Maria Arpa
This week
The Many Versions Of You
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
The Wednesday Whisper
Which ones do you recognise?
I was having a conversation this week about a conversation I had with someone else. Interestingly, the person in front of me made a comment about me and things that I do, along the lines of….’you always say that type of thing and you always act that way’. I didn’t recognise that version of me. I didn’t protest or argue. I noted it for reflection. And I understood that there’s the me I believe I am, and there’s the me other people experience. And every person I interact with holds a version of me based on their experience of the interaction and the relationship. And, of course, this is true for everyone and for all the versions of others I hold in my bank of opinions, and everyone’s version of everyone else.
Little wonder then, that there is so much conflict between people. When we are presented with a version of ourselves that doesn’t resonate, our tendency is to defend, correct, attack or protest. And if we are presented with a version that is derogatory or pejorative, or it is presented in an aggressive or demeaning tone, then the possibility for dialogue diminishes.
Furthermore, there are my own perceptions and delusions. What if I have such an opinion of myself that I am unwilling to consider what others experience. It’s in these spaces we find labels like bullying, narcissism, sociopathy used to describe the place of no empathy, dialogue, compassion or growth.
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
The DRM allows us to open a space for growth, wonder, curiosity and change through empathic connection. It shifts our use of language from right, wrong, bad or good to ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’.
The Wednesday Whisper
What versions of you have been reflected back to you? How did you receive it? What did you learn?
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