Life is a journey, for all of us and it’s not fair. Some are born with nothing and others with everything, however regardless our character is defined by how we handle our adversities and failures.
What I have come to learn is that change first must come from within before it is revealed externally.
To some hugging the inner cactus is a silly idea. Why consciously hurt ourselves to get better?
I would argue that often when we fail; our first reaction is to hurt ourselves even more. Rising up from a lack of self-worth i.e. we emotionally beat ourselves up, choose escapism with our vices, or hurting others rather than accepting the outcome and moving forward.
Why? Because setbacks are painful, however they also offer golden lessons to grow from. That is if we see them for what they are i.e. an opportunity to improve our character and competence.
To consciously hug our cactus is to embrace all of our true self. Including the dark side of us that stands in the way of our inner success and who ultimately kills us from the inside out.
To hug the inner cactus is to face our true self and forgive, forgive ourselves while “tilling your soil” in preparation to forgive others.
To embrace our cactus hurts, however ultimately dealing with our "emotional reactions to failure" in a proactive way heals us as our fears are disarmed and turned into stepping stones for our personal success, whatever that may be to each of us.
So before you “let fly” after experiencing yet another failure in life, consider “hurting yourself in a positive way” by first hugging your cactus. Grow stronger from your pain, richer in character, quieter in spirit and more forgiving to yourself and others.
Food for thought. Everyone has their own cactus. Choosing to hug your cactus or not, not only directly impacts you but indirectly impacts others lives you are in regular contact with. Being conscious of this impact and engaging their support has been shown time and time again to make the difference between failure and success; be it via accountability, simply talking things through, mateship or love.
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