Within the tough and no-nonsense Eight who delights in testing his/her grit and that of others, dominating and controlling life, and triumphing over any adversity lies a needy, clingy and lonely little Two-ish soul child who is desperate to be loved and held. An Eight's soul child wants to snuggle up to others, getting as close as possible, and can be insistent and demanding about it. Beneath an Eight's show of strength is this soul child who is filled with all of the emotions she considers weak of needing others, fearing rejection, insecurity, and a deep sense of sadness and loneliness. With the sense that her contactful and loving qualities were not wanted as a child, an Eight reacted by essentially saying "F*** you!" to everyone she felt dependent on, and set out to prove she didn't need anyone or anything. She hid what felt like her vulnerable soft underbelly behind a veneer of callousness and in the process closed down her openness and receptivity.
As Eights contact the defensiveness behind their pride and the sense of rejection and neediness that underlie it, they may feel as though their whole world will collapse. They have done everything not to feel those weak places in their soul and often feel they will not survive if they allow them to emerge. As they let themselves contact their neediness and pain, their hearts can open again and the soul become permeable. They can be touched once again and as they contact reality with less and less of a thick and defended skin, they will gradually feel more connected with life. Instead of trying to wrestle with life for what they need, they will find their soul relaxing, melting and merging with their essential nature, whose honeylike nectar fills their soul in the form of Merging Gold. Instead of fighting with reality they will be united with it, and as they progressively surrender more and more fully to their Being, they will find fulfilment and loving union rather than the capitulation they had feared.
Wait, you are an 8, right?