💎 Friday Gems #9 (True Freedom, Shadow Work, Indecision)
Three gems of ideas to unleash your mindset!
Happy Friday!
Imagine being sentenced to prison for 26 years. Imagine the loss you would feel of losing your freedom. How would you come to terms with what you are going through? The first gem today is by Amanda Knox, who faced this reality, but the epiphany she had is something we can all learn from.
Let me know if any of this week’s gems resonate with you. I ALWAYS love to hear from you. :)
Today's Gems
💎 True Freedom
"The feeling of clarity, though, was in realizing that however small, cruel, sad, and unfair this life was, it was *my* life. Mine to make meaning out of, mine to live to the best of my ability. There was no more waiting. There was only now." - Amanda Knox
Admittedly I have not been following the whole story around what happened with Amanda Knox, but the epiphany she shared in her Twitter thread got me.
Imagine being sentenced to 26 years and realizing your life is now a prison. The prison is all you will know. All your dreams of how you wanted to live your life vanished.
The lesson for me is that by accepting life as it is and who we are, both good and bad, we can experience true freedom no matter our situation.
💎 Shadow Work: A Simple Guide to Transcending The Darker Aspects of Yourself
Do you ever catch yourself doing the same things repeatedly even though you dislike it? Or maybe you find things you don't like in others only to realize that you do the same thing?
In Jungian psychology, these patterns and projections are insights into our shadow, the part of ourselves, and the parts we have pushed away and rejected.
The shadow, a concept introduced by Psychologist Carl Jung, is the collection of the disowned parts of our personality that our ego rejects. The aspects of ourselves that were considered bad by our caretakers when we were children develop over time into our shadow. Although the word "shadow" sounds dark and ominous, it has the potential to unlock our hidden potential and talents, so identifying how it shows up for us is key to becoming whole again and living our best life.
This article provides a good overview of the shadow.
Source: Medium
💎 Effortless Decision Making
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.” — Cicero
I sometimes get stuck with indecision. I can't make up my mind and keep thinking about the decision I need to make. I keep delaying the decision in hopes of the best possible outcome. Yes, there are times when thoroughness is required for big decisions, but for everyday non-life-threatening decisions, it can slow us down and have negative effects in our lives. The cost of indecision is that it takes up way too much mental bandwidth that we could spend that time on something more interesting and beneficial for us.
In this article, Leo Babauta shares three mindset shifts to help overcome indecision and the fear of making the wrong decision.
Source: Zen Habits
Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic weekend!
Cheers,
Rizwan
I'm dealing a lot with the shadow work right now. I've definitely disowned anger in my life, and I know some of the major events where that happened, and a few of the minor.