'Pigpen' from Peanuts gave me an epiphany

[mommyshoppinghabit]

At least the cartoon drawing of him did. You know how there was always dirt swirling around him? This is the way I've started to visualize the ego. It moves with you, swirls around you, but it is not your essence. Your essence would not be exposed until you cleansed yourself of all that dirt. It's sort of like a duststorm, that pile of dirt, and could attract more debris as it swirls around. Lately, whenever I feel hurt about something someone said or some situation, I visualize this pile of dirt, and immediately the I become more objective about my feelings, which of course are like the debris that gets attracted into the swirling. For some, the swirl is more like a tornado, for others, it's just a little swirl.

[enfpintj]

Wonderful. I love it. I'll have to remember it.

As an aside, being surrounding by kids' things does affect us. I was listening to NPR several years ago. The interviewee was saying something about Plato. It took me a long time to realize he/she was not saying "Playdoh". so I love the Pigpen epiphany. And my dh says he had no idea we were basing our life on Calvin and Hobbes.

[hrsmom]

I like that!!!

I just realized that I have a habit of only seeing other people's dirt swirl, too. Good to remember that people are not their dirt swirl, either!!

[wahm]

Ohhh! I LOVE that analogy! And I would have never thought of it like that, either. That certainly does help me to remember that none of us are our dirt. Thanks for sharing!