Hello again and Happy New Year! Looking back on this past year, it has definitely been a year of self growth for me. I have been trying to figure out what I truly want to achieve in this new year of 2012 and my mind immediately thinks back to a book I have just read called 'Creating True Prosperity' by Shakti Gawain. My good friend and fellow classmate recommended that I read this book and boy am I grateful. At first I thought to myself, why do I need to read this book about how to make money, all I need to do to succeed is focus on Health Coaching, follow the program's instructions, study hard and the money will come. After reading this book, I have learned that there is so much more to making money and becoming successful than what I previously thought. Our ideas about money and achieving true prosperity has everything to do with the idea of the 'disowned self.' What is this 'disowned self?' Well this can be explained by first discussing what the 'primary self' is. The 'primary self' is the self that we show the world and the most dominant qualities of our personality. For example, my dominant qualities and the parts of my personality that is easiest for me to express is my generosity, ability to give, vulnerability, my ability to care for others, spontaneity, friendliness, outgoing-ness and sensitivity.
Gawain, then goes on to explain the idea of the 'disowned self' or the parts of ourselves that we have suppressed, basically the opposite qualities of the 'primary self.' Her theory is that because of damaging experiences we had in our early life we learned that acting in a certain manner or expressing certain feelings were 'wrong' or 'bad' and will only cause harm. So we were conditioned to deny these parts of ourselves thinking that we are protecting ourselves from harm when ultimately what this causes is more imbalance, frustration and pain. For me, my 'disowned self' would be my ability to receive (love, help ect..) my sense of power, self-confidence and the ability to care for myself
So what does all this have to do with Prosperity? Well, no one can put it better than she does, "The more we learn to accept and express all aspects of who we are, the more freedom, satisfaction and wholeness we experience, and the more prosperous we feel. Since our lives mirror our consciousness, the more balanced and integrated we are internally, the better our external world will work. Our relationship with money and our overall experience of prosperity reflect how well we have developed and balanced the many energies that are within us."
What a profound idea!! Gawain goes on to explain that every experience we have and all the people in our lives are meant to redirect our focus to what is imbalanced and what we have to work on. I think this idea explains why I have been feeling so stressed and unsettled. Lately, I feel like life is constantly pushing me in the direction of reclaiming my power and confidence. More and more I end up in situations that are requiring me to speak up and state my case. This idea has also forced me to think about everybody in my life, why I attracted them into my life and what I can learn from them.
Since, my husband Michael and I have recently celebrated our six year wedding anniversary, I will use him as an example here. When I think about Michael and all his qualities it makes a lot of sense why I chose him and he chose me. We are a great example of how opposites attract. He is a person that is always on time, responsible and has the strongest work ethic of anyone I know. He gives himself whole-heatedly to anyone in need with a smile on his face that extends from one ear to the other and is not ashamed to say what he thinks in a very straight forward manner. When he wants something he goes for it like an animal stalking it's prey, like his life depends on it, his focus unfaltering. He is self-aware and he accepts his imperfections, claiming that "they make him who he is and he likes himself." What an amazing man and how lucky I am to have attracted him into my life. With him in my life I don't have to look very far to figure out what my imbalances are. All of his strengths mentioned above, remind me of what I need to work on in myself and motivate me to be stronger and more confident than I ever thought I could be.
I encourage you to think about these ideas of the primary and disowned selves and to reflect on this past year. What can you learn from each and every person in your life and the experiences you have cultivated including the not so excellent ones? What do you want to achieve in 2012 and what changes will you make to get there? I am going to leave you with the idea that life is constantly nudging us in the direction of greater balance and with that said I hope you have a wonderful 2012 full of self-awareness, growth and above all a year of true prosperity.
Blessings and Peace to you all.
