Threshold guardians

The latest Garoux felt like tasting: a just bought retractable leash...

I had never heard of threshold guardians until I recently read about this in a book called ''Self-Care for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature parents''. Threshold guardians are what looks like obstacles in the path of the hero... They can take the form of an inconvenience (aa flight delay, forgetting your cell phone somewhere), a disaster (a disabling illness, being target of a major scam), a person who is unpleasant or toxic (no shortage of examples here) who appear to test your mettle when you attempt to reach a goal. But of course, I have had many threshold guardians in my life and eventually I intuitively sensed their spiritual role and therefore the need for me to take the occurrence beyond the superficial level of the world of form. One recent that came to mind was when I had a flat tire a few years ago in the dark evening on a freeway as I was on my way to bring my youngest son his birthday presents (if I didn't blog about this, I certainly made sure this anecdote who generated profound insights made its way in an article published in Journal of Psychiatry Reform to illustrate how all those months of regular meditation practice were finally bearing fruit). 

Back then, I started to notice a shift in me: instead of dwelling into this unfairness done to me, I saw that as an opportunity to practice. I sensed that it had happened to teach me something, even though I was unsure why.

Teaching often has this seemingly vicious habit of packaging itself in ugliness or messiness to make sure we will remember it. That's the whole point of teaching, right ? To learn, and to make sure the lesson sticks in our memory...

It can also be in the form of a nervous friend or partner challenging your choices. I had that happened to me recently. An example is my dog chewing on everything... including the electric cord of my laptop, which is pretty disruptive for a part-time tele-health worker, blogger, podcaster, YouTube channeler etc as you can imagine... Or it can be a thought or emotional experience getting in the way of happiness, such as feeling unworthy of the good that finally shows up at your doorstep. On a daily, less dramatic basis, it can be the delayed spouse or partner that just messes up your plans for the day. As irritated as I may be, emphasizing the propensity towards impatience I was called out on recently by a friend (to which I responded, ''yeah, this is yet another one of my great qualities''), I have learned to smile and even chuckle, as if to say to the universe ''ha-ha ! I see your game. I know what you are doing...''

And sometimes, there are so many in a row, it seems like a complete joke as you surrender and declare yourself defeated. Again, it is helpful to zoom out and look at the big picture, otherwise every single unexpected obstacle will be infuriating and draining. Since my youth, I developed the self-deprecating humor necessary to create a story about it. And the playfulness is also an element within our control. I talk about this in my most recent YouTube channel video ((3) Dr G's Dandelion Monologues - YouTube)

So I did just that, by creating a mini ritual during a hike. By the Tree of Infinite Love in the Enchanted Forest (so baptized by my beloved Kristof, after he discovered it in 2020). I picked a card from my Divine Animals Oracle card deck and I picked Sea Otter, which is about transformation.

One thing is certain, I can assert that I have been transforming on so many levels, as my writings can attest, and especially as I examine my self-reflective journaling after 3 years of doing this weekly blog (with a few exceptions, including last week... there was a hiatus. I should probably blame the overwhelming of threshold guardians that kept me too distracted !). I transformed hormonally, designatively (by reclaiming and modifying my middle name), physically, artistically, relationally, spiritually... Like this huge pot housing a moribund bamboo that unexpectedly offered to my sight a stunning, luminous flower the other day.

And for that transformation, I guess I should thank the persistence of all these seemingly annoying threshold guardians in my autobiography !