{"id":1598,"date":"2022-10-25T16:20:06","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T16:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ever-journey.com\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2023-05-26T07:27:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T07:27:52","slug":"through-the-dark-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ever-journey.com\/stage\/2022\/10\/25\/through-the-dark-woods\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the dark woods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cPeace is your home,
integrity is the way to it,\u00a0
and everything you long for\u00a0
will meet you there.\u201d\u00a0
\u2013 Martha Beck<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Going through the dark woods of error\u2026?

Can\u2019t see the trees from the woods\u2026?<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever experienced a time in your life, when you could not see past the dark and frightening woods of error in your life?<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding myself out of the dark woods<\/em>

Have you ever been through\u00a0a time in your life when you could not see past the frightening dark woods of error in your life?<\/em>

A time when you were unable to see past the gigantic dense tree stumps surrounding you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time when you could not see past, tall dark branches and trees obscuring your view.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time when you were unable to see through the countless barky thick layers of timber that obscured your vision and stifled your movement forward.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time when you felt overcome & engulfed by dark and thick leafy shrubs in your way, unable to move.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time when you could not move beyond the messy, moist, and muddy ground beneath your feet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A time when you were unable to see the warm sun through the towering upstream river of leaves above, and over ahead.<\/em>

A time where you could not see a way out, no trail, nor path for you to tread on\u2026<\/em>

No way in,<\/em>
\u2026 and no way out<\/em>
No view in site<\/em>
No way through it<\/em>
No way to move out of it<\/em>

No way, to lead you out of the leafy long stumps and shrubs, to take you through a new way back to a peaceful you.<\/em>

Have you ever felt so lost, abandoned in the lonely messy and intimidating dark woods\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in that, you realized you could not find your way home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Tamara<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bestselling author, life coach, and sociologist Martha Beck explains why \u201cintegrity\u201d\u2014 meaning being in harmony with ourselves\u2014is the key to a meaningful and joyful life.
\u00a0
In her book The Way of Integrity,<\/a> Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering.
\u00a0
Much of what haunts & plagues us in today\u2019s world is\u2014people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits, and not being true to ourselves \u2014 they all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.<\/strong>
\u00a0
Inspired by The Divine Comedy (The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beck uses Dante\u2019s classic hero\u2019s journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.
\u00a0
The Way Of Integrity uses science, spirituality, humour, and Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy to teach you how to find well-being, healing, a sense of purpose, and much more by rediscovering integrity, or the recently lost art of living true to yourself by what you do, think and say.
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you are in the dark wood of error in your life now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Midway through the journey of life\u201d, says Dante, I found myself in a dark forest, for the right way was lost. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t mention how he got lost, what he was doing when we wandered off track, or how far off he has gone. All this information is literally \u2026 foggy. The only thing Dante knows is that he is alone, adrift & confused.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience of noticing we are on the wrong path in what feels like the wrong life, comes to almost all of us at some point.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Perhaps in the form of:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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A few years into a dead-end job, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a broken unmendable relationship, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

