There are many ways to work with knots.
I can allow the experience that comes up, as is, with kindness. I can inquire into stories around it and find what is more honest for me. I can act with more integrity in the world.
And if the knot is particularly sore, I can also reimagine my response in situations that triggered the knot. I can imagine myself in the situation, now acting from more clarity, wisdom and kindness. (This is similar to revisiting a dream through active imagination). When I do that, I notice a further shift into a sense of clarity, honesty, relief, and alignment with what is more true for me.
What is a knot?
A knot is any belief, and the dynamics around this belief. A belief is a should about the world, this should will inevitably clash with my stories of how the world is or can be, and this is traumatic. Often, it is just a slight discomfort, but sometimes, it can be what we think of as traumatic in an everyday sense.
The knot is made up of everything happening in me around this belief-reality clash: The initial story taken as true, the should about the world. The situation that clashed with this story. Reactive emotions that came up. How I acted in the situation. How I wish I had acted. And all of this happening as memories and images here and now.
Allowing the emotions that come up around it allows resistance to the experience to fall away, which is part of the discomfort around it. Inquiring into my stories around it helps me find more clarity, and find what is more honest for me around it. And acting in the world with more integrity around it is also essential, and may involve apologizing, or taking action to correct a choice I made in the past.
Imagining – vividly and in detail – how I would have liked to respond in triggering situations in the past is just the glazing on the cake, but it can be an important step. That is at least my experience right now, having just done it with a major knot in my life.
I like the knot diagram. It is a reminder of the many different types of knots – each one a little different, but still a knot.
…………..
…………..
outline….
- knots and reimagination
- knots
- allow experience, inquire, change in the world
- and also, reimagine own response in the situation (similar to active imagination) – act from more clarity, wisdom, kindness
- sense of clarity, honesty, alignment, relief
- knots