406. The Concept Of Self “Work”
It’s not unusual for me to discuss self work with clients. But I’m not totally sure I like the phrase. After going over some action items and next steps… the phrase usually comes out something like… “I’ve got work to do”. I always find this to be a bit odd, because there’s so much work a client is already putting in which is exhausting or over-extending themselves. The self-work is primarily a sense of feeling, seeing or surrendering. It’s being in a point and place in time when/where you stop avoiding issues or problems. You just let everything come to you.
I’ve been told this is something like “shadow work”, which makes sense. Shadow work is/has never been a phrase that I use too often, and I’m not too sure why. Maybe the idea of “shadow work” sounds inherently negative. I suppose as someone who comes from corporate life, “work” is more of an apt term.
The problem with self-work as a phrase or idea is that there’s immediately this sense of overwhelm or over-inundation. But the true work allows you to resolve yourself from exhaustion, running around and circles and doing things which are no longer serving you. At times, clients are so upset and frustrated, that the idea of more “work” becomes too much for them to handle. A times, I do wonder if our proactive avoidance becomes so strong, that we simply “fill the space” to avoid the true work that needs to be done. Kind of like how you default to meaningless chores before you have to get the “big one” done.
Regrettably, our culture and society has a negative or warped relationship with work. Has the world simply defaulted to the fact that work is and can never be enjoyable or fun as a way for us to feel “okay” with doing things which we don’t want to be doing? To being treated poorly and/or being used or abused? Thankfully we’re stepping into a time where people have more options and opportunities than before, meaning that there’s more practical means for accomplishing and following your life purpose.
At the end of the day, the choice to doing this “self work”, or as I will now aptly name it, “work to do less work”. It’s a working title… is up to you. But I do feel that intellectualizing these concepts and why you are avoiding them is important. We aren’t destined here to be doing so much work. I feel that the work we are doing as individuals tends to be overcompensation in some kind of a way, or again… avoidance in some kind of way. If we can have the hope, faith and optimism that this newly found progression of “work” can and will help us in the long-run, it may just be the motivation that we need.
See blog regarding releasing old, negative or stagnant energy in order to kickstart this process. However, I find an easy start is to simply sit with yourself in silence and stillness when you feel feelings of discomfort and/or pain. When you want to avoid things. Open yourself up to what messages come through. Ask yourself questions, such as “why am I avoiding this”? You may find that you’ve distracted yourself for so long, you no loner even have these moments, which does not allow thoughts, feelings or emotions to come in. The processing power is 0, meanwhile your processing power to override it/them is at 100.
