Processing our childhood

I am working my way slowly through a book on “Psychosynthesis”.  One exercise is imagination.  Imagine your hand signing your name slowly.  Imagine a set of digits, as large as you can hold, and hold it in your inner vision for two minutes.  Imagine the smell of peppermint, the sound of crackling paper, the entirety of sense, smell, taste, sound, sight of eating bowl of yogurt with oatmeal.  Etc.

I’m pretty good with smells.  I can imagine Juniper versus Cedar versus Pine, etc.  I use essential oils most days.

But this popped in my head: Imagine your parents, as carefully as you can, without judgement.  Watch how they hold themselves, how they walk, how they smell, how they eat.  And more importantly, what is/are the dominant affect(s) or sensation(s) which you feel?  What is the feeling of this relationship like?  Do not name it.  Do not reduce it.  Feel it exactly as it is in your mind, today, which may not be truly as it was, then.

This feeling, if you can capture it pristinely, will I think be also found in your personality.  If you want to change, to move away from the patterns of your home, then identifying who and how they are in you is an important starting point.