A Lamp Unto Yourself
I’m finding my way to the light
After years of reading books, learning from great minds, and applying the teachings of spiritual teachers, I’ve learned one thing worth more than all the books I will ever read: experience is its own teacher. Life and living it remains the most effective therapist if you get it right.
A truth so simple, yet so easily overlooked.
If I pay attention enough, almost every experience has something to teach. I’m figuring things out for myself . I’m finding my way to the light.
Lessons are hidden in our anger, fear, hatred, jealousy insecurity, grief and loss. They are raw experiences and memories we can harness for our next one because suffering is unavoidable.
So, I’m paying attention.
I’ve opened all of my senses for the complete life experience. I have turned inward for answers. I can find a way forward in the depths of my being, the wisdom of many years of surviving and experiencing life, and my honed intuition. I can get the answers I desperately want.
If I look long enough, I will see patterns.
I will notice that the seemingly insignificant decisions change the course of my day, week, or year. My impatience and frustrations may put me in a bad mood, but I’m learning, so tomorrow, I will respond and react better.
I will course-correct.
I trust the process of life.
It’s hard to focus enough to find the faintest lessons obscured by the shadows of doubt and fear. But if I listen enough, I nurture the wisdom of making life a therapist.
I become a lamp unto myself. I nurture the flame to illuminate my path. “Be a lamp unto yourself,” Buddha counselled his disciples.
“Find your own way to liberation,’ he says.
I can learn from the experiences of others. Read about the lives of teachers, mentors, and experts to refine my wisdom.
But my path is mine to walk.
I’m not saying the words of others have no value. It’s the opposite. I want to walk the advice and practice what I know. I want to interpret my own stories: the joys, sorrows, pain and suffering.
All of it.
Life has always been the master therapist, but we turn away because the lessons are hidden in discomfort. We don’t slow down enough to allow the dips to pass.
The longer I resist the flow of life, the more restless and doubtful I become. The more I look away to other sources to light my path, the less meaningful my life becomes.
I use introspection and solitude walks to observe my thoughts and emotions without judgment — an active investigation of my immediate past to inform my next experience.
That’s how I keep figuring things out.
One day at a time.
Darkness, doubt, pain, suffering and hopelessness are merely detours. I have a lot to learn from them. Each wrong turn strengthens my resolve to live and refines my path.
Physician and psychotherapist Alexander Lowen was right, “Because we are afraid of life, we seek to control or master it.”
Wisdom by experience is bitter.
But, there’s a thrill in figuring things out for myself. And wisdom in living and reflecting on my own deepest truths.
All of life is “an experiment in progress.”
The more experiences, memories, and activities there are, the better.
Life is challenging me to my core. But I’m happy to experiment, to fall, and rise again, stronger and wiser each time.
I wake up excited for my next experience.
I choose the path.
I step out into the open air and let experience be my teacher and therapist. I’m finding my way to the light, for the most life-changing wisdom is not in borrowed knowledge but in the lessons of my soul.
Let life ruffle your day, push you to your limits, and fill you with wonder. Tomorrow you will become wiser.
Life has always been the first therapist.
Keep calm and listen.
More on personal spiritual growth
