What makes us shine is also our teacher.
Our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. The same qualities that make us shine, make us successful, make us fun, silly, crazy, strong, stable, and so on also make us burn out, stressed out, tired, cranky, disconnected and stuck.
It’s my natural empathy that makes it hard for me to set boundaries. It’s the volume of my internal “YES” that makes saying “no” nearly impossible (which creates problems!) It’s my drive that makes it hard for me to relax sometimes, it’s my emotional intensity that makes me the sensitive one, and my partner the funny one, as he likes to say.
Are your strengths and weaknesses disguising each other? Can you embody them with compassion for yourself? Can you see them in others with understanding?
Often times our strengths and weaknesses are very easily seen in the context of practice — yoga, training, meditation, pilates, and bodywork. These practices act as a mirror, reflecting back at us our ways. It’s our job, within ourselves, to be sweet, observe, and learn.
Originally published at medium.com