When I first began DIP lite, I found myself feeling very enthusiastic and sharing my experience with people around me. Most of the people with whom I shared it were relatively interested or intrigued, but all have since concluded that it is a cult (or at least like to joke with me that it is a cult, and I don't really try to deny this, because there's no amount of reasoning that will change their minds. I merely am sure to demonstrate the ways that my participation and learning has already benefited and assisted me, and as a result I have people in my life who know what I am doing and am supportive of my efforts for self-honesty, even if they do like to make cracks about kool-aid or express concern periodically). Since my enthusiasm waned, I have only introduced two more people to my participation with desteni, one of whom was already familiar with it just from my talking about my friend's participation with it. The other was tonight, with a new friend I met a few weeks ago at my yoga studio. We both have psychology backgrounds and seem to really "vibe" with each other. She's a really down-to-earth, honest person and early on I got the impression that she would probably actually like desteni. Tonight we hung out for the first time outside the yoga studio and had a long conversation about all kinds of things, and I decided it seemed like an appropriate time to open up about desteni specifically and not just my commitment (in-progress) to be honest. In opening up, I was honest: I shared with her the parts of desteni that I think are really cool and that are already impacting my life in useful and beneficial ways. I also was upfront with her about some of the stuff that I think is wacky, and told her upfront about the things that I wasn't really clear enough on to accurately explain. I both was and wasn't surprised at how genuinely interested she was (I was not surprised because I thought she would relate well to it based on what I knew of her, and I know that she enjoys "people-watching" on every level, that is, she enjoys seeing all the different ways that people operate; I was surprised because I told her even about the wacky stuff and she didn't seem all that fazed or turned off by it, just approached it with the same humorous skepticism that I have). We talked for at least an hour specifically about desteni and overall she expressed that she thought it sounded really cool, and she agreed with pretty much all of the foundational ideas I shared with her. It was cool because I have seen her as someone I could become really good, genuine friends with (and this interaction without judgment shows her to be someone who is honest and worthy of trust), and also cool because it was the first time I'd really shared about desteni without being met with much of any resistance (the only thing she didn't want to continue with was she didn't want to watch a video of sunette -- she said she didn't really feel ready for that).
It was also cool because even though in my enthusiasm I was sharing my experience, I was also sharing my excitement, and trying to get others to also feel excited. But this time I was just sharing my experience, and ended up with the other person feeling kind of excited. Not like she's going to go start DIP lite or anything, but I think doors have only opened, not shut. But regardless, my goal right now isn't really to open doors for anyone other than myself at this point in time. But as I noticed with this experience of purely sharing my experience without trying to convince anyone of anything or make them feel a certain way, the result is that my sharing is more convincing. Truth alone is loud enough. My goal is to be honest, and that will be easier with supportive, accepting people around me.
Feelings:surprised
accepted
heard
respected
interesting
No comments :
Post a Comment