The Cavern Between You and Others … Part 3/3

In part 2, I discussed how our neediness and neutral and reactionary responses ultimately affect our peace, happiness, and our relationships. In this part 3, I explain how passive responses also affect us, and explain how we can become aware, and override, conditioned responses that do not serve us best.

You can read  Part 1 HERE   Part 2 HERE 

Passive Responses:

Passive responses come from feeling disempowered. Although passive responses may appear to be neutral, as there are no blatant outward signs, they are very different because passive responses hold an emotional component – just like aggressive ones.

Sometimes the hurts, feelings, disappointments, or perceived injustices are not voiced at all, while at other times they are, but are tinged with so much emotion and/or neediness that the other individual turns a blind ear.

In both cases, we are not heard. Either way, the emotions are internalized affecting both the individual and the relationship. These internalizations harm us because buried emotions add another layer to the cavern between “us and us,” and our connection to our True Self is further weakened.

This article is based on my books,

“Your Journey to Peace … ” and “Why We Are the Way We Are”

both available in print and e-book from Amazon.

Info Below.

Passive responses harm the relationship because as our true feelings are not voiced (or heard) we have not addressed the hurt or disappointment we feel, and we remain inwardly angry towards the other for not understanding or taking into consideration our feelings, or seeing our viewpoint.

And if we are do try to make ourselves heard but are ineffective, before we approach the subject again, reflecting on our approach last time and possibly adjusting it could help us getting heard this time.

We can ask ourselves:

• Are we being needy – only thinking about our needs and perspective?
• Are we negative – only focusing on what is wrong or may go wrong?
• Are we overly emotional – crying at any perceived slight or criticism?
• Could we be acting passive-aggressively – sighing or putting on a sad face rather than sharing our thoughts or feelings?

Whether we elect these attitudes because we don’t like to speak our mind, are unable to articulate or feel embarrassed by what we feel, or are simply trying to keep the peace against an aggressive person, passive attitudes do not bring long term solutions. Overly passive attitudes are dishonest and come from fear, they do not come from being aligned with love. Being honest is one of love’s qualities.

Overly passive responses keep our emotions buried. Not only is the issue not addressed or resolved, but the approach may even backfire, as buried feelings come out – one way or another – and may one day cause a major blow-up from where there is not turning back.

Passive responses create and increase the cavern between “us-and-another,” because until we address and resolve the issue with them that caused the feelings we buried, each future interaction is tainted. Hurts remain at the forefront of our emotions and any new or positive communication has to work hard to get through them.

We can certainly live happy and fulfilling lives without being completely in touch with our True Self, are enlightened, or fully aligned to Source. In fact, most of us do.

Very few of us are completely connected, so most of us are somewhat misaligned, and these show up in many ways and in many degrees. This is why some hurt and conflict exist in most relationships.

Nonetheless, if we navigate the conflicts that arise with compromise and compassion, keep our disparaging emotions at bay, forgive how the other’s misalignments show up, and accept their idiosyncrasies, we can easily live a harmonious life.

It helps to be aware of our unconscious influences, or at least make peace with how our misalignments show up, otherwise, there will always be the cavern between “us-and-us” as we are not living close enough to our core – we are living superficially, with no connection to the truth of who we are.

This causes us to relate superficially to others. A cavern will always exist between “us-and-others” until we close that gap between “us-and-us.”