Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (turn and face the strain)

Change is inevitable, growth is optional the old saying goes.  I think that I'm finding this truth for myself.  As I've been sitting in my practice, I keep coming back to the themes of authenticity and choice.  One of the things that I know is that possibility is birthed simply by being authentic about where I've been inauthentic.

As I sat with my own fear the other day, I realized that I had created an inauthentic relationship with fear, for example.  I loved to say that I am fearless.  This is not quite correct, I've discovered.  Fear is very real in my life.  The truth is that fear finds no resting place within me.  It has no hook that keeps me powerless when it does show up.  It's not that it's not there, it just doesn't get to call the shots.  As I've said, fear acknowledged can provide access to personal power.  This is a more correct description of my relationship to fear.

But I've struggled with the notion of authenticity as a whole.  So much of this, I am aware, is because its a buzz-phrase that is sometimes used without intention.  But that is because I've allowed my focus to turn outward.  As I read from The Sacred Yes this morning, I came across a letter about trusting my authentic self.  Too many of us, the letter asserts, have been taught not to trust our authentic selves.  Authenticity is often found in moments of pain, "when you could no longer go along with the program, as it were, when you were suffocating, strangling, caving in under the weight of other people's ideas, behaviors or expectations for your life."  Wow, what a profound understanding of how inauthenticity separates us from possibility from within when our search for authenticity turns outward.  I am encouraged to choose authenticity as a lifestyle, rather than a truth that I step into and away from as it serves.  I choose authenticity.

In this space, turning within, I read these words:

Find yourself.  You are not stuck or trapped in a particular outer form.  If you sense that a change is in order in some area of your life, know that it is merely to make room for a better fit.  Would you rather keep clunking around in shoes that are too big or tiptoeing around in shoes that are too small?  You cannot swim in a football uniform, and you wouldn't want to golf in bowling shoes.  You would be hard-pressed to do ballet in hiking boots, and soccer shoes won't improve your jump shot.  (from The Sacred Yes)

So what's true today is that my authenticity is not an outer expression, but rather an inner truth.  There are many things that may provoke fear responses, but the truth of my heart calms fears and claims possibility in every moment.  And I am honored by change as it recognizes untapped potential and creates new openings to be in action as the creator of my own destiny.

From my reading this morning, I am left with three distinct promises:

1. God knows exactly the game that I was sent here to play.  Everything that I need to be successful will be provided.

2. I dwell in the Inexhaustible Supply that meets my every need.  I stand in abundance as it is my very nature.

3. I'm not so worried about what others think; I strive to love and be at peace within myself as this is my most authentic expression in the world.

At this moment, I am present to choice.  And I still choose love.  Happy Thursday.