Of all the things we make up. words and worlds; constructs and contexts; what is something we can make up that matters for us personally? Something we don't need agreement over and can source for ourselves?

​We can make up that we matter. We can make up that we make a difference and live our life from that place.

On self-worth:

• Some believe in a higher power and that higher power gives them a sense of self worth and significance. 
• ​Some believe in a higher power and don't believe that they are inherently worthy. ​
• Some don't believe in a higher power and don't believe they are inherently worthy.
• ​Some don't believe in higher power and yet still believe they are inherently worthy.

​How, or what, does the latter group attribute this worth to without having an outside "authority" grant them this?

They make it up.

If that sounds invalid to you consider that everything is made up, but we live in an agreement-reality that gives things power. For example, money is a made up story we encounter everyday that has a lot of agreement power.

Can you make up that you matter (regardless of what your deity does or doesn't do)? Of course you can! This is called creating a context. It's part of living a self-led life. 

You'll hear me talk about this 'self-led' life from time to time. This talk comes from my understanding of process-healing which states that we are all made up of "parts" and these parts either work in concert with the Self (the wise part of us that is connected to Source/Spirit/God) or they don't work. We often experience these parts not working together as egoism, insecurity and, of course, emotional pain. 

Making up that you matter is the ultimate act of self-authoring.

Is the Self made up as well? Some eastern philosophies suggest that there is no Self. Just a perception of separateness. We rely on this separateness to function is the world. We know where we end and another begins, or least we think we do. Newborns have to learn where they begin and where their mother begins.

I don't know if the Self is an absolute reality or not. I am fine making it up because I don't think there's a way to prove that is NOT real. We rely on these self-created contexts to live in a world that makes sense. We rely on the agreement-reality to play world games that have structure, rules, and boundaries. 

What we call "truth" is a complex net of agreements on overlapping subject matters. We also call our personal experiences "truth". But these two don't always agree. 

Can we walk in both worlds? One where we know truth through the experiential and one where we conjure it from the agreement-realty and approval of others? I think we already do.

A new reality can be invented, even a personal one that includes a belief that you matter. Plant the seeds by telling yourself a new story so it takes root. 

This week I scrapped all my old blog posts about marketing, branding, and messaging and began to FOCUS on what exactly I am doing here outside of my day job, freelance marketing, and my home life.  

After several attempt to update my website copy, what I noticed was something interesting. . . and uncomfortable. Every time I began recreating my home page, I ended up with NOT a home page, but what read like another journey into another blog topic.  

Even though I know how to help someone else with branding and messaging, I was trying to cut the back of my own hair--I just couldn't see it from the right vantage point to do it properly for myself. I felt foolish and like a fraud.

Sometimes we feel like a fraud, not because we aren't capable, but because we know deep-down we aren't being true to ourselves.

This was the case here, for me. Since I was determined to throw some mud--I mean publish something--I finally slapped something up and went to bed.

Mornings are good for clarity. I woke up with a raging, "hell no, I'm not saying that! I don't want to talk about that and I don't want to offer that! 

Again, I felt foolish that I had wasted all my time the night before desperate to publish. But, was it a waste? The negative thoughts and feelings stopped when I realized that this time, instead of going months trying to fit myself into a square hole, I discovered clarity within 12 hours time; a new record. Something to celebrate, truly!

"I just want to write. I just want to write," I kept repeating my myself.  

Another voice responded, "So why not just write?" Why does it have to be more complicated? Why is what I am currently doing not enough?

Instead of looking for more, I began allowing my work here to be light, liberating, and enjoyable.

The new name for the blog, The Course, was inspired from a song I love by singer/songwriter, Ayla Nereo. You can listen here. 

What is the course of life? Where does sustenance come from, and where does it go? And how do we harness, partner with, this power to do our best work in the world?

These are the topics I plan to cover in this blog. It feels organic and authentic because this is what's on my mind each day. It's just who I am. 

I am not telling you this to explain myself. I am telling you so that if you are experiencing the same situation you give yourself permission to just let your work be as easy and free as it can be, especially if you already have a full plate of other commitments and responsibilities. Don't worry, there will still be challenges ;-)

We owe it to ourselves to be gentle. There's enough "shoulds" and harshness in the world. Our soul's work has the ability to enliven and energize, if we let it.