Is it deconstruction or navel-gazing?🤔

Deconstructing a barn and rebuilding it to different proportions involves creating new mortises*. I watched my daughter carefully place a large chisel into a squared-off hole in a beam, whack it with a wooden mallet, and flick away the newly released chunk of wood. She did this again and again and again. I was astonished to hear that she had spent the entire day creating only four such holes in the hundred year old beam she was working on. She - more patient than I - is a far better candidate for the tedious process of chiseling these navel-like cavities. 

But years ago, I did my own version of mortise-making in my first few years post cult. I chipped away at tenets of ‘The Work’, determined to tease apart the teachings that had merit from those that were harmful. With my capacity for critical thinking back online, I needed to know what was real.

I chiseled with my pen ✍🏼 and my fingers tapping at my keyboard ⌨️. It was laborious and messy and I know I’m not done yet, but I carved away the old rot and created some beautiful new mortises.

While I was in the cult, however, my brother would tease me that I was doing too much navel-gazing. I’d sigh and think, He doesn't understand me - he can't - but I love him anyway.

But, damn it. My brother was right! In my effort to make closed-loop concepts the foundation of my spiritual striving, I was gazing at my navel and spinning in it. 🪀 I called it growth and breakthrough and doing the work because that's what my ex-teacher called it. 

How do you describe the difference between deconstruction, healing and navel-gazing? This, my friends, is the kind of content we writers explore in Writing to Reckon (W2R). If you haven't yet, you can use the code below for one free Friday class. 🆓

PS Ready to check out a W2R class to see if it's a good fit for you? Register Here and use the code CLASSPASS for one free class. 

* Mortise: the square or rectangular hole in a beam into which a tenon is inserted to form a structural joint called a mortise and tenon joint.