One of the most important things I’ve learned is about my inner critic – learning first to recognise it and gradually to free myself from its debilitating influence and grip.
I’ve also valued learning to include all of my experience - the most uncomfortable and difficult as well as the pleasurable, the subtle and seemingly ordinary details. I now know that if I stay with what’s happening, as much as I can, then more will be revealed. Any life event or present-moment experience can be a doorway to seeing and understanding more of who I am. I can trust that whatever is happening in me is valid and meaningful – even if it appears not to be. I don’t need to reject anything.
As some of my historical patterns and beliefs began to dissolve, I discovered that many of the things I’d been seeking externally were right here – qualities such as love, value, acceptance and satisfaction.
From a young age, I wanted to understand the world, the universe, the whole of reality. At first, that was a scientific odyssey, and later it expanded into psychological, social and spiritual domains. All were exciting and revealing, but none felt quite “it” – until a friend told me about the Diamond Approach, and I went along to my first retreat. The very first evening, I felt a resonance, a sense of coming home, and knew this was my path.
What was the attraction? It just felt right, and I loved the precision and clarity of the teaching, the openness, the never-ending discovery, learning to inquire, to trust my experience, to stay with difficult feelings, to discover more about more what’s real.
You can try it out and see if it's right for you!
Reading about it, it can sound complex, but once you engage, its your own experience you are exploring, in a very sensate and experiential way. That can lead to deep transformation, whilst also making a difference to your capacity and freedom to be and act in this world.