Thursday, September 3, 2015

Authentic Alignment

The definition of a rift is "a crack, split, or break in something", or "a serious break in friendly relations". The implication here is that wholeness must first exist for a rift to occur.

I have become a rift.

In the last six months, some part of me deviated from the rest, hijacking my life, and the gap inside grew wider and wider until no part of me could function anymore.

Our brains like to classify things, to divvy them up with neat little labels that define each part in a tidy sum of words. But separate from one another, our parts are as good as dead. I'm not a brain or a heart or a liver. I AM that which lies beyond the sum of my parts. That mysterious circle of me is the property we call spirit. It is the whole self--beyond ego, beyond mind, beyond personality. And it houses what I like to call the "authentic self".

The authentic self has a list of Core Needs, and every one of them is as essential to our "thrival" (more than mere survival, our ability to thrive) as air and water. When we try to shut one or more of these needs down, the result is interior chaos and exterior dysfunction, a rift in the self, a schism of the spirit, a tear in the very fabric of who we are.

So what do you do once you've found yourself a house divided? How do you heal to move on?

You must shift into a space of authentic alignment, reconnecting with each and every piece of yourself, and taking inventory of all of your Core Needs. Like a chiropractor for the soul, aligning with your authentic self restores balance to your whole being. Energy flows, life is renewed, and the journey becomes effortless.

Here is what the last six months have taught me: I journey as a whole, one grand and glorious being, or my journey ceases.

Opposite of the brain, the heart brings things together, unifies, incorporates, harmonizes. The road to authentic alignment lies through the heart. Through the powerful alchemy of love, through self acceptance, compassion, and nurturing our whole being, we find the strength to pull ourselves together again. The heart holds dominion where the rational mind has no power. And when logic and reason fail to put the pieces back in order, as they inevitably will, love finds a way.

 
You can read more about my journey to wholeness here.