(Adapted from my New Year’s post on The Mind-Body Shift)
A prevailing theme that threads through my work and my writing is the concept of change and one’s ability to transform him or herself at any time or point in one’s life. It’s not surprising, really, when you consider that my name, Renée, literally means ‘reborn’ in French. Whether by necessity or by choice, I feel like I’m perennially giving birth to revised (and hopefully improved) versions of myself. I believe this drive comes not from an unrelenting disappointment with who I am and what I’ve accomplished; instead, it recognizes the seemingly unlimited potential for which I–and all of us–have the capacity.
This is not to say that I’ve deluded myself into thinking or wanting to be someone other than myself. Rather, I truly seek to be the best version of me as I can be. Different periods of time and changing circumstances necessitate revisioning what that best self is.
Believing that humans are hardwired for self-actualization, psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote: ‘I think of the self-actualizing man not as an ordinary man with something added, but rather as the ordinary man with nothing taken away.” When I envision a life where nothing is taken away from my greatest self, I see a life freed from the outgrown models and perceived failures of the past and the rose-colored ideals and absurd expectations of the future. When I let go of whom I think I should be, I set myself free.
Commit to Being Here, Now in 2018
So for 2018, I am tossing out radical New Year’s resolutions that are nigh impossible to attain. I am dismissing outrageous declarations that ignore the natural, inevitable changes of life. Instead, I claim smaller–yet, perhaps more potent–personal revolutions.
There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask “What if I fall?”
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
–Erin Hanson
But what exactly does this mean for me as a writer:
- I commit to showing up to the page, regardless of my emotions, energy levels or time constraints.
- I let go of expectations of how I think the day of writing could or should go.
- I get fully present with my purpose and my passion, letting them guide my process and progress.
- I allow myself to immerse in the moment. Nothing else matters except what I am doing right here, right now.
- I bring to the page everything I have and all that I am, invoking and engaging all my senses.
- I take great leaps of faith. I risk shitty writing and ‘failures’. I write despite feelings of imposter syndrome–I fake it until I make it. I embrace the possibilities of moments of brilliance, pure joy and fulfilling my deepest desires and dreams.
I align myself with the cyclical flow, creative force and unlimited potential of the extraordinary universe. Wholly present, centered and grounded, and fully embodying my body, mind and soul–I am. So Hum
She Let Go
“She Let Go”
A Poem by Rev. Safire Rose
She let go.
Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of fear. She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely,
without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a
book on how to let go… She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about
how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyse whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort. There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.
Renée Can Writes 