by Sofo Archon; The Unbounded Spirit
Last evening, my girlfriend and I decided to take a short stroll around our neighborhood. At one point, we arrived at a square bustling with children, so we chose to relax there for a while and watch them play all around us.
After some time, we noticed a little girl—no more than six years old—attempting to scale a small ladder positioned right beside us. Through considerable effort, she eventually reached the top. She beamed with pride over her accomplishment and radiated happiness—until an elderly woman suddenly shouted at her: “So what are you trying to prove now? There’s no need to show off. You haven’t accomplished anything; others have climbed much higher than you.” In an instant, the girl’s broad smile vanished. She looked crushed and wounded.
To our astonishment, that woman turned out to be the girl’s own grandmother. Shortly after, the woman rose from the bench where she had been seated, informed the girl she was leaving, turned her back on her, and walked off without pausing for even a moment. The girl appeared distressed. She quickly descended the ladder and ran after her grandmother, crying.
At that moment, I reflected on how traumatic that experience must have been for the little girl. You see, children are extremely impressionable and soak up everything from their surroundings like a sponge, so naturally the words they hear can deeply affect their psyche. And those words often linger for years and years, causing immense suffering—sometimes lasting into old age, or even until their final breath. As children, we all endured hurtful words thrown at us at times. Now, as adults, we constantly hear voices in our heads that were planted by others—our parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and so forth—yet we mistake them for our own. Voices that insist we are not good enough. That we are insignificant. That we are unworthy of love. That we don’t deserve to live.
These negative voices repeat themselves so frequently that they have conditioned us to believe what they say is actually true. If you are hearing such voices yourself, let me tell you: what they are saying is complete nonsense. You, like every other person on this planet, are a uniquely beautiful, intelligent, and inherently loving being. But your beauty, intelligence, and love have been suppressed for so long that it may feel as though they do not exist.
If you feel inadequate, trust me, I have been there. And I know it is awful. But I also know there is a way out. How? Well, my goal here is not to turn this into yet another how-to self-help article, but I will simply point out that straightforward practices—such as meditating, tending to your emotional needs, accepting and expressing your feelings, following your genuine passions, and building loving relationships—can work wonders in quieting the negative voices in your head and creating the inner space needed to reconnect with your higher Self.
My aim is simply to remind you that you are enough exactly as you are, regardless of what others have led you to believe. I want to remind you that your presence enriches all of existence and that you have enormously valuable gifts to offer the world. I want to remind you that you have a loving heart capable of brightening another person’s life. So the next time those negative voices arise in your mind, do not believe them. They are lying to you, over and over. Instead, observe them without attachment, notice where they come from, and release them one by one. They are merely an illusion fed by your attention, and the only way to break free is to starve them.
READ Here’s How You Can Stop Absorbing ‘Negative’ Energy From Other People
