You cannot rip the skin from the snake, it will shed when it’s ready.  The same mentality applies to people and their individual processes.

It is an interesting place that I have come to in my life. As I reflect over the last few years and see where I have been and where I have come both emotionally and spiritually, I notice one main thing: the process wasn’t forced upon me. I didn’t have someone who was a spiritual guru trying to pump me full of “opportunities for realization.”

In my particular example, I would have moments of realization that my life needed to seriously change. I had them numerous times while in nursing school, and they would come at moments that seemed at the time pretty unexpected and out of the blue. To me, that is what solidified them all the more. I wasn’t in someone’s company, with them explaining to me where I was doing wrong to myself and others or how I needed to change.

It was completely from myself, and with that inner patience and opportunity to let emotions surface at their own time, the experience seemed much more real.

I’ve watched a friend go through tumultuous and stormy period in her life. I have seen this person acting in ways that I know she knows aren’t good for her, but yet I let her experience them. I allow myself to provide as much support and love as I can around her. I know that she will come to her own realization in her own time. I will be there for her as she battles the uphill climb back to who I know she is at the core.

I believe that it stops being our own process when someone forces their experiences and influences on us.

When it is forced upon us, it becomes less genuine and less powerful. So, don’t try and rush your own process. Don’t try to place yourself in situations where you will see the light or error of your ways. Allow yourself to glide through these waves of enlightenment and be patient. Your mind and heart will follow in their own time.

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Ed: Kate Bartolotta