There is a sneaky part that hides behind everything you are trying to work on. It’s a variation of the thing itself, and it can be the hardest to notice.
Take for example, anger. You’re working on your anger, and every time you mess up, you get furious at yourself.
You’re angry at how angry you are.
This is the thing of the thing. Anger about anger.
The same applies to guilt – feeling guilty about how guilty you feel; or depression, feeling even more down about how you’re always feeling down.
I’ve seen a particularly insidious version of this when it comes to shame – you’re ashamed of how ashamed you are.
Some more examples:
- Trying hard to stop trying so hard
- Feeling trapped by constantly trying to escape feeling trapped
It’s the secret mechanism that helps perpetuate many of our negative cycles.
Keep an eye out for it in your journey of self awareness, the thing of the thing is always trying to enter from the back door, and can be one of the hardest things to catch - because it's hiding behind the thing.
