The Importance Of Greeting In Cultivating Self-Awareness

Probably the biggest lesson on self-awareness I was ignoring for far too long

Collage by the author

The background of unconsciously trying to be invisible

I come from a small northern country in Europe with a painful history of occupation and suppression. Not unexpectedly, we are a nation with low self-esteem and a complicated, barely existing collective healing journey.

Societies that recover from wars and suppression often have deeply rooted fears and trust issues. Maybe because once our hospitality had been confused with naivety. Our open doors have been taken as stupidity by those unfamiliar with kindness and trust.

Now it takes time for us to open up. It takes time to feel comfortable enough to even smile for those we meet for the first time.

We have been wronged as a society and we are passing true horror stories of those times from generation to generation. Now, as individuals, we are careful, to say the least.

We still live our lives. We go to events, we go out, and we meet people, but all the corners of the venue are going to be busy. All the back seats will be taken. We are there but we are hiding.

As a collective, we have never really had a proper healing. No one has answered for their actions. No one has apologized. We have just moved on by moving on, unconsciously dragging all the survival mechanisms and generational traumas with us.

Until enough time has passed and we start to unravel everything that holds us back.

I am

When I first started my healing journey, I did a lot of half-assing. Now I see it. My spiritual teacher would introduce us to some ground rules before we started, and I would automatically narrow the actions down in my mind, thinking that it couldn't be so important.

Her first lesson was- when you enter the room, approach a body of water, or step on the ground for the very first time, it is important to introduce yourself.

I didn’t even think about it much. For me, it was just some ceremonial noise. I was ready to jump straight into the “real work”. I introduced myself only because everyone was doing it and I was trying to show my respect to the process. I didn't understand why it was necessary.

I thought I didn't understand or rather I thought it could not be so much of an importance. Now I know that I was avoiding it because it hurt.

After 3 years of practicing, it suddenly hit me. I finally felt it to my bones. I introduced myself to the room where our spiritual practice was going to take place. And I felt it- I am here. I have arrived. I am!

I could feel how the room changed when I introduced myself. I felt the difference in how it was when I sneaked in and sat in the most strategically solitary corner as I was used to doing, and how it felt when I respectfully greeted the room and people in it.

For the first time in a very, very long time, that was the time I acknowledged my actual existence.

I finally felt that the greeting was not meant for the room, water, ground, or space. It was meant for me. I was taking responsibility for myself. I was acknowledging the room I was occupying, the space I was filling. I was recognising the consequences of my being and my actions.

I had never felt so self-aware as in that very moment.

I suddenly felt grief for all the years I had been hiding in the corners and sneaking into the spaces. I felt robbed of all those experiences I chose to observe from the outside.

The grief was strong enough to make me realize I wanted to be an active part of the reality. I felt as if I had been trying to shrink and downsize myself for the sake of being safe from the dangers that were not even mine.

Greetings to everything

Now I greet every thing, place, and person I meet. I actively acknowledge myself and them. I highlight our interaction and I feel that helps me not only to appreciate said interaction but also to dodge the interactions I actually do not crave in time.

I feel that the self-awareness that greeting is bringing me is the most conscious way to live a life.

I sometimes notice how thrown off balance some people are when I greet them and I recognize how I used to feel. It seems that they are surprised I can see them in the dark corner of the room where they are unconsciously hiding. There is something that shifts in everyone when they feel seen. Especially when they have finally been seen by their own selves.

Hi! I am Kristine and I am here.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. I hope to see you in the comment section!