The Internal Relationship

The internal relationship is your esteem with yourself—your self-esteem. All wanderers must nurture & grow the relationship with themselves—like all other relationships—throughout life as an inherent path to mastery. 

You must seek the approval of your spirit in all chapters of life.

It is not required to seek the approval of others. However, it can be advantageous to earn the approval of peers or mentors who are on the same path as you. This can include parents, but not always.

Aim to become your favorite person to spend time with. Being alone allows you to get to know yourself; this includes being without stimulus. If you cannot spend time alone, you may not like yourself; remedy this by building self-esteem.

Treat yourself like how you would treat a best friend. Do not attack yourself; instead, analyze what you do not like that you do or think and execute plans to effect change. Self-parenting is crucial during all phases of life.

Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 6 | Do not regret what you have done 

Regret and self-hatred have never been useful. Counsel would never tell you to hate yourself or regret what you have done. Hatred is an omega emotion; the path goes forward, your focus is forward.

Being authentic is self-respect.

Alpha & Omega | Creation & Destruction

Alpha is creation, Omega is destruction. The two halves that make the whole. This applies to all things.

One side is pride, the other side is shame.

You can take pride too far, like all things, but being proud of what you are doing and where you are going is a creative(alpha) expression as opposed to shame of what you are doing and where you are going, which is a negative(omega) expression. However, being ashamed of shameful activities is correct alignment.

Pride feeds the spirit. Shame eats the spirit. The spirit can become obese and it can become emaciated. 

There is always a better and worse direction. Sometimes you know, and other times you don’t. You find the way by moving forward.  

Alpha expands the self. Omega destroys the self. Sometimes you need self-destruction to leave what slows you behind, but creation is always required to go forward.

The wanderer uses the concept of alpha and omega to understand and categorize their Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS) expressions.

Create, then destroy when needed.