No, I haven’t started yet, but just in writing notes about what I wish to include I have realised just how much there I to write about!
What really struck me, however, is how much not only The natural world inspires me, together with more eloquent and learned writers than I, but just how much people who are, and were in my life have helped me get to this point.
Not only dear friends and family, but also the ones who have challenged me. There have been bullies (quite a few of those!), energy vampires ( more difficult to spot), controllers and needy people. I hate to admit it, but there have also been envious intruders too.
Witnessing an upsetting scene in the supermarket yesterday ( not Waitrose!) of a mother holding her child by his arm and screaming into his face until he cried, I was reminded of how powerless one can feel if we allow these people to exert their fears, and live them out through our acceptance of their paranoia.
Of course the three-year-old child will have to work out his own way of surviving the onslaught. If we realise that all these archetypes are full of fear we can choose to accept it, and let them carry on; talk to them, and tell them that this behaviour is not conducive to healthy relationships (this often results in a defensive or/and over-emotional response), or we can tell them that WE CHOOSE not to coerce with their machinations.
This last option is the most powerful, I have found. It can be very painful, as you may have to add that these perpetrators are no longer part of your life unless they change, and treat you with respect. What you are doing, though, is giving them the opportunity to be responsible for their own actions.
After all, we are the ones who allow them to control, bully, put upon and drain us. We may make excuses for them, yet to do this is to undervalue ourselves. The envious ones we can do nothing about. Just be aware of them, not disclose too much personal information, and if you feel you might get somewhere, encourage them to fulfil their own aspirations.
I love the words: I CHOOSE!!