Inner work – when is it too much or too little?

Most of you here are dedicated to doing the inner work. But how much is enough? When is it too much or too little?

What a bee told me about inner work…

The other day I was a talking with a wise woman who I’m lucky to know who’s an artist and whose name is Franny. We had planned a longer conversation (on Zoom) and just as we started I heard the characteristic sound of a bee… And a bee it was, on Franny’s end of the world. And then she told me that she found that when she had just one window open, then a bee would fly in and could not find the way out. Whereas when she had two windows open, a bee would find their way out right away.

Isn’t that strange? One window open – they cannot find their way out. Two windows open – they go with the flow and fly out.

As soon as she shared that we both thought: there is a metaphor there…

So I googled the symbolic meaning of bees and found out that they (not surprisingly) represent work. And that their appearance signifies too much work or too little work, and a need to balance that.

Now, since we’re on an awakening journey here, I choose to interpret it as inner work, in this case. Because, also in the sphere of inner work it can be too much or too little…

I then came to think that when a “bee” enters our inner world our first reaction is “I don’t want it to sting me, I don’t want it to hurt”. And that means that our natural reaction is to “open up the other window” and get the “bee” out of the way, the sooner the better.

Our most common reaction to pain is not the best

In other words, the most common reaction to any pain, discomfort or challenge we encounter is to grab whatever tool or method works for us to get the problem out of the way, to make it disappear, the sooner the better.

However, when we do that we miss the gift of the bee.

When something comes into our lives, even when it is painful or difficult, it comes with a gift. That is the meaning of “life is happening for you, not to you”.

The art of it then is to open “the second window”… But not too early and not too late.

Don’t miss the sweetness of the gift!

Inner workLet’s not do it so quickly, that we actually miss the gift or the message in the experience we’re having.

And, let’s also not get stuck in it too long, so that we miss what could come through “the other window”, the light of awareness, of presence, of insight, of wisdom, of love, of inspiration and of transformation.

In short, when you experience something, take some time to SEE it, to experience it, to feel it, so that you can receive the gift of them. And then open up to something bigger, to the more expansive energy that will help you transform and move on.

And for that I’ve created the SEE Approach Course here.

Check it out – it’s a super powerful and yet simple tool for moving through a challenge, getting the gift and moving on at just the right pace.

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Image by pellegrinifarmgirl from Pixabay