”I went to the puppet theatre many years ago. It was full of kindergarten, elementary school children. I don’t remember what show it was, but I remember at one point a child shouted, ‘There’s the hand!’ Others started fidgeting too, the hand then disappeared, much to their puzzlement.

In puppet theatre we only see what the puppeteer wants us to see. The unseen puppeteer produces from the shadows something that appears in the spotlight. In other words, what is staged, what is visible to the audience, always depends on the non-visible.

I would compare this interplay between the visible and the non-visible with the manifestations of people.

Our present behaviour, our reactions, the way we think, the way we perceive reality, how we manifest ourselves, are all dictated by something hidden: our past, our education, our life experiences, the people we have met so far, the way we have built ourselves.

Often we ourselves only see the tip of the personal iceberg, we end up identifying with it, we no longer know how to go underwater to try to understand ourselves. It’s as if we allow ourselves to be seduced by the puppet theatre and choose to ignore the hands that operate them.

It’s hard to take a journey to ourselves. It can also be frightening to muddy the waters, to search beneath the tip of the iceberg: who knows what monsters lurk out there? We often choose to leave them alone, thinking they will disappear. But they grow, they get worse, until they explode and surface.

Perhaps it’s easier for us to start from the outside in. Maybe it’s easier to think of others first, and then reflect on ourselves.

Here are some possible perspectives that I find useful:

  • When someone is aggressive, what lies beyond that behavior? What is non-visible to an amateur eye?
  • When someone complains all the time, what lies behind the words?
  • When someone praises you all the time, how could you interpret it? What dictates this behaviour?
  • What needs, what fears, what frustrations do we identify around us? What about ourselves?
  • What delights us, upsets us, annoys us, what brings out the best or the worst in us?
  • What motivates us and what demotivates us?
  • How do we recharge our batteries?
  • What would others say about us? What would we want them to say? How to characterise us?
  • What do we appreciate most in others?
  • What do we dislike most in others?
  • Who inspires us?
  • Who is our favourite hero?

This is not an exhaustive list. It’s just a possible starting point for exploring yourself.

Why? Because it helps us, and because understanding ourselves better will make it easier to accept ourselves, to love ourselves, with our shadows and our lights.

In this way, we will perhaps be better able to recognise and accept the love of those around us, of those around us, and at the same time we will be more tolerant of their wounds, their vulnerability, their personality.”

via: spotmedia.ro

Georgeta Dendrino