or a stressed living situation <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We may suddenly realise that everything seems\u2026\u2019off\u2019 and that we find ourselves stuck in the dark woods of error.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Dante we are a bit unsure what exactly is wrong, or how we got \u2018here\u2019, we just know that something is not aligned with where we would like to be\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you find yourself when you are trying to find your way in the dark woods:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can use the below as a guideline to see your symptoms if you are \u2018stuck\u2019 in the dark woods of error (references below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is based on Beck\u2019s book.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost in the Woods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DARK WOOD OF ERROR SYNDROME<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have probably been times when you, too, have departed from your own true path. At first, the resulting suffering may have been so mild you didn\u2019t even notice it. But no one can sleepwalk away from integrity indefinitely, because things get worse the further we travel in the wrong direction. Eventually, if we don\u2019t correct course, we begin displaying clusters of characteristic symptoms. You may have had them in the past. You may have them now.
Call any cluster of these symptoms \u201cdark wood of error syndrome.\u201d But it\u2019s not a bad thing. It\u2019s the way our instincts motivate us to regain our integrity. It\u2019s the truth come to set us free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #1: Feeling<\/strong>
Our sense of purposelessness doesn\u2019t disappear in the face of culturally defined achievements. It remains a persistent, goading force, a biting fly that won\u2019t stop buzzing around our heads until we begin pursuing goals that truly fulfill us\u2014in other words, following the way of integrity. And if the whine and sting of purposelessness isn\u2019t enough to shake us out of our sleepwalking, our subconscious minds will up the ante. They\u2019ll summon the megafauna, the mental wild beasts we call mood states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #2: Emotional misery<\/strong>
Whatever your repeated or persistent negative emotions, try thinking of them as wild beasts, whose job it is to make your life unbearable when you stray from your true path. If the feelings don\u2019t go away even though you\u2019re taking your medication and meeting regularly with your therapist, you can be quite sure you\u2019re somehow out of integrity. The sooner you acknowledge this the better, because remaining in the dark wood of error may eventually cause you actual, physical harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #3: Physical deterioration<\/strong>
There are all kinds of physical ailments that affect people who are living in complete integrity. Everyone dies, and there\u2019s plenty of physical pain that has nothing to do with keeping secrets, telling lies, or wandering off true paths. Still, every time we make choices or assume appearances that don\u2019t align with our integrity, we really do become more vulnerable to physical problems, from back spasms to pneumonia. If you\u2019re inexplicably sick, weak, or accident-prone, your body may be trying to tell you you\u2019re lost in the dark wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #4: Consistent relationship failures<\/strong>
If you feel constantly drained or betrayed in family, friendship, and romance, the relationships you\u2019re forming are probably based in the dark wood of error. We simply can\u2019t chart a course to happiness by linking up with others who are as lost as we are. The path to true love\u2014true anything\u2014is the way of integrity. No other person can ever find yours for you, much less give it to you. But you can always, no matter what your circumstances, find and follow it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #5: Consistent career failures<\/strong>
There are infinite ways to make a living. At some level\u2014a deep, instinctive level\u2014you know which of them will truly work for you. You can feel it immediately when a job requires you to push aside your true desires. Your awareness of your true career path may be buried deep under layers of acculturated false beliefs. But it\u2019s still there, like a flower trying to grow through toxic sludge. If you continue to resist your genuine impulses, you\u2019ll become slowly aware that what you\u2019re doing to make a living is turning you into the walking dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dark wood of error symptom #6: Bad habits you can\u2019t break<\/strong>
If you feel unable to stop an activity, if you\u2019re spending the rent money on it, if you hide it from others and feel a creeping obsession slowly consuming you, your first step toward integrity\u2014a big one\u2014might be acknowledging that you\u2019re addicted. From there you can begin regaining your integrity.
Whatever happens, if you don\u2019t leave the dark wood of error, you\u2019ll find your bad habits almost impossible to break. Eventually, they may well break you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EXERCISE: Finding integrity in the dark wood<\/strong> ( from Martha Beck\u2019s book)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here is a simple exercise that will put your feet squarely on the way of integrity, no matter how lost you may feel. Below you\u2019ll find a list of simple statements. Your job is to say them out loud. Whisper them privately, proclaim them to a friend, shout them at the next spam caller who interrupts your day\u2026 And just for a moment, as you say each sentence, tentatively accept that it might be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now here\u2019s the important part: as you speak each sentence, feel what happens inside you. Your pride may sting, and your inner critic may put its back up like a startled cat. But does your body relax a little, despite the apparent negativity of a given statement? Does your breath deepen? Do you feel a battle easing in your gut, your heart, your head? Just notice this. Don\u2019t worry about what comes next.

Okay, go\u2026\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My life isn\u2019t perfect.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t like the way things are going.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t feel good.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m angry.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m scared.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not at peace.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t find my people.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure where to go.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know what to do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I need help.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you felt something settle in your body and emotions when you read one or more of the statements above, don\u2019t ignore it. That slight relaxation is your instinctive response to hearing\u2014and, more importantly, speaking\u2014the truth. If you can feel it, be proud of yourself. Things aren\u2019t perfect, but you\u2019re awake to the fact that they\u2019re not perfect, and that is everything. You\u2019re reconnecting parts of yourself that have been torn apart. Bravely done. You\u2019ve taken the first step on the way of integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Are you finding yourself in the dark wood\u00a0of error?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Are you finding yourself in the dark wood of error? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needing a guide to help you find your way out of it<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not sure what the \u2018problem is\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanting to find yourself somewhere else<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not sure how?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I offer the first 30min FREE to discuss your journey and how I can help.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Book 30 min session Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Way Of Integrity Summary<\/a><\/blockquote>