have a portion of (something) with another or others.
give a portion of (something) to another or others.
use, occupy, or enjoy (something) jointly with another or others.
possess (a view or quality) in common with others.
tell someone about (something, especially something personal).
How have I lived sharing in my life really? HONESTLY?
When I have shared a portion of something with another I would get a good feeling, because I thought the person would like me more, or I did it from a ‘saviour’ perspective where the other didn’t have something I had and so I would share as if I were saving or helping them from a position of superiority. When I would be shared with, where someone else is sharing something with me, I would generally go into a position of inferiority and unworthiness, feeling like a beggar with outstretched hands, and mostly my pride would interfere here and I would simply rather do without.
Or, I would share because it was the ‘right thing to do’, because good etiquette and manners required me to do so. In this case ‘greed’ and ‘lack’ would come in to play, where I would give something begrudgingly with the feeling that now I would have less, and would want it all to myself, but I would also feel good because I was being a good person and following the rules. If I were in a situation with another where the rules called for them to share with me, I would be comfortable. But if they rather chose not to share, I would feel spiteful because I am a rule-follower and they are now breaking those rules to my detriment, in which case I would feel righteous and now be superior for that, yet inferior because of the powerlessness I would feel when someone is breaking the rules and I am not speaking up for myself and bringing it up with them. I would rather supress my emotions and keep quiet.
When I would “use, occupy or enjoy jointly with others” I generally wouldn’t consider that sharing, because I wasn’t losing something or giving something away, and I wasn’t feeling superior or inferior, I would be simply equally enjoying something. So I see here I have limited my definition of ‘sharing’ with these ideas or emotions.
For this aspect of the definition: “possess (a view or quality) in common with other,” – I see that this would be falling into a pack mentality, where I would adopt a view in order to fit in, to identify with a certain group, to define myself as this or that, style, genre, political position etc…
The last aspect of ‘sharing is: “to tell someone about (something, especially something personal).” Here I see that even this dimension of the word I have tainted with ego and self-interest, where I would share aspects of my personal self as a form of gossip, like having some juicy tidbit of information that others will want to hear, where I will get attention and feel special and important for a moment as I tell it and get the questions and reactions from others, making me and my life some center of some attention somewhere, which I would then use to feel important and special. I can also see a dimension of sharing myself in an attempt to gain validation, confirmation or approval about some part of me that I had not yet completely accepted and embraced.
So, there I am exposed in my living of the word ‘sharing’, where the starting point is selfishness, greed, fear of loss, superiority/inferiority and lack. This, to me, as simply the ‘way that I am’ is unacceptable. I can see that when or if billions of people live this out on a large scale, it does not make the world a better place, but rather infuses reality and human interaction with separation and division as each one holds tight to their possessions, conflict as the ‘have-nots’ versus the ‘haves’, and superiority/inferiority as we use our possessions, whether they be tangible or intangible, as a way to place ourselves above or below others. And then we bring these ways into our most intimate relationships and pollute them behind the façade of consciousness (consciousness meaning: the acts we play, the face we present, the ulterior motives, the thoughts, feelings and emotions behind our actions) where all of this seems acceptable because everybody is actually doing the same thing.
There is however, a solution to all of this, and it is a simple one. It is the simple principle of sharing from the starting point of ‘give as you would like to receive’. This includes not only the tangible items we are able to share, but the feelings and emotions that go with it. To share with someone to gain attention or because it makes you feel superior is not in fact equal and one sharing. Equal and one sharing meaning seeing the other AS you, really placing yourself in their shoes and giving to them as if it were giving to yourself.
With that understanding in place, I would like to now focus on sharing self, or self-sharing. Here looking at: what do I have to give, and what do I have to receive from others? I can specify this even further by looking at what I have to give to and receive from myself? I must say that I have experienced sharing with myself more so within and through walking the desteni process of writing, self-forgiveness and self-change than I ever had before when I was living my life ‘normally’, as in, according to my programming, environment and culture, etc. Now, in walking this process, I am creating my own new programming according to what is best for me, I am learning and growing within my environment, challenging limitations both real and perceived, and am thinking critically about my culture and how it has shaped and influenced me. Within this all, I have done a lot of learning, seeing, realizing and understanding about myself, my life and what it means to be human, as well as what it really means to be a human that cares about self and others.
What I would like to share more with and about myself is who I am beyond the mind of judgments and insecurities, thoughts, feelings and emotions. To do less sharing of my mind, and more quieting of my mind, revealing this deep inner ‘knowing’ I have experienced within myself, which is and has been developing from a self-trust and self-communication over the years and more prominently now since I have been living on the desteni farm. Also within the sharing I am interested in further developing is the constructive sharing of myself and what it is I am going through. This involves speaking from a point of stability, maturity and being solution oriented instead of ranting and raving about issues in an attempt to actually feed the emotion and re-generate an experience from a starting point of adrenaline, righteousness and argumenting/fighting (this is where we have conversations and arguments in our minds, picturing and imagining others with whom we are argumenting/fighting/proving our point/justifying our side and being right). To rather speak the point, see and understand the reaction and release it through realization and change.
Another dimension of sharing I will be looking at is speaking what I see without fear. I have for so long suppressed myself out of fear of conflict or upsetting others, that I hide my seeing/self-seeing and observations from others and even sometimes from myself. But I see, realize and understand that these things must be spoken and shared, even if they are wrong or cause conflict, to be vulnerable and put it out there to clarify it, or to work through the conflict.
Oftentimes, when I am about to share, I will get an energetic feeling right before. One the one hand, I can feel a sense of excitement, as if I am about to gain something. This is usually indicative that I am about to share from a starting point of self-interest. Then there are the times where I am about to share and I feel a wash of fear pour over me. In these moments, I tend to push myself to share, because the fear is usually indicative that I fear to create conflict or be exceptionally vulnerable about something within sharing my real truth, or some truth of me that I judge and am not proud of. In these moments, when I share I usually create clarity. It is alxo common that when I share parts of myself in these moments, those parts seemed really big, bad and ugly, but once shared, they shrink down and become manageable, or I can see them more clearly and then direct that part of myself.
Before sharing myself, there is this infinite moment where I can look at and explore Who I Am within my sharing. What is my starting point, and what I will create as a result of the sharing. I endeavor to share me, my truth, the reality of me that exists in my mind – to expose that of me that I perceive that I would prefer to hide, so that nothing of me is hidden, and the decision to share or not share comes from the starting point of what is best for all as me.