Coins of the Realm

A friend of mine, who likes to be called Bean, has been having a tough time of it lately due to being overly concerned with what some people in the rather large group she travels in have to say about her. She talked a bit about what she calls "the original wound". I assume she means one of those pivotal events that most of us would consider our "baggage".
A shaman would call this type of thing shadow work. Shamans like to travel light and shadows don`t weight much if you maintain them and pack them properly.They can take up an incredible amount of space in our lives if we try to just stuff them though.
Here`s the advise I offered to my friend.

You are suffering from the curse of the human experience and especially from that part of the curse that comes from living with your eyes (and ears) open, Bean. This is a two sided curse and is like a coin in that you can flip it over and many times the curse will become a blessing.
While one side will try to suck us into darkness and discordancy the other side can teach us that sometimes with just a little effort things can become shiny and bright again. In order to fully appreciate the smooth and brilliant things in our lives we need to know the dark,scarred and ugly side as well. One of the things that the human experience is meant to teach us is how to balance and flip our coins, Bean.
Some of us only see the dark or scarred face of a coin laying in front of us. It`s the face of a coin we don`t want to pick up or risk carrying around with us. If we see any value in it and decide to take ownership of it we will always be reminded of how scarred and ugly it is whenever we dump things out in front of us in an effort to make change.
Sooner or later it gets to the point where we can`t stand the idea of carrying it any longer and have to be rid of it. Many of us attempt to hand it off to someone else in an attempt to exchange it for something that person has that we want.
When one of these dark,damaged coins is pulled from someone`s pocket and is cast in front of you as payment you can either flip it in an attempt to see if the other side is smooth and bright or you can simply slide it back toward the person offering it and say something like, "I`m sorry I can`t accept this" or "Here,keep this, you need it more than I do".
Remember to smile and be kind when you say it. That smile can serve as a balance point as well.

Much love,
Daedalus