Day 266/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
When people speak of the power and the glory of success it scares me, probably because from my point of view, there is little glory in the examples of power that I've been exposed to.
Sarah relates a message from Oprah Winfrey: the concept of God not giving us more than we can handle is not only about being stoic in the face of struggle and difficulties, it also includes wealth, power and glory. That if we don't think we can handle it, it will definitely not be given to us.
That's one way of looking at it that illustrates it nicely. For myself, I've learned being able to accept more - wealth, health, power, glory - is about having the capacity in my body and nervous system as well as mentally and emotionally. The real human elements that limit my ability to reach for a more authentic and expansive life are less about being deserving than about having mental and physical capacity.
Having capacity is for me about releasing the remnants of the traumas of my life experiences that rest in my nervous system, my deep mind and my emotional life. It's also the same for you.
This is the purpose of inner work. Your inner reflection is the most important aspect of building capacity to live life more and more fully.
When you begin to discover the life force energy that becomes available to you when you release these old stuck energies from your body, you will realise that you are living life in a very small way indeed.
Being more informed about trauma work has been key for my understanding of releasing this life force. Our nervous systems are conditioned to respond to anything that even hints at the memory of previous traumas, and interestingly, its response becomes more acute as we get older.
Additionally, trauma causes our personality to fragment in ways that enable us to continue to live reasonably capable lives, yet limits us in more ways than we can point a stick at. It is the subtle and quietly limiting activities that we don't even realise we are engaging that sabotage our greatest efforts, keep us stuck and out of sight.
These fragments can be integrated into our personality and when they are, we feel whole again. This is my most powerful work.
I've come to realise, after hiding from the limelight forever, that I am willing to build the capacity for the power of my purpose. That is my mission.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.