I Declare

If you go with the premise that our souls are sent to this earth with the body we are given and with an agreed upon contract (purpose) with the higher spirit (God) to fulfil then, it could be assumed, that if you are not living as your authentic self, you are not living up to that contract.

For a lot of people, living as their true self is probably the hardest thing they could ever do.

To stand up and declare your true self, to say this is who I am, this is what I stand for and this is how I want to live my life…. how scary is that?

Who wouldn’t love to be one of those rare individuals who just knew from an early age what they want to be when they grew up or to be a person who has such a pronounced talent for something that it is obvious to everyone what they are meant to be as if their life was pre-destined before birth. It was.

Consider the young adult who would rather go to school and become a doctor, lawyer, teacher, than disappoint a parent when what he really wants to be, and has a God given talent for, is to be a musician. How about having to admit you have made a mistake, one that could negatively affect other people’s lives and not just your own like, I married the wrong person, or consider the fear the gay man or women lives in every minute of their life that they will be rejected by their loved ones if they come out.

Not every person has gut wrenching decisions like those to over come in order to declare their authentic self but smaller ones can render you just as petrified as well.

Making a change in your life, doing something different, living a different lifestyle effects the people around you. As you change, they also have to change. You will no longer be the same person that they have identified with in the past. There will be a learning curve, your loved ones will have to grow as you grow in order to continue a relationship with you. Sometimes the transition will be for the better and your relationships evolve and strengthen and sometimes, your pursuit for your authentic self is too much for the other party and that relationship falls away. People will always come in and out of your life, that’s inevitable but the loss of the familiar is no less frightening.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for not living up to your soul’s purpose in this life is the fear of failure. What happens if I declare myself, that I stand my ground and say, “This is who I am!” that I take that leap of faith and just go for it but I fail? Isn’t it better to keep my soul’s passion a dream where I can coddle it safely so no one can criticise it?

My experience has been that the more fear I have of acknowledging a dream, the closer it is to my soul’s true purpose.

Besides, what happens if I am not as good as I need to be to be successful on my authentic path? Well then maybe it’s not really your path. Every person has a passion in them that is so true that even if they fail at what they thought was their calling they are able to overcome the obstacles and come at it another way.

Let’s say for example, your dream was to become a ballerina. All through childhood, you took ballet lessons and while you may have shown some promise, as you matured it became obvious that you did not have the body type or the extreme talent needed to become a premier dancer. It did not mean that your passion for dance had changed or that ballet was not your destined path, your purpose in life, it just meant that you had to go about it a different way. Instead of being a premier dancer maybe you needed to become a dance coach or a choreographer or perhaps dance was still the path but in a smaller community dance troop instead.

We tend to get so caught up in the goal that we ignore that it is the passion that is the destiny. Our life’s path takes many twists and turns but if we didn’t have the experiences along the way, the successes and the failures, we wouldn’t have the knowledge and wisdom needed to make the right choice once we arrive at the next fork in the road.

Several years ago while on a road trip with my sister, I ask a women at a street fair who was reading tarot cards what I was meant to do. At the time I was in transition having had a recent job end and was not sure what my next step should be. Her answer was that it didn’t matter what I did, what mattered was that I did something. I took me a long time to understand what she meant by that.

It doesn’t matter what you do in life. You could be a ditch digger or the CEO of a fortune 500 company as long a you are living your life from your heart instead of through your head, that you love what you are doing, and it just feels right. When you learn to do that, then you are living your life authentically and you are sure to be fulfilling your soul’s contract with the higher spirit. Then you cannot help but declare yourself to the world because you will be standing confidently on the sure ground that is your life path.