Your I is an Image, not a Story...
Published: Tue, 01/21/14
We tell and retell our stories, shape and reshape our identities, and hold our defenses closer and closer and then the moment comes when the I within shines forth and we become, oh so briefly, the radiant Image that lives behind and beyond the stories, identities, and defenses
Your I is always present but it only comes to the foreground of your consciousness intermittently. A surprise awakening to I. Like the sudden appearance of a rainbow against the dark clouds of our stories, our identities, and our defenses.
Your I is neither the ultimate story, the perfect identity, nor the impenetrable defense.
Your I is absolute... no limitations or definitions, no conditions or qualifications, no attachments or needs, not relative nor comparative, no birth and no death, no diminishment and no possibility, no polarities and no paradoxes. WOW...
But earthly existence is all of that - the opposite of absolute. And living gets tough and finding meaning, significance and purpose can feel hopeless. The stories are never-ending and get filled with distortions and fantasies, the identities become old and burdensome, and the defenses exhausting and isolating. YUK!
So why does the I choose to incarnate and surrender its absoluteness for a lifetime? Why are you/I here? Why did the Absolute, the Godhead, create all this? Isn't that what humankind keeps asking? I certainly keep asking.
In your heart, you are not a story, not an identity, and not defended. You are a living image of I Am.
The courses of Imagine Self are designed to develop the capacity in you to seek out, sort out, wiggle out the image of I behind your stories, your identities, and your defenses. To become both innocent and wise in knowing the way this image of I appears.
But what I have realized and what I share in the Imagine Self courses, is that the stories, the identities, the defenses point to the image of I. The work is to embrace, study, explore all that you are in your earthly humanness to find the image of I.
What unfolds through the Imagine Self work is the fourfold wisdom of being human:
- the wisdom to know the archetype of being human,
- the wisdom to know yourself
- the wisdom to know and understand others and
- the wisdom to know the world and imagine the future.
Does this sound "heavy," abstract, lacking the entertainment or dramatic thrill of our stories, etc? All gravity and no levity?
Actually, one of the great joys of this work is the experience of Cosmic Humor and self-delight. And the wonderful experience of Cosmic Celebration. Every time one of us gets even the slightest glimpse of the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of the personal Image of I...the whole Cosmos applauds and laughs like it is the best birthday ever.
Imagine Self courses make the links between the original archetypes of being human and personal dramas, turning stories, identities, and defenses into revelations... and bingo the Image of I appears! Happy Birthday to your I Image!
Here's a birthday card by Jacquie Lawson that demonstrates this:
Are you lost or stuck? Do you need to resolve hurt, grief, confusion, doubt, or heartbreak? Are you needing sacred listening and compassionate attention? Do you seek spiritual mentoring for living your fullest life? Do you have questions about parenting, or hold concerns about caring for your aging parents? Do you need a new direction for your life?
Here is a client's description of working with me:
I set out on my journey with Lynn just over a year ago, and now I struggle to remember the suffocating cloud of confusion, anger, and hurt I was in when I first reached out to her.Lynn has given me so many gifts, but the most profound is her listening heart. She is a person who can not only carry the silence, but truly hears what I am saying (and what I am not saying). With impeccable intuition, she guides me to my truth, and my tears, and back to the beginning to start again with a new perspective. I sometimes feel as though I am carrying an intricately folded piece of origami into our sessions, and all of my fears and guilt tell me that if I unfold even one corner, the whole piece will come apart... and sometimes it does. But, I always walk away with a few key first-steps to begin again, and enough inspiration to make a few new folds on my own. Lynn has been my lionhearted guide as I begin to look into the depths of my being (the stories of my past, the patterns in my life, the places I get stuck, angry, shut-down, manic). We have dug around together to uncover some of the mysteries of my personality that have baffled me all my life. "Why do I always feel anxious entering into this situation? Why do I get so angry in this situation? Why does it feel like the ground would drop out from underneath me if I made this monumental change in my life?" Even having clarity enough to ask those questions brings a deep breath.I have worked with many, many counselors over the last 25 years, and I often quit because I did not feel heard or guided in any heartfelt way. This intimate relationship with a stranger is difficult to navigate in person, so I was very hesitant to begin working with someone over the phone. A year later, if my inner work comes up in conversation, I often forget to mention that Lynn and I talk over the phone. It just works.Lynn is not only supportive in her listening and guiding, but in her willingness to have a good belly laugh, her ability to redirect old habits of thoughts and actions, and her sincere love and compassion for people and their struggles. Lynn's incredible knowledge of the human being and how we work brings a depth and support to this work that is difficult to put into words, but can only be understood through experience.Julie, Fort Collins, CO