Stop Playing Small

As I write this 19th of July, 2016, our Sun has entered the constellation of Cancer, while the moon is full in the constellation of Capricorn. Cancer is streaming in the capacities for catharsis or purification, while Capricorn offers us courage. What a beautiful combination, given the deep work and courage required for purification.

Imagine for a moment the moon, standing with courage at its back while receiving on its face the full light of the Sun, who offers a release of emotional stagnation and impurity with its cathartic light. Now imagine yourself as the moon.

What would it be like for you to consider courage at your back, supporting you to open to new ways of being, while receiving at your heart the light of purification, allowing you to release all that is not serving your highest potential?

This kind of cosmic relating can offer us so much support and guidance if we remember we are not separate from all that is. My father worked in a psychiatric hospital as a social worker, and I remember him repeatedly saying that the patients were always out of sorts at the time of a full moon. I have seen in my own life the emotions that surge and flow during times of a full moon. Yet rarely do human beings consider the influence of planetary movements through the heavens upon their lives.

Why do we struggle so much to remember that we are part of the Earth and her cycles and rhythms, just as the moon is, and that just as the tides of the oceans respond to this cosmic influence, so do the tides of our emotions, which are messengers of our soul?

If purification is about releasing and clearing all that is not serving the highest potential, then perhaps in having the courage to undergo this purification process, we will find ourselves with a greater capacity to remember our connection to all of life.

In this time of the Sun astronomically in Cancer, which lasts until the middle of August, this purification or opportunity for catharsis is streaming in. Selflessness combined with Ego strength brings us to catharsis. Notice I capitalized the word Ego, because in this case, I am referring to our higher Ego, the part of us that is conscious of our own unique shining Self, and the shining Selves of others, rather than the lower ego which is often driven by our subconscious and sees itself as separate from others.

The selflessness referred to here is around the small self.  In order to allow for purification or catharsis to be possible, we must be selfless by detaching from all of the emotions, stories and actions of the “small self” or lower ego. We must do this by tuning in to the strength of our pure Selves, the part of us that is untainted by the drama we encounter in day to day life.

The lower self is terrified that the Higher Self will eliminate it.

Thus it keeps us hooked with worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, etc. This offers a completely different view of what it means to be selfish. In the sense of the word selfish with a small “s,” indeed we are serving our small ego that is out for “me” rather than “we.” In the capital “S” sense of the word Selfish, we are honoring our own unique gifts in full humility, being all that we are and nothing we are not, and serving the greater good of all.

True selflessness is not about giving up or losing oneself, deflating oneself, relying on others to tell us what to do or how to do it, ignoring our own passions or desires, or staying small. True selflessness is when we can let go of the small self and its drama, when we can endure life from the vantage point of the Higher Self, knowing that every experience is teaching and guiding us, initiating us, and purifying us toward greater realization and embodiment of our Highest Potential. True selflessness allows that Highest Potential to serve the greater good, from our greater gifts.

You have the courage, right now, standing behind and within you, to let go of all of the old stories, emotions and behaviors that have kept you from fully embodying your True Self. 

What fears do you have around allowing this catharsis to meet you? What if all that you fear, be it rejection, disappointment, messing up, or failing, is just a story keeping you from showing up as the gift that you are? What if that gift is absolutely needed for the future of the Earth and Humanity? Would you be willing to share it with us then? What if your true fear is that you won’t know what to do with that gift once you let it shine through, or that you won’t be able to handle it?

I’d like to reassure you that you WILL be able to handle your full beauty, potential, gifts and wisdom. You are needed. We all need you now, today, in this tumultuous, traumatic and chaotic world, to share your highest potential with all of us. I beg of you, please stop playing small!

I will leave you with this verse from Quiet Water by James Kavanaugh:

You Are Your Own Answer

You are your own answer,
Beyond books and seers,
Psychics or doctors.
Beyond the strength that comes
From what you have accomplished.

Your weakness is as valuable as your strength;
Your helplessness as lovable as your charm.

You are God’s child, and each step of the way,
He gives you bread, and not a stone;
Food, and not a serpent.

All is part of the plan, as you look within
And listen to the quiet, persistent voice
That tells you who you are.

There is no strength greater than yours.
No wisdom not available to you.
And Love and Light will flood your being
When you believe deeply enough to know
That you are your own answer
In the beauty and creativity that make us all one.

No one beyond our love, no one not connected.

Abandon anger and fear to the wind,
Sadness and pseudo-strength to the earth.

Be who you are, in whatever state,
And you will discover
That you are your own answer
In the silence of your heart,
Where all light and power dwell, forever.

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