Redirecting power

Once we make conscious our emotional needs, it's impossible to forget them. Once we become aware of the source of our unhappiness we cannot expunge that awareness. We have to make choices. The ability to choose is an active power - and the sensation of having active power is both thrilling and threatening, because it makes us want to change those parts of our lives that are no longer appropriate. And changing those parts inspires us to challenge other aspects of our lives that are not satisfactory.

Changing our lives is often difficult because of our existing loyalties. Usually we learn about loyalty within our family structure and as a connection toward our family. Loyalty to oneself, however, is an entirely different virtue, and adhering to it can cause tremendous upheaval in a family.

In truth, there are not many ways to successfully introduce your personal needs into a circumstance that was created before you realized what your personal needs were.

The necessity of change makes healing a terrifying experience for many people. These individuals know, consciously or unconsciously, that unplugging their energy circuits from a power target is the same as saying good-bye to it. They enter into an unsettling limbo where they want simultaneously to unplug from their power target and to hang on to it. Some people end up trying to live in the two worlds simultaneously, not entirely inhabiting the one that no longer suits them, yet never quite moving on to the next either. Thus it is that many people journey to the well of healing but find, once they get there, that they cannot actually drink.

from: Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss