Enough Hiding!

I want to share with you a new book that I was introduced to when on my booksigning tour. On the way to Santa Cruz, I stopped and visited Alice Gardner who just finished a book with themes similar to mine. It's called Life Beyond Belief and it is a beautiful, simple summary of just that--what does life look like when you begin to live from Presence.

I was especially moved by the following paragraph: A common control pattern involves a resistance to letting go of a low self-esteem state that prevents us from engaging in work in the world that is visible of significant.

At the end of my talk that I gave to different audiences, I shared a quote by Gangaji: Women know a lot simply from what their bodies have gone through. We know a lot about meeting suffering, about what passes, what comes and goes. Women know an enormous amount about the broken heart and vulnerability. It's time for women to stand up. Not like men, but as ordinary women, telling the truth. There has been enough hiding.

Then I shared how difficult it was for me to do that--to stand up and claim what I know. But that is exactly what is needed at this time. One woman in the audience in Santa Cruz said that when she heard me say that, she felt her own self being called to stand up, too--to stop hiding. "You don't have to be awakened to claim the truth of what you know," I said.

It wasn't until I read Alice's book afterwards that I saw how this hiding is actually a control pattern. This constriction is subtle, but as soon as you recognize it, it is obvious. So I encourage all of you to go ahead--claim what you know. Stop hiding! Let Life have its way. It's going to anyway.

You can find out more about Alice's book by going to her website: www.awakepublishing.com
And if you haven't been to my website, check it out: www.extraordinarywisdom.net