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from Rob Brezsney's Astrology Newsletter
re what astrology is/isn't:
Today, astrology is not a science. It's a symbol system. When used with
integrity, it engenders poetic approaches for deepening one's connection
to life's great mysteries, not predictions of literal events. It's meant to
open our minds to the mythic patterns that underlie the surface-level
interpretations of what we're all about, not compete with scientists'
rational, logical analyses of why things are the way they are.
re recurring pain:
GRATITUDE FOR YOUR PAIN
Describe your signature pain. What is the nature of the torment that
chronically upsets you most?
This is the first step in graduating from the No Pain, No Gain School of
Tortured Progress. You can't be healed unless you name the tweaked
karma that needs to be healed.
Step #2: Figure out what it is about your problem that's so appealing.
Consider the possibility that you have it at least in part because it
perversely entertains you or keeps you from being bored.
Meditate on the theory that maybe you unconsciously don't want to give
up your dilemma because it prevents you from reaching lofty goals you're
too afraid or timid or lazy to strive for.
Contemplate the notion that you're secretly proud of your distress--that
it's so interwoven with your identity that you wouldn't feel like yourself if
you had to live without it. Do you ever find yourself bragging to others
about the difficulties you have to endure? Are they essential to the
construction of your self-image?
Consider the possibility that you use your nagging agony as an attention-
getting device, or as a way to gather love. Isn't it true that some people
are more likely to shower you with sympathy when you're miserable than
when you're blandly well-adjusted?
Muse on the seductiveness of your hurt, and on all the unacknowledged
reasons that maybe you are attracted to it and hesitate to give it up.
Step #3: Simply feel your suffering. Don't judge it or repress it. Don't
come up with reasons about how it's beneath you to feel it or how you
should be over it by now or how you can't believe you still let it have so
much power over you. Let the pain ripple and flow. Allow it to break your
heart apart. Give it room to wail its truths. Marvel at the fullness of the
emotions it stirs.
Step #4: Leaving all your preconceptions behind, meditate on what
lessons your pain is asking you to master. How is it inspiring you to grow
in directions you've been unable to accomplish by any other means?
Step #5: Put yourself in a state of mind wherein you can feel gratitude for
your pain. Be thankful for its teachings, for its chewy mystery, for its
command that you build a soul resilient enough to do the work you came
to Earth to carry out.
re what astrology is/isn't:
Today, astrology is not a science. It's a symbol system. When used with
integrity, it engenders poetic approaches for deepening one's connection
to life's great mysteries, not predictions of literal events. It's meant to
open our minds to the mythic patterns that underlie the surface-level
interpretations of what we're all about, not compete with scientists'
rational, logical analyses of why things are the way they are.
re recurring pain:
GRATITUDE FOR YOUR PAIN
Describe your signature pain. What is the nature of the torment that
chronically upsets you most?
This is the first step in graduating from the No Pain, No Gain School of
Tortured Progress. You can't be healed unless you name the tweaked
karma that needs to be healed.
Step #2: Figure out what it is about your problem that's so appealing.
Consider the possibility that you have it at least in part because it
perversely entertains you or keeps you from being bored.
Meditate on the theory that maybe you unconsciously don't want to give
up your dilemma because it prevents you from reaching lofty goals you're
too afraid or timid or lazy to strive for.
Contemplate the notion that you're secretly proud of your distress--that
it's so interwoven with your identity that you wouldn't feel like yourself if
you had to live without it. Do you ever find yourself bragging to others
about the difficulties you have to endure? Are they essential to the
construction of your self-image?
Consider the possibility that you use your nagging agony as an attention-
getting device, or as a way to gather love. Isn't it true that some people
are more likely to shower you with sympathy when you're miserable than
when you're blandly well-adjusted?
Muse on the seductiveness of your hurt, and on all the unacknowledged
reasons that maybe you are attracted to it and hesitate to give it up.
Step #3: Simply feel your suffering. Don't judge it or repress it. Don't
come up with reasons about how it's beneath you to feel it or how you
should be over it by now or how you can't believe you still let it have so
much power over you. Let the pain ripple and flow. Allow it to break your
heart apart. Give it room to wail its truths. Marvel at the fullness of the
emotions it stirs.
Step #4: Leaving all your preconceptions behind, meditate on what
lessons your pain is asking you to master. How is it inspiring you to grow
in directions you've been unable to accomplish by any other means?
Step #5: Put yourself in a state of mind wherein you can feel gratitude for
your pain. Be thankful for its teachings, for its chewy mystery, for its
command that you build a soul resilient enough to do the work you came
to Earth to carry out.
