Ram Dass was a leader of psychotherapy, took hundreds of psychedelic trips, and spent 50 years on a spiritual path, and at the end of his life, he said he still had the same neurosis. Now they didn’t grab him as much. He invited them in for tea and called them his little shmoos.
Is there a part of yourself that you fight with? Maybe it’s perfectionism, fear of failure or intimacy, insecurity, or self-doubt. How would your world be different if you could embrace these habits of mind as little shmoos instead of giant, scary monsters?
In a word or two (or sentence or two), please share some of your shmoos, not as a form of therapy, but rather to help normalize many of the things we all battle but tend to hide from each other. Let this be light, easy, connecting, and sweet.
There’s probably a more eloquent way to express this one, but that thing where you’re hoping you get through the trip to the grocery store without having to interact with a single other person
I really like the practice of treating these things as little shmoo tea-guests, instead of expressions of big serious underlying psychological issues
Taking these things too seriously does more harm than good, that’s not to say you disregard the behavior/ neuroses completely, but just handle it with a lighter heart if I’m understanding correctly
Zach, there really should be word for that feeling! But yeah, I relate. It’s like intentional disconnection/isolation?
And yes, I agree with what you said about handling the shmoos with a lighter heart. I also see it as creating distance between yourself and the schmoo. Realizing that the schmoo isn’t you. (Did we just come up with a catchphrase?) I see the journey with the schmoos as a practice of not becoming them. If I can see each neurosis as a separate, adorable little friend, then I have my own autonomy and I don’t identify with/as them.
I have embodied a lot of my schmoos throughout the years and they have become heavy and have created tension, resistance, and disconnection. I see this schmoo practice as an invitation to disembody some of the schmoos I’ve merged with and create some space and freedom in my energy.
For me, it’s my self worth and feeling as though I can no longer put myself, or anything I do out, there into the world because it won’t be good enough or liked.
I suppose that’s probably five little shmoos all rolled into one big one of unworthiness. Perhaps undeserving-ness?
My world would be a much more confident one if I just invited all those shmoos to tea and made friends with them.
Love is the infinite drive of everything. All of the seeming darkness is light. If you were infinitely powerful, what would you create? Endless love. Hold hands with the dark.
Perhaps undeserving-ness?