Step Eight:
______________________________
Was ready to have every relationship in my life be a source of benefit and support; was ready to dissolve negative emotions (such as anger, guilt, regret etc.) and to forgive others and myself as needed.
I will endeavor to forgive others (and myself) in order to free my consciousness of negative and limiting influence which bind me to the past and prevent my evolving growth. Holding onto negative thoughts and feelings (toward others or myself) mulling over decisions and issues in life with guilt and regret, harboring ill-will and anger toward others (and myself), becomes the very thing I keep on creating for myself—and this is the very thing I do not want to create. Understanding my true creative power, and the truth that what I think about, and what I hold in my heart, is what I create for myself (and what a attract in my life), I chose not to hold onto these negativity thoughts and feelings and to stop creating more of the same old negativity for myself. I will put my conscious self in the position of choice and power and entertain thoughts (and feelings) which are positive and uplifting, and ignore (and not perpetuate) thoughts (and feelings) which are negative, limiting, and past-binding.
The forgiving of others allows me the space and freedom to then forget about the past and move on; the forgiving of myself (and holding myself in the highest esteem) affords me the space which allows my divine qualities—such as love, abundance, joy, and beauty—to further unfold in my life.
I will take steps to cultivate positive and supportive relationships, relinquish or transform harmful and unsupportive relationship, and align myself with a community and group of people devoted to uplifting pursuits, positive change, and transformation.
Discussion 1:
Clearing Relationships
Take a look at your relationships: begin to look at each one and see how, and in what ways, each relationship in your life supports you or does not support you. There may be some relationships which you hold onto for fear of losing something. That is OK, but be aware how holding on to such relationships may be closing down your life and preventing new, more supportive, relationships to enter. Where are you coming from with your relationships?—fear of losing something, fear of being alone, fear that you might not get something better? Take a good look at what you have. There is no need to rush out and try to change things but become clear about where you are at, what your needs may be, what compromises you are making, and see what is required to make a positive change in this area of your life.
Discussion 2:
Forgiveness
The act of forgiveness is a powerful way to let go of the egoic burdens from the past and align your self with your higher ideals and the all-giving Life of Spirit. Forgiveness frees you from the stultifying past, and allows you to expand into the present moment. Forgiveness affords the greatest boon to the one who is able to forgive; it often has benefits to the one who is forgiven as well. Thus, it is more essential to forgive others than be forgiven by them. The most essential position, however, is to forgive yourself. This affords you the greatest opportunity to release your identity from the past, and the old model of yourself, and to embrace a new identity based upon your present ideal. So long as you cannot forgive yourself, so long as you hold onto an old version of yourself (and you do this by not forgiving and letting go of that version) then you deprive yourself of the presence of Spirit and of your own growth. Again, one must consider the loss which comes from not forgiving oneself (or others)—and that is the loss of your present state of repose, and the loss of the fullness of your life-affirming life. Not forgiving, not being able to let go of the past, binds you to the past and deprives you of the future. It is a very high price to pay.
Clearing of Subconscious Blocks
Besides putting one’s inner and outer life in order, and clearing up lingering concerns from the past, this steps also involves a deeper kind of clearing—the clearing or resolving of the unconscious blocks from one’s childhood. These blocks relate to actual traumas and to the trauma which comes from natural development and conditioning. These blocks (or trauma-knots) are deeply rooted in the subconscious mind and, unbeknownst to you, a) determine your present beliefs, b) drain your life-energy (for a great amount of psychic energy is required to keep these traumas buried and out of one’s consciousness), and c) block access to your true self and your divine qualities. So, the process of accessing, and bringing into conscious awareness, these deep-seated unconscious blocks—and then using the power of your own consciousness to dispel them—is a deep-seating clearing of the past. It is a process which is difficult (and where you will most likely need help from others) yet it is very beneficial to one’s well-being and one’s spiritual development.
Deep-seated fears, which are based upon childhood blocks (or trauma-based blocks) linger in the subconscious mind—and these trauma-blocks most often relate to the trauma that results from natural development, or growing pains, rather than actual traumatic episodes (however, in most people, psychic blocks resulting from both kinds of traumas are present). Besides usurping one’s life-energy, and blocking one from access to his divine qualities, these unconscious trauma-blocks keep a person in a “low vibrational state” and unconsciously root his psyche to unresolved childhood fears. These blocks are emotionally heavy, and dense, and they also undermine a person’s present aspirations (by keeping him bound to old, outmoded views of himself) and by draining his root energy (as it takes a lot of psychic energy to keep all these traumas tucked away in the subconscious mind).
Regardless of how deeply these traumas are “stored away” or suppressed their energetic or “vibrational effect” still exerts great influence over your present state and they direct much of your present action. Most of these suppressed emotional blocks wed a person’s psyche to fear—which, as you know, is opposite in all respects, to life, and the pure life-affirming nature of Spirit. Thus, these unresolved, fear-engendering traumas from the past put the whole of a person’s psyche at odd with his own life-affirming nature (and Spirit Itself).
Fear is the most potent way to block the presence of Spirit since fear is the very opposite of love (and life). Thus, every time a person tries to actuate a present ideal it is undermined by deep-seated, unconscious fears which “deaden’ one’s life energy and run counter to a person’s conscious intentions. The work, then, is to uproot and dispose of (or dissolve away) these unconscious blocks by becoming conscious of them and go through the fear-barrier which surrounds (and protects) them.
This clearing may be supported by sessions of depth psychology, self-inquiry, various types of body work (which can help remove negative vibrational blocks which have been stored at a cellular level), and other approaches such approaches, such as creative dreamwork.
