't have to correct it, carry it, or make yourself smaller to fit their picture. Increasingly, you do you. You unhook from the need for approval. You unhook from the need to be understood. Clear seeing includes seeing that other people's filters are theirs.

When you care for the body — when you touch it with reverence instead of turning away — you build the capacity to feel more. And the more you can feel, the more you can see. Tending the body is not separate from tending the mind. It is the doorway.

A woman at home in her own skin sees the world with clear eyes. Wishing this for all of us.

To more joy in the body and joy in the world.