"Give me beauty in the inward soul;
may the outward and the inward man be at one."
-- Socrates
The inner and the outer person is a very good way to describe what goes on inside each of us. There are many times where those two seem to oppose one another, which I used to see visualized in cartoons when I was a kid of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, many times the devil winning out--at least temporarily.
Since that visualization of the devil and the angel was my upbringing, for the better part of my life, I accepted that "struggle" mentality. I was reading a large number of quotes about conflict and most of them talked about controlling the devil, overcoming the devil and such.
I have come to know it differently. If you believe in the struggle, you will struggle. However, it need not be a struggle. Vernon Howard says it well: "A clear understanding of negative emotions dismisses them." He takes it further here: "We must become acquainted with our emotional household; we must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are. This breaks their hypnotic and damaging hold on us."
If we think of our inner self as a guide, whenever we are wanting to do something or think something that is not that of the inner self, a negative emotion will be the result, and the opposite is also true, that if we are in alignment with that inner self, positive emotion will be the result. In this light, we are being guided by our own internal compass rather than anything external to us and this gives us so much more understanding and power to change and grow. It gets rid of the devil and the angel, the good and bad. That, to me, is a very good thing. The devil angel thing never worked for me, and this better way works wonderfully.
Not Having To Ask Permission Is So Empowering.
Spread Some Joy Today--by realizing your own power to do as you see fit. Literally.
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