The Gremlin and the Warrior
How does the gremlin manage to continually delude us? It’s something like this. Gremlin is only about the size of a three-year-old. Yet when our backs are turned, he manages to stretch himself tall enough to throw a blanket over our heads that blinds our warrior selves. Yet as soon as we turn to face him, he shrinks back down to his two-foot height.
Why does the gremlin need to keep blinding us? He’s terrified of non-existence. He’s desperate to maintain the status quo to keep himself alive.
Here’s how we can both help him, and defeat his terrorist tactics. If we learn to keep him in our peripheral vision, we’re ready when he tries to toss the blanket. Even more powerfully, if we hold him by the hand in a loving way, he’s reassured. He's not so needy, and can just mutter quietly to himself about all the ways he thinks we’re losers.
Our warrior is taller than the tallest redwood. The warrior keeps us trying in spite of gremlin tricks. He is connected to the upward current always flowing toward expansion.
The gremlin is clever. When we notice the blanket over our head yet again, we can sink into remorse. “How stupid I am. Here I am again falling short of my ideals. I’m really useless and no good at all.” Take a minute to add more berating language here just for the fun of it. But if you look carefully, you can see the gremlin trick at work. Gremlin subverts our genuine desire to stay awake into meeting his need to keep us miserable and stuck where we are. The best response at this point, from your towering warrior perspective, is to pat him gently on the head, turn off the self-pitying language, and settle back into pleasurable acknowledgement of the upward current you’re riding.