I think it's all about acceptance. . . .accepting things just as they are, without hoping for things to change. I know that also sounds anti-me. . . .lol. . . .coming from the queen of personal growth and self-improvement, but there is a change that can only happen with the acceptance that nothing may ever change.
Life is paradox.
I continue to process through the archetypal psychology book, and this month's archetype of focus is "The Caregiver." It's the last of the first four archetypes that make up the "ego" set of archetypes. The Caregiver as archetype is that ideal perfect parent who loves and guides unconditionally and creates the safe environment where we feel loved, valued, and appreciated.
Of course the perfect parent does not exist, so we grow up with "gaps" in our development that help to shape and create the uniqueness of who we grow into. And the beauty of it all is that even if two people have exactly the same gaps, they still "fill them in" with their own unique ways, so our spirits are birthed like mosaic art created out of shards and scraps that might not otherwise have found their own creative voice.
It's all about how we fill in the gaps. . . .
We each fill the gaps in our own ways, and I suppose there can ultimately be no judgment in how each of us completes our life mosaic. I'm slowly learning how to let go of the fear and shame of my gaps. . . .they are what they are. . . .and I am what I am because of and in spite of them.
As for me, it is my "inner caregiver" who fills in my gaps, that part of me that acknowledges and comforts when I feel bruised by the choice or circumstance of life. There is great peace in accepting life on life's terms, even if we will never agree with the terms themselves. In that way, Acceptance is a lot like Forgiveness. . . .it can still love the broken pieces even when the random acts that shattered them remain forever unacceptable and unforgiven.
It's not the act itself that's accepted or forgiven, but rather how that act has left its mark upon a life forever changed.
So for me, it's more about mosaics than about moving on. . . .about filling the gaps and creating beauty out of pieces that no longer belong to one another. . . and about finding peace amidst the chaos that remains.