Encrypted for safekeeping

I subscribe to the premise that we are born with an array of our own unique hidden talents, gifts and character traits. I've experienced this personally as well as finding it to be true with those many individuals I've mentored, coached or taught. My "innate talents" outlook fits with Abraham Maslow's concept of becoming "self-actualized" and Carl Jung's notion of achieving our own "individuation". These "gifts at birth" are like pre-installed apps on the hard drive of our own computer. Others may catch glimpses of this functionality in us during our younger years. We may show an unusual interest, an exceptional attention to detail or a keen sense of connection to something that no other family member exhibits. This is not functionality added to our hard drive by formal instruction or life experiences. We showed up with these apps pre-installed.

Within this metaphor, our emotional baggage is the way our minds backup encrypted copies of these pre-installed apps. Anytime our minds freeze up, this "baggage API subroutine" executes automatically. The functionality of our giftedness gets shut down and encrypted for safekeeping. Our minds freeze up whenever our mental hard drive is getting contaminated by data from others with corrupted functionality. We've all experienced this "system crash of the mind" when our hot button gets pushed, a panic attack consumes us or we become speechless. Our baggage functions as damage control during these episodes. Its purpose is to minimize the potential harm from other's fear, envy, power trips or other dysfunctional attacks on our innate resourcefulness.

Once our pre-installed apps get encrypted, we cannot access them at will. We may call upon them and find nothing comes to our imagination, thoughts or motivation. We end up feeling uninspired, vacant and damaged. Our minds' data security subroutines assume the threat of contamination remains prevalent and avoids exposing our innate gifts to harm. The initial incident of contamination proves to be a life-defining moment that curtails our subsequent self expression, exploration and satisfaction. We don't get how our baggage is effectively keeping us safe. We only recognize the painful absence of our pre-installed functionality that would give our lives a unique purpose, significance and path to pursue.

Nothing changes while we oppose the security functionality of our baggage. We unwittingly seek to endanger our minds with our disregard of how we've been encrypted for safekeeping. Once we change our outlook on all this, we look out on a whole new situation. We then want to keep our gifts from harm. We appreciate what our baggage API is doing for us. We see the good in encryption and the foolishness in wanting reckless access. We realize we have a job to do to support our automatic data security functionality.

We need to create times and spaces of uninterrupted safety. Once this quality alone time gets practiced until it's a proven fact, our gifts will become spontaneously unencrypted. Our innate talents will come to our imagination, thoughts and motivation. We'll suddenly feel like expressing, exploring and satisfying ourselves with these unique traits. This stream of delights will continue until danger reappears in our space. Our gifts will get instantly encrypted again for safekeeping until safety gets restored in our midst.