This morning I was doing Shadow Alchemy for myself and I hit a a bitch and a half of a Shadow. It was stubborn and twisty and it just kept trying to get out of complying with its own eradication. (Which, while frustrating, is totally understanding as most things fight their own non-existence.)
Part of what made it such a hassle to deal with was the distracting offshoots it kept sending up. When we deal with a core issue, we can get so wrapped up in all the little leaves and tiny branches that we find ourselves playing whack-a-mole instead of calming down, clearing away enough brush to see the root, and then digging it out.
What we do more often is chase symptoms - the leaves and branches.
Your back hurts. So you pop a pill. Then your ankle hurts. Put on a brace. Now you're feeling really anxious all the time. See a therapist and talk about our anxiety, or drink wine. You feel a symptoms and address it with a band aids. Band-Aids are great for the short term, and are sometimes very necessary. However, all of those symptoms (the low back pain, ankle pain, and anxiety) could very well be tied to an underlying pelvic floor dysfunction, which in and of itself could be related to not feeling safe in your own skin.
Without addressing this core, all of the other symptoms will persist and more will appear because your body needs them as part of the compensation pattern.
Symptom manage and use Band-Aids strategically. Use what you need to get clarity. Be persistent in pursuing the root, especially when you have multiple, seemingly unrelated issues. Often, there is a keystone, and often that keystone is something you aren't experiencing as a symptom. That core issue is the threat that your body is saving you from, so making it visible by allowing it to yell is rarely in the protection game plan.
Recognize that the most noticeable pain is the end of a complex chain of compensation to keep you moving. Then find the cause, address it, and watch the rest of your pain resolve itself.
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