My QEC practitioner did a podcast for our group about being a contented little hermit, exploring how for most of us the more we QEC the more we enjoy being on our own. Yes we still like people. We still like to connect but it doesn’t rule our lives.
Anyway this got me thinking about shells.
How often as a quiet, maybe shy, maybe introverted, maybe a deep thinker, were you told how pleased everyone was when you “came out of your shell” as though being in your shell was a bad thing?
Why is it a bad thing? No one would tell this hermit crab or any other shellfish to “come out of its shell”. That’s is home, its safe place.
We had visitors this week and at times there were things that I found hard work in the conversations. I found that I am now in the habit of ANSing myself [calming my autonomic nervous system and staying in regulation and balance] rather than reacting. But I also realised that I was no longer biting my tongue so I didn’t say anything. I was going into my shell, my safe place.
Inside my safe place I could be quiet, let the conversation flow around me, not have any desire to react to what was being said. I had space to breathe, to really listen to what was not being said too – the energy, so that when I did respond it was, on the whole, light, breezy and safe.
So for anyone who is getting a hard time about not “coming out of their shell” often enough ignore those people. They are jealous that you have a safe place to be to view the world when they aren’t brave enough to slide inside their shell.
Our shells are our safe places, are places to catch breath, are place to connect with ourselves and with God, which is where we should be on a regular basis.
Go on! Be bold and connect with your inner contented little hermit crab.
Aspirational Adventures 
4 replies on “Contented Little Hermit Crab”
love this
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Thank you 🙂
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I’m not sure whether I have a shell, but I most certainly have a hidey-hole. My room is my office, music room, art studio, writer’s retreat, yoga studio, meditation zone, art gallery, library and, when required, sickroom. The decor is completely unlike any other part of the house: it’s filled with things that mean a lot to me, drawn from every stage of my life. It’s not quite a man-cave – it’s too light and airy for that!
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I do have one of those too. It was one of the requirements when we move up to North Wales – that both Ian and I would have our own rooms. Mine is very special to me.
The hermit crab idea is more that place you can slide into when you are with people and they are just being hard work. I slide into mine at any time rather than shouting at said people. So unlike my room where I can sneak away with my dog the shell is my safe place that is invisible to anyone else when I’m out in the big wide world – or even when people are in my house. Rather than go to my room I can metaphorically slide into my safe hermit shell
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