Stepping outside of your ego mind in a retreat is a beautiful gift you can give to yourself.
As we start to grow up, our triggers will start to exacerbate. And then, after intentionally working through them, they will quiet down.
Our deep core wounding is hard to clear, and I find that the universe sends us teachers and situations that help us heal them. When I talk about teachers in this way, what I am referring to is people who trigger us so we can heal. We have to be conscious at all times of how our ego is at work.
One of the first behaviors we experience when our ego is in control is blaming others.
Blaming is feeling like:
- He did that to me.
- She is a bully.
- I don’t like her.
- She makes me feel bad about myself.
First of all, no one can make you feel anyway you don’t already feel. If it seems that someone makes you feel like you are not good enough, it’s because that is your wound. If you think someone is a bully, it’s because you have the same behavior inside of you.
To heal, we have to be conscious of our ego minds and to understand and know when our ego is operating. Getting to know who you are through a women’s retreat will set you free of your ego mind and suffering.
“Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be respectable, you are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal. Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself…
Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the self at all. You don’t know who you are. If you had known, then there would have been no problem— then you are not seeking opinions. Then you are not worried what others say about you— it is irrelevant!
When you are self-conscious you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet.”
― Osho
