“E lascia pur grattar dov’e la rogna!” “And let them go ahead and scratch where it itches!”

 

 

    In this digital age of sharing and self-promotion across the annals of the internet and social media accounts, a person could feel daunted, even cursed with the honest drive to achieve personal or career goals. Delving into the past is like playing in the mud – it’s like getting to know your fears. It stops you from rising. 

GRAPPLE YOUR CURRENT REALITY                     Because if you don’t…

·         Being particularly reckless leads to delusional thinking and compromises the sacred space of awareness.

·         Playing in the mud can lead to spinning out and returning to old coping mechanisms.

·         Getting to the root of things, however, will uncover the inspiration one seeks; so, don’t settle for half-solutions. 

Struggling with emotional concerns is not a curse.

It’s a gift that won’t come wrapped in a bow.

Check out this downloadable app for understanding coping mechanisms.

        

            Keep in mind, the questions people ask reveal more about themselves than the answers they find… or dance around… or would shallowly admit to. 

    

There aren’t any safer paths to take that will let you avoid the obstacles that you must face. 

 

“No matter what your current ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.” – Carol S. Dweck

 You must face the gifts that could and often do come from within our own darkness – even more so when its troubling to accept any type of gift, including compliments and criticism.

Hell, even acknowledging our own darkness feels like a punishment. The trouble is that we’re conditioned to believe that gifts come in colorful moments - not as tissue paper tucked away underneath the lounge of shadows. 

(Here’s the thing, as humans, we’re possessed of just enough wit, humor, courage and a side order of understanding to want to know ourselves, to accept our faults.)        

What this means is that, while we constantly complain about the riddles of our real lives, we’re also perfectly willing to spend our precious brain cells and shaky emotional well-being on pretend make-believe problems. I’m not going to wrestle the human theme of perfectionism currently, but instead use this blog post as a Segway warm-up for dissecting, “The Inferno”; in a read at your own risk book review I have on the horizon. 

Let me say this another way – after Dante Aligheri wrote “The Divine Comedy” of which “The Inferno” was part, folks of the early 1300s were faced with what the fears of Hell might be and look like as a physical realm.

With the encouragement of friends and notes I’ve taken from “The Inferno” translated by John Ciardi from Signet Classics publishing and “Dante’s Inferno” with text adapted by Marcus Sanders, I’m excited to face my dissection one of Italy’s greatest poets as an opportunity to bond with my readers.