The trails have cleared of most of the ice, snow and mud so I could again run up into the mountains. It was a good way to celebrate life and the Easter Holiday. As a kid Easter was lots of fun, as an adult I am unsure what the holiday is about. The Christian religions celebrate the story of the Son of God rising from the dead. This to me is more myth, as is so much of what we are told about life as we grow up. The unfortunate thing is that many of us live confused about who we are because of the strange beliefs and ideas of our childhood.

There is a better way of living than this life of confused ideas of self and our place in the world. Meeting Yourself is the title of this post because that is what’s needs to happen to move past the limiting thoughts of self and the life that is possible. Meeting yourself is about being:

Comfortable exploring who you are
Comfortable in your own skin
OK with you as you are
Aware of your own mind and its many thoughts
In touch with your feelings with a kind acceptance of all of them
Free to explore what comes up in you without judgment
Accepting of your own uniqueness
Able to touch in with your infinite nature
Able to live in wonder of what is possible within you
Able to look into your own eyes and feel appreciation
Able to love yourself unconditionally.

All of these ways of being with self do not tell the whole story although they are helpful in seeing what this might look like meeting yourself. At a deeper level this meeting is about you showing up to be with you. There is no assessment, conditions, or judgments; there is just you in openness able to be with yourself fully in the moment. This meeting is also about being fully present to every memory of the past and ever hope for the future. All of you is totally ok no matter the past ok whatever happens in the future.

There is a grace in being fully present to yourself and a genuine freedom from living is the place of being you as you do life.

Sit down and grab a notebook and begin to find out who you are separate from any story in your head or any preconceived notions. This fresh look at self has the ability to allow you to really expand into the life you want because that evolving you is now fully engaged in being the real you.

“Who am I?” is one of the ultimate questions and if you go exploring you will discover much more than you ever realized.

Peace Letter #74

Dear President Obama,

The ugliness of war is not what we want and yet the government seems unable to disengage. Why is that? Why does every president engage is some type of war activity? Are you unable to ignore the military’s bias for war or the corporate profit making that happens. Why can’t we break this cycle? Why is our government engaged in the killing of innocent people? What rationalization can make that ok?

Please find the peace in your heart and end our nations involvement in war.

Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.

Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact