One of the main questions or inquiries we will be engaging in during this retreat is, “How do I move beyond self-preoccupation?””How do I open to a vaster, more expanded, and more authentic self?”

To engage in this kind of evolution can be quite challenging, because most of us have been trained to think that we should focus on ourselves, our needs, and our own happiness. We might hear about someone like Nelson Mandela, or the Dalai Lama, who seem to have very different values and motivations. But we don’t believe that we could really live like that.

We have not learned how to stop and really listen to the deepest place in us, to what we really want, to what we care about, more than anything. When we connect with this part of us, we realize what freedom is, what love is, what clarity is.

We are no longer willing to live in service to our survival brain, the part of us that is only interested in safety, control and approval.

A client of mine spoke to me the other day about his longing to be spontaneous and uncontrived.  He could feel in his body, the energy of this other side of himself- his conditioned mind, the one that wants to be safe and in control. This one that needs to plan everything, that is terribly afraid of failure, of taking risks, of being exposed.

These are universal experiences. Everyone can feel and recognize these parts of themselves. We have been trained to go along with our survival personality, instead of recognizing another part of who we are, the part that wants to be real, authentic, intimate, and creative.

The authentic self is already here-this is the good news! We can learn to recognize it, nourish it, call it into the light of our awareness.

This self is grounded in reality, and it knows how to deal with life as it is. It can respond to what actually needs to be done, instead of waiting for when we feel like it.

And this part of us can create structures in our lives to support us, guide us and nourish us.

How would you live if you called your authentic self to the foreground of your life? If you allowed yourself to be fully alive, intimate, and connected to the whole field of life?

If you appreciated your own unique being, without feeling separate or cut off?

We can’t answer these questions with our minds, and we certainly can’t answer them alone. We need to live with these questions, and allow a new way of being to emerge.

And we need to do this in community, to learn to support each other in awakening and evolving beyond our current level of consciousness.