Summary

The author reflects on personal growth inspired by Rumi's poetry and the concept of feedback loops in nature, advocating for embracing joy and kindness to break negative patterns and contribute to personal and planetary evolution.

Abstract

The article delves into the author's journey of self-discovery and emotional intelligence, influenced by the teachings of Rumi. It discusses the tendency of individuals to mirror each other's emotions, creating feedback loops that can either be detrimental or beneficial. The author emphasizes the importance of recognizing and processing emotions, particularly the four basic emotions of anger, sadness, fear, and joy, to avoid being trapped in negative spirals. By connecting with nature and practicing unconditional love, the author suggests that one can evolve beyond these loops, leading to a happier and more impactful life. The narrative encourages readers to adopt a kind and joyful approach to life, which not only transforms their own experiences but also positively influences those around them.

Opinions

The author believes that nature serves as a mirror for human emotions and behaviors, providing a patient and loving environment that aids in personal growth.
Emphasizing the concept of evolution, the author posits that individuals can choose to rise above negative feedback loops by learning to feel and process emotions effectively.
The article suggests that joy is the only basic emotion that leads to happiness, while anger, sadness, and fear typically result in increased stress and negative spirals.
The author advocates for unconditional love and kindness as powerful tools for changing the world, rejecting the hierarchical nature of adoration and guru-culture.

SELF

Rumi Inspires Me to Snap Out of My Feedback Loops. How About You?

I’m just looking into a mirror all-day

I am trampled grapes Run where Love pulls me ‘Why whirl round me?’ you laugh I’m whirling round myself — Jalal-ud-Din Rumi (Translated by Andrew Harvey from A Year of Rumi)

Oh, how I’m irritated! Today everybody is shouting at me it seems. Do this. Do that. I don’t want to! And all these people are full of advice on how to make me feel better.

Grrrrr…

And then I remember how nature on this planet works. And I smile at myself. Am I the cause of all this shouting? Was I impatiently pushing first? Was I irritated? Am I just looping around?

Mirrors, mirrors, mirrors. When we start to see how it works, we can bring so much fun into our lives!

How Nature Works

On our planet, everybody is just looping around herself. Humans, animals, plants, all of us. Others are just mirrors, showing us what we’re doing. The aim of it all?

We can choose to get out of the spirals that are dragging us down and go into evolution.

What’s evolution? Doing it better. Becoming a wiser being.

And how do we spiral? We do it with triggers. Triggers are the feedback loops on our planet. Some take us down, down, down. And then one goes up.

Example? Say I’m irritated. Other people feel that vibe emanating from me. They feel my energy. They see my posture. They hear it in my voice.

Someone shouts at me because he’s infected by me. I get more irritated. And I infect some more. That’s a downward spiral.

We do it to each other all the time. All of us. That’s nature.

Four Emotions

There are only four kinds of basic emotions. Anger, sadness, fear, and joy. The consequences of these emotions are only in one case happy. Joy gives. happiness. Sadness gives punishment. And fear and anger increase our stress.

Do you notice how three emotions are taking us down? And only one goes up? Joy. So, it’s really easy to be taken into a downward spiral.

I have lived a long life as a playing ball of this mechanism. Always feeling bad about myself. Always feeling guilty or shameful. I wasn’t very good at anger, you see. I just always had a lot of sadness and fear.

And yes, the result was a stressful life. Full of punishment for myself. And infecting others in my surroundings with my own bad feelings about myself. That didn’t make them any happier, I can tell you.

Evolution

But, luckily I learned about evolution at some point around my 45-50s. And to be honest, I learned not by gaining knowledge in my mind. I learned by doing the things I did not understand. I learned how to feel my emotions in my body. How to process them and let them go.

And… I trained my connection to nature. That helped me a lot! They say that nature is mirroring us too. And because trees and plants, bacteria and fungi are so much more patient and loving than most humans are, they gave me love. And my own love inside me grew.

No One Is Perfect

And now? I just go around with joy and kindness. It’s not really something I think about with my mind. I just feel like that. I don’t need to fight so hard anymore. Everyone can take their own time to change. That’s not up to me.

I just spend my time loving nature. And being an impactful changemaker in what I do best. Telling stories. Creating a better future with new narratives.

I support other fighters for change fiercely in my work. They do a hard job. They are constantly in this fighting environment and it must wear them out. So I support them with all the power I have. With all the love I have.

And at the same time, I’m kind to unkind people.

“Be kind to unkind people. They need it the most.”

― Ashleigh Brilliant

Why does this work? Think about the feedback loop again. When someone is in an anger, fear, or sadness space they see it reflected all day. It’s mostly anger, fear, and sadness that’s returned to them via the mirror.

Joy is a shapeshifter. She changes the energy.

And what about adoration? Guru-culture is also cancel-culture. Nature works with paradox. One day you are adored by all. It goes to your head. The next day you are spit out by all. Adoration has no place on this planet.

So what if I give love instead? Not adoration, but love from one human to another? No hierarchy. No victimhood. Not feeling superior or inferior. Will they snap out of their loop? I don’t know. That’s for them to decide.

I only have my own life to live. And yes, with that life I want to make the world a little better. Live to evolve. Be evolution.

Kindness is my role in life, it seems. Unconditional love will change all. So, I just go on with it. And you know what? I live a very happy life like this. The people I have around me are attracted to my kindness and they have a huge talent for kindness themselves.

I just love my life now.

Enjoy life, my friends. Run where love pulls you. It’s your soul speaking when you hear the singing of your heart.

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Want to connect? You can find me somewhere on our beautiful planet, with my hands in the soil and my eyes gazing at moonshots and quantum leaps. Or find me via Linktree.