‘gates’ of life, something worth for 2024

Hey,

I hope you haven't freaked yet that your shadow self hasn’t vanished during the holidays.

What about 2024 being a good year to continue on the path of developing and uplifting life?

For that, 'gates' of life are fundamentally something to pay attention to.

'Going through the gate' is a traditional term in Chinese wisdom culture used to describe the situation when cultivation of life is at a point where there is a big hurdle to go over or a major obstacle to be overcome to get to a completely new place... If you cannot 'go through the gate' successfully, you will always be stuck in the same place. (if this stuck in the same place is something you’re unfamiliar with HOORRAAYY to you, and for everyone else, if you know exactly what I’m talking about this might be exactly for you).

How does one go through a 'gate' successfully? And what are these 'gates'?

They are challenges or difficulties—often affecting health or hindering development of life—which have to be faced. If there is a challenge or problem which you know will affect your progress, then that is a gate.

Cultivating life can be seen as a process of shedding the shadow self by going through gates.

Let’s assume cultivating life is serious to you, and you have started with 'Knowing Yourself' already.

Next, how do you go through 'gates'? (you’re probably doing this already too, at least one of the following:)

>> You work through all the 'gates' that are already there

>> You set new ones for yourself if there are none available

Whatever can still affect or disturb you, or you fear, you’d rather not look at, you want to avoid and hide, you want to escape…

Is a gate.

…and if you’re facing every challenge or difficulty and are applying in every given moment to understand what message they convey to you and deal with them until one day you are faced with this gate, you are able to stay completely relaxed, calm and natural without getting disturbed by it whatsoever, then this is what is considered in life cultivation to be 'going through the gate' successfully.

You still with me?

Cool.

Maybe you’re shaking your head in disbelief and think, "Woa, woa, woa here, Mirjam, you again telling me to focus on the shadow kingdom more and on the negative parts of myself, but this will only result in more negativity. Do you think I was born yesterday? The more light you bring in, the less darkness there is."

You still wanna pay attention.

Now is a great time to acknowledge paradoxes, because if getting to know your shadow kingdom in more depth is making you nervous or uneasy, and you have lost the natural state, then it is a gate for you.

If you can see the work of the crooked game in the attitude of only wanting to be in the light and not in the shadows, and you can observe yourself thinking that your shadow kingdom can’t do anything positive or meaningful, then more great news!

(Wohoo!)

It's actually a very good thing to be able to see the crooked pieces that are behind our actions, thoughts, emotions and views which are creating health problems and problems in life.

It is normal when you are working on going through 'gates' that the crooked game will be triggered and will make its crooked moves.

Let me repeat, it is a great thing to use your shadow kingdom to get closer to your true nature. How could you start to see the workings of the crooked pieces in the background? If you don’t know what is causing your health problems and problems in life, how could you even start to change them? This is when you can start working on the causes, which is exactly what needs to be done in order to 'go through the gate' successfully.

It is important to not get stuck in how you see things.

If one day you are able to remain totally undisturbed by the exploration of your shadow self, it will not be a gate any more. You are just doing the exploration as every moment is presenting you with.

A happy new year in life cultivation!
Stay tuned for the next one.

XOM

P.S.

Wanna look yet from a different angle?

It can be seen that sometimes we put the gate there ourselves. Well, it doesn’t have to be there. Our attitude and how we deal with it can determine whether something will become a gate or not.

P.S.S.

If you could face and admit your shadow kingdom is still making you uneasy, then I’ll invite you to start the work on getting through this 'gate'. A brilliant teacher awaits you.

The uneasiness of NOT wanting to focus too strongly on the negative and the desire to be positive can become the cause of staying stuck in the same place. Depleting your Qi and causing your Jingshen to get scattered and separated, and the resulting information you are giving in by seeing your shadow kingdom as negative will contribute to the reinforcement of the shadow kingdom. The strong focus of "the more light you bring in, the less darkness there is" is often how people respond to life challenges when they view their shadow kingdom as "it can’t do anything positive or meaningful", and want to resolve the bad in a quick way. If this is the pattern you have been following, you might wanna get a better understanding of the crooked game, its trippy-traps, and paradoxes in life cultivation.