Inner gold are those qualities and characteristics that we most treausue within ourselves.  For some it may be their humor, for others their patience and loyalty, for others their compassion, for others their intellect, for others their strength in a crisis, for others their artistic ability, and for yet others their physical capability in sports.  The list is as endless as we humans are capable of goodness and of flourishing and the combinations of strengths and positive qualities we are capable of are equally endless.

Sometimes, we don't show our gold to the world.  Perhaps we show it selectively to those we most trust.  Or perhaps, we feel that showing our gold would cause us to be vulnerable and not be seen the way we want to be seen by others.  Sometimes, our gold can be hidden even to ourselves.  Everytime we look at a part of ourselves and say "I don't like that" and push that part away we send with it the gold of that part - into our shadow.  Every quality has within it dark and light.  When we send away the dark (a quality we ashamed of) there is an equal amount of light (the positive aspect of that quality) that we also send away.  This part of ourselves that collects our repressed and disowned parts is the Shadow part of the psyche.  The Shadow has a way of not wanting to stay repressed though and so often we're exhibiting those negative traits we thought we had hidden away - and everyone else knows but us!  When we do our work to understand the parts of ourselves we don't like, we also open up to our hidden inner gold.

Sometimes life is terribly hard and we think we can't make it through.  This is when we need a friend or someone to support us.  Our supporters hold our inner gold for us until we can hold it again for ourselves.  They hold our hope, our dreams, our ability to live one day at a time.  They may see our inner gold and hold it up to us like a mirror so that we can start to see those positive qualities that may have gotten buried.  It's important to return someone's gold to them when they can carry it again - otherwise they become dependent upon us.

I have come to learn what it means to do inner work - and that when the demons  (regrets, disappointments, hurts) of the past are exposed in the light of day, they can be set right and the gold that went away with them can be released back into our Beings.

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time."  -- T.S. Eliot

Peace to you,

Terri