Living the True Self™: Leading as Love

January 11, 2014

What is life about?
Who am I, really?
What am I here for?
What calls to my heart?
What am I waiting for?

The answers are inside of you.

Each New Year brings renewed hope for a world of peace and prosperity. Peace and prosperity is not something “out there.” We are the creators of our experience and the world is a collective reflection of what is inside of us; we each contribute to what we see and experience.

During the past few months, life has reflected to me what I can contribute through my work. It is not some kind of “grand design.”  It is what can be offered to individuals for their personal choice to be fully who and what they are as human beings.

I deeply appreciate all who have engaged with me as my mirrors in person, on Facebook, in private conversations, or in groups. It allowed me to acknowledge, accept and become more intimate with who I am, what I stand for and offer, and my own attachments. I see them more clearly as you invited me forward, were present and engaged, or opted to disengage. Bless you all.

It is not the outer form that changes; appearance changes by the nature of the inner being that fills the form.

~ Adapted from Ram Dass

The word “human” literally means, “God-man”: “Hu” was one of the original names for “God.” By fully living our potential as human beings, we be “God”, the infinite, universal consciousness, the divine intelligence of Love that permeates all things. All we need to “do” to “be” one with this consciousness is to live in integrated wholeness: body, mind, heart, and soul. Soul is our unique aspect of this universal or divine consciousness that creates all life. Our “God-self”, our soul, is made visible, made manifest in the physical through our heart, our mind and our body.

We all have had direct experiences of integrated wholeness that we both see and feel; some call it “flow.” Many of us have no context for these experiences to enable understanding and to facilitate repetition so they slip away. If we pay attention, life informs us in each moment that we are the creator – divine beings having a human experience – we are spirit in matter, we are both human and divine. How we chose to see and experience life is up to each one of us.

Last fall I wrote that life is “simple”: Its purpose is self-love and as a mirror, life reflects back to us the purity or “filtering” of this self-love. So I have brought together my own experiences into an offering called Living the True Self™. Living the True Self creates and sustains an inner “structure” for a life of peace and freedom, a life of sovereignty as the True Self.

The Elements of Living the True Self

The first element of Living the True Self™ is called the Centerpoint for Being™.

This process is a refinement, adaptation and integration of two brilliant practices originated by others. One is the called the “Highest Goal,” developed by Michael Ray for the “Creativity in Business” MBA course at Stanford University. The other is called “Centerpiecing” created by Mel Toomey and the Center for Leadership Studies / Generative Leadership Group. Using these two practices together we can discover our unique energy and expression of divine intelligence in human form: body, mind, heart, and soul. This is the real meaning of our integrity and authenticity as a human being. The Centerpoint for Being is the footing and foundation of self-love and knowing our divine self in a tangible, personal way. There is nothing “woo-woo” about this.

A Relaxed Mind allows for a Knowing Heart; a Knowing Heart invites Engaged Action; Engaged Action establishes the Embodied Soul. The embodied soul’s expression is self-love.  Each of the aspects of the  Centerpoint are unique to each individual.

Soul – Mind – Heart – Body: The Circle of Life is complete and our Light, the movement of Love, radiates brilliantly into the world. The access to the soul is through the heart.

The Centerpoint enables intimate relationships as a human being with oneself, all others and everything in life; to deeply know who and what we are without the masks of labels and roles.

Where we focus expands. The Centerpoint provides the focal point of our unique signature presence – the energy and power that comes with awareness of the mind, discernment of the heart, and choice for action in each moment. It is our higher purpose, our connection and contribution to life, our path for growth and mastery, and our sovereignty for true freedom of choice.

All leadership is self-leadership. The Centerpoint establishes our unique internal identity rather than collective identity and action based on external labels and roles. It is our personal mantra and “practice” for consciously leading our life – Leading as Love.

The Centerpoint gives us a comprehensive focus for our lives; it applies in all situations, in every moment. One may choose to continue or expand spiritual, religious or healing practices; they take on a deeper meaning and significance.

