When the Same Patterns Keep Repeating
Have you ever noticed the same problems seem to keep showing up in your life?
You may notice that the same problems, situations, and experiences seem to repeat themselves. While the setting, the characters, and the specific details may be different, the underlying feeling or emotion that is triggered remains constant.
It can feel like we're stuck in a repeating cycle, never quite getting to where we want to go or experiencing the peace we seek. We can try to push, strive, and force ourselves and our experience to be different, but until what's lying beneath the surface is met, the same experience repeats itself.
On the surface, it can feel like we are a victim of that experience, that these same “problems” keep happening to us. We blame the situation and the people for making us feel the way we do, make the experience wrong, and do our best to avoid it in the future.
But when we drop beneath the surface and deepen into our experience of the present moment, a deeper truth begins to reveal itself. We begin to see that the emotions being triggered aren't being created by the situation. They are often already here, connected to earlier life experiences and quietly shaping our experience.
By meeting these unprocessed emotions, we open the door to real change and transformation. We can choose to relate to these situations as opportunities, to see life as it is, a mirror of our internal state of being. And when our internal state of being shifts, our experience naturally changes.
Every time we experience that old unprocessed emotion is an opportunity to see what was previously unseen, feel what was previously unfelt, and deepen into the discovery of the truth beneath the noise.
I’ll end with a quote attributed to psychiatrist Carl Jung:
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Receive New Reflections
If you'd like to receive new reflections like this directly in your inbox, subscribe here.