Why are Strategy and Authority Important?
Strategy and Authority align us with our true self and our purpose in life. They connect us with all that is correct for us which includes the people we should spend our time with, where we should spend our time and our connection with the natural rhythm of our life.
If we get all these great things from living our Strategy and Authority, why then, for some of us, is it an effort to align ourselves with what brings us this joy and happiness? Why is it an effort to let go of not-self actions and behaviors?
The answer is the ‘The Mind’. The mind has an insidious grip on us and it is very powerful. All of our mental processes, our thoughts, our rationalizations, our justifications, are all so powerful. They tend to take over and dominate our life. Often these mental processes are so absorbing of our awareness that we become completely out of touch with our true self and our feelings.
If we don’t know how we feel then how can we know what makes us happy? Our society conditions us to live as our ‘not-selves’. We are told what will make us happy and we believe it, and we slowly allow ourselves to be homogenized with society through this conditioning. We believe what we are told so much so, that who we are at our core is masked by what we are told we ‘should be’. We are not nurtured and guided to become who we truly are at our deepest level. We are not nurtured to discover what makes us happy from the ‘inside out’. We are trained to become what we are told to become… from the ‘outside in’.
We may ‘think’ we know what will make us happy. Have you ever thought that if you could just attain a certain thing that you would be happy? Only to discover once you attained that thing that it left you feeling empty? This is a common experience.
Many people have become numb to what brings them joy and makes them happy because of the conditioning of society and our family of origin which tells us to think and behave in certain ways. We are told what should make us happy and bring us joy and we go out into the world to make this happen.
So, think about it for a moment – We start out in life being told what will make us happy, so now the mind thinks it knows what will make us happy. The mind makes all the decisions in life based on these notions. We get that job, husband, house, dog, friends, etc., all based on what our mind thinks will make us happy. This is how we get trapped in our ‘not-self’ life. We end up making not-self mental decisions based on not-self conditioning. It’s a vicious cycle.
And, of course, many people are not happy. We wish our life were different. We are tortured by measuring ourselves against who we are and what we think we should be. We are confused and depressed because what we have worked for and aspired to does not make us happy. We start asking “where have I failed? What is wrong with me? I ‘should’ be happy. There is something wrong with me. I need therapy. I need antidepressants to feel better so that I can be happy with my not-self life”.
Ok, so now here you are in your 40s or 50s and you have years and years of building a life on a false foundation, on not-self mental strategies. How do you transition to a true-self life? How do you undo your not-self life so that you can create a solid foundation and a life that represents who you really are? How do you find out who you really are? How do you dissolve the old and create a space so that the new you can emerge? It seems daunting; after all, you have commitments, a family, and a career, you a have a life!
This is tricky business to let go of the mind, to let go of what we thought our lives should look like. And you can’t let go of the mind from the mind. You have to trick it. You have to bypass the mind and surrender to your body and what ‘it’ wants. Before we can surrender to the body we have to be able to hear the body and get in touch with what the body wants.
How do we do this? With the mind having such a grip on us, how do we surrender our mind to our body – to our ‘knowing’? How do we know what our ‘knowing’ is?
So what is the answer? This is where Strategy and Authority come in to play. These simple tools will empower you to live your life from the ‘inside out’.
When I first became aware of my own strategy and authority it took time for me to get a full sense of it. It took effort to work with it and I made a lot of mistakes. But over time I saw how it was working for me and I saw how my life was changing and how I was changing. I liked what was happening.
Now my experience is like being a passenger in this body. I am watching and feeling what is going on in the body and in my life. Now my mind has something new to do. It’s very entertaining to watch and feel what’s going on in the body in relation to outer circumstances.
It’s almost like watching a movie without being disconnected from the movie; I feel very connected to my life but from a different perspective. I’m less caught up in it and much more observant and reflective.
It’s a step by step, moment by moment following your strategy and authority process. You can take a more radical approach and make some big changes in your life by letting go of the things you know are not working for you. I did both of these things. I let go of a life that was not working and then I began to watch and listen.
It takes awareness moment by moment to make decisions that are true self decisions rather than not-self decisions. True self decisions do not come from the mind. After a time, maybe 7 years, there is no effort any longer. It’s natural for you to respond to life from your true nature.
Eventually the confusion disappears and is replaced with naturalness. Some circumstances in your life will probably change. Not-self relationships will either shift to true self relationships or fall away. You may realize that your job or where you live is not correct for you any longer, etc.
Will doing this bring up stuff for us to look at? Yes it will, and this is where the healing happens. This is where the deconditioning happens. When there is an inner conflict between your strategy/authority and you’re not-self, it’s a great time to bring out the WaveMaker or just feel into the feeling or whatever other technique you use. Each time you do this you are taking a step closer to a true self life.
Your not-self is masking your pain and your unresolved issues and by addressing the inner conflicts that emerge as you follow your strategy and authority you get an opportunity to look at your unresolved issues and heal.
So many wonderful things happen when you begin to live a true self life. Your purpose begins to unfold, the misery of comparing yourself to others disappears, and you find inner peace because you know your life is unfolding perfectly. True self-acceptance settles into your daily life. Stress dissipates and bliss settles in for the duration.
Live the life that you were meant to live. It’s worth everything you will go through to get there.
Be fully self-empowered,
Lynda Bunnell
www.ihdschool.com