The Centerpoint awakens and connects us to the universal consciousness within bringing us into harmony with the ever-emergent, unfolding of creation. It is our Light, our unique expression of Love, the ultimate Self-Love that shines brightly. The Centerpoint for Being reveals, integrates and grounds each person’s uniqueness of body, mind, heart, and soul, the True Self. It is like a lock protecting something of great value that with the “right” combination, springs wide open. One person remarked, “For the first time ever, I feel my power (aka love).”

The second element of Living the True Self is the use of the Enneagram as a path to self-love.

The Enneagram can show us where and how we judge and separate ourselves from our Centerpoint for Being (as aspects of the inner triangle of the Enneagram symbol) and how we can become more perfectly attuned to its expression.

This application of the Enneagram is based on many sources and much is available elsewhere, so I won’t elaborate here. I highly recommend the work of Russ Hudson and the Enneagram Institute.

The third element of Living the True Self is using Life as the Mirror of Creation.

Our life experience is a direct reflection and projection of the relationship within ourselves – the True Self – body, mind, heart, and soul. Looking into the mirror that is our life, through our reflection in others we can see what is inside of us, our thoughts, beliefs and emotions, etc. that amplify or block our Light. If we are defensive, justifying our actions or blaming others, we are cut off from our heart and soul and seeing life and acting solely from the mind. When we react in this way, without awareness and discernment, it is our buttons that are being pushed and has nothing to do with the other person. If it wasn’t inside of us, our own (un)consciousness, we couldn’t see it and it wouldn’t bother us.

What we believe is what we see. What we attribute to another is what we believe about ourselves. What we see in others is ourselves. Frequently, these are aspects of our life experiences that we suppress or disown, yet we are attached to these unconscious “wounds.” As examples, our anger towards what we see in others is anger towards ourselves for the “same” thing, anger is the “explosion” of shame/resentment for the past and anxiety for the future; how we judge or appreciate and what we say to or about others (the good, the bad, the ugly) is really judgment, appreciation of or saying the “same” thing to or about ourselves; we can be intimate (meaning without masks of roles and labels) in relationships with others to the degree we are in intimate relationship with our True Self. If held tightly, emotional attachments can eventually end up as physical discomfort, pain and illness. This is not “blaming the victim”; this is acknowledging that albeit unconscious, we co-create our entire life experience.

It takes courage and great humility to be in life this way, to recognize and release that which is inside ourselves. This is how we take full responsibility for our lives; we create it all, every experience, through how we perceive life and react or respond.

Living the True Self from the Centerpoint of Being gives a passionate life

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places – Outside of Ourselves

Here in Western Society, we are conditioned to live from the mind and body and to look for or try to change what is outside of ourselves while the truth of our being as love is in plain view – within our heart and our soul. Living the True Self moves “spirituality” from esoteric, hidden truths and practices into something conscious, personal, visible, concrete, and actionable in each and every moment.

The primary focus of our thoughts and actions seems to be on fixing or controlling what currently exists rather than bringing forth a new way of existence from our depth of being, our heart and soul. The “messes” we witness in life both personally and collectively with things such as political polarization and religious righteousness are direct results from closing ourselves off from the heart and soul within and trying to “figure things out” through the limited mind (left, logical, linear brain). Using the mind alone, we don’t see the whole picture and our actions are inherently flawed, generating bigger “messes” than what we started with. Just look around at what we have created. Our heart and soul connects us with the greater, universal consciousness and intelligence of Love resulting in holistic, balanced choices and actions for the well-being of all.

The Good News

I am greatly heartened because when I observe family, friends, colleagues, and others more broadly, many if not most are endeavoring to live in a “good hearted” way – just perhaps not consciously as such. The Centerpoint for Being brings “good heartedness” front and center, so we consciously radiate our Light, the movement of Love to all. This is not about “morality” or being “virtuous.” It’s about living our fullest potential as hu-man be-ings.

To be the Light of the World all we need to “do” is open to and welcome the expression of our heart and soul through our mind and body as the guiding principle for our life. Left on its own to govern us, the mind separates us from what life is meant to be, the experience of love, and hence from one another.

