Bliss Sage, if you are being present with another person, listening generously and really Being With that person, that is being free. In that circumstance, you're not inhibited by concerns of self -- looking good, not looking bad, being right and not being wrong, etc. -- and you're free to express yourself completely and fully when it's appropriate. (If you were to just stand there listening and not respond appropriately, well, that would be sort of uncomfortable for the other person, not to mention you, wouldn't it?)
Shyness prevents a person from really being with another, really being present. Shyness is that self-concern, and it has the effect of a curtain coming between the shy person and everybody else.
If there is a certain personality type with whom you will never be free (as you mentioned in your previous post), your shyness (your self-concern) gets activated for one reason or another. I think it would be a really good idea to pay attention to what it is that activates that self concern, that curtain, that mechanism which makes you unable to really be present. If you can boldly look at what that is that activates your shyness, you can be free to either continue choosing it, or to choose something that works better. Until you see it, it's running you without your knowledge or conscious consent!
Just to be clear, I'm talking about shyness, not introspection.  |