Traditionally we seek or know our True Self by acknowledging and releasing all the misperceptions of our “wounds” one-by-one or by experiencing the True Self bit-by-bit through personal meditation, guided meditation, prayer, or other spiritual practices. Uncovering one’s Centerpoint for Being accelerates the process.

Once the Centerpoint is brought into one’s awareness, everything in one’s life such as beliefs, actions and relationships that contradict this intention will also be brought into awareness for discernment and choice. This is part of life’s mirror and can be uncomfortable. At the same time, we realize our unique gifts and power of love which is beyond measure. Through the lens of the Centerpoint we step back and holistically see and experience the deep structure of our life rather than through the surface features that can be perceived by the mind, missing the True Self.

The Big Picture

Anything and everything not based in love: care, understanding and respect, is in breakdown. This includes ourselves, our relationships, and our social institutions such as business, government or religion. And this will continue; what we build cut off from our heart and soul is unsustainable because it does not honor who and what we are as human beings.

Living the True Self is both an inside-out and outside-in approach that is balanced and integrated. This is about being fully here now, present to all that is: Not only the mind and body with their perception of and reaction to the external but also the heart and soul and their perception of and response to the truth of our inner unity. Living from the perspective of the True Self, puts the mind and body, thought and action in service to love. This is the only way to resolve the issues we face.

Many Brave Souls

The truth of what and who you really are is what matters in life. I recognize that unhooking from the perceived security of our externally defined roles and identities takes extreme courage. This means we release time-honored assumed-to-be-correct expectations for what it means to belong and actions defined by labels such as man, woman, husband, wife, father, mother, family, friends, our religions, nationalities, political parties, etc. and instead choose to base our identity and action on the personal truth of our heart and soul.

Although I would very much like to give this away freely, it would be impractical to offer Living the True Self at no cost; this physical life requires financial resources. The “dilemma” is how does one put a monetary amount on experiences that are “priceless” such as clarity of one’s identity and power, a life without limits, freedom, peace, joy, harmony, and love and make it available to all without financial consideration.

Each of our contexts is unique. For those willing to make the commitment and desire to engage with me, I ask two questions:

Based on your own experience, situation and resources, what is living an integrated and sovereign life from the perspective of and grounded in your True Self worth to you?

What would you be (are you) willing to pay to or invest in yourself for such an offering?

Whatever this amount is, I trust it will be an appropriate amount and meet my resource “needs.” Those who can pay “more” are paying it forward for another; those who can pay “less” are not excluded or denied access. After engaging with the process, if one believes and feels that the experience and awareness of the True Self is without value for their life, their consciousness, one pays nothing.

By choosing to realize one’s full potential, all contribute to the well-being of the whole. I trust each choice for an amount will be made according to one’s heart’s guidance. Donations are welcome as well.

Moving Forward

I am sure that this shift in my work as midwife of the True Self, your own inner “teacher”, comes as no surprise. I say “midwife” because all answers are within you, within your heart and soul. If you have an interest in learning more about any or all of the elements of Living the True Self, I welcome hearing from you. The process is open and flexible to meet your unique desires and situation: one-on-one or in a group, in person or via technology, over a period of time or as an “intensive.”

For those in similar “midwife” roles, I invite you to connect on how parts of Living the True Self might be integrated within your own engagements.

For my Face Book friends, I am moving my “inspirational” posts from my personal page to my Leading as Love page. To receive them, you will need to “Follow” or “Like” this page.

Life is Love made visible. ~ Adapted from Khalil Gibran

At this opening of 2014, let us walk together in creating our life experiences. The only way transformation and change happens is by our personal choice to be what we are, living the love, the unity that is inside that is just waiting for each of us to say “YES!”.

How do you choose to lead your life: From the mind or your Centerpoint for Being, the source of all well-being and creation as life emerges and unfolds in each moment? This is leading our lives from integrated wholeness, the True Self. This is Leading as Love, this is Universal Leadership™.

What do you choose as your legacy?