this week's authenticity invitation is:

inviting nourishment... deep deep deep fuel for the body, mind, spirit, soul, essence, everything. nourishing not only through food and drink, but with film, theatre, dance, sports, laughter, hand holding, reading, online communication, sitting with my mesa, walking, energy practices, sharing of the munay-ki rites of initiation, writing, writing, writing... and honoring my own true need to bring my energies home to feed me rather than letting them spill out into the world unfettered, unfocused, incomplete. i'm writing... so that when my writing has reached its completion i can nourish the world with my writing.... in a form that's shareable.

and i'm feeding myself in all the ways that deeply support me. i'm cooking. i'm creating meals that satisfy. i'm experiencing the metabolic transformation, the alchemy of things moving from one state of being to another through the process of digestion and assimilation. i'm releasing what doesn't serve me. i'm sustaining myself with song and dance, giggles and quiet reflection.

i'm nourishing myself at a deep level. i'm inviting the energy of nourishing to inform me and teach me its ways.

how about you? what nourishes you? how do you nourish others?

temerity: fearless daring, audacity

that's the authenticity invitation for me this week. i'm sharing it with you.

i began this weekly authenticity invitation on the 3rd of january - a wednesday... and that week i drew 'inviting temerity'... and now i've drawn it again.

last week was desire... and now temerity... and that feels right.... the desire to create, to live fully, to go after what i want really did help me choose a writing project to commit to... to be passionate about... after feeling like i was being flirted with and teased and pursued by way too many writing projects...

and now.. i'm going to dive in with reckless abandon to fully engage this project. forget reason.... forget measured approaches.... forget caution and all the things that go with figuring out if a course of action is sensible. i'm diving in and i'm not letting anything deter me.

and i'm letting temerity show up in my life in other areas as well... not just my writing, though that's a delight.

yes. i'm very excited about this...

have you thought about the importance of temerity in relationship to stepping fully into your authenticity? i think it is crucial. crucial. crucial.

this week... my authenticity work invites desire. and i feel it... the desire to create arises, strengthens, intensifies, activates... the desire to live life from a deeply authentic place... the desire to share my gifts with the world and receive the gifts others bring forth.... the desire to say YES to what is... and YES YES YES to what is coming into being in harmony with all that is...

this week... i drew the 'inviting desire' card... and i relished the knowledge that months ago i knew to write a card that said 'inviting desire' without realizing at that time that this would be the week when i'd call upon that energy. i love the synchronicities that arise when we let them... when we say YES to them. YES YES YES.... fistfuls of YES.

i'm working on a project i call WRITING ARISES. it's a travel guide for the writing journey. i'm pulling together my own awarenesses about what guides me on my writing journey... on the path of authentic expression. one of the ways i'm working is to gather things i've written on the subject over the years. pulling together material. one of the things i like about that process is realizing how long i've been working with some of these processes and themes and ideas. i'll be sharing some of them here.. the things i've gathered from before and the new writing that i'm doing at this time to bring together my unique processes for writing that arises from a deep place in my authentic being.

here's something i wrote years ago (8/4/2000) that fits in with the writing arises project:

I keep thinking about the need to glory in creativity not seek out blocks. Our culture is so concerned with what is wrong and with trying to FIX those problems, it can't see what it is aiming for.

I've long found concepts like strengths and weaknesses confusing and unhelpful. What's the point? That which brings us strength can be a source of challenges. Balance is what we seek. So I'm thinking of exuberance. Exuberate!

Slurping creativity!

People say "tapping creativity." They say "unleash creativity." This is language of oppression and what's the word for when you are misusing natural resources? Well, tapping is an unnatural act. Unleashing is freeing from oppression but it takes the condition of restraint or slavery as a given.

I want to take the position of CREATOR as a given. And from there contemplate how we create constantly. We ARE creators. But if we explore the meaning and source of creativity and listen to our deepest (some say higher) selves, we'll create authentically. A radical act - to trust, to dare, to experience creativity as the life forming experience it is and not as some self-indulgent sideline to more serious life.

I reject the whole issue of 'inner child' as our artist self. It's not that our creative self doesn't share any characteristics with childhood. It's just that it is an insult to adulthood. It presupposes that adulthood is naturally a sour, restrictive, serious-minded stuck person and we have to go back to some mythical time in our past when our creativity was available to us. That's bullshit.

There's a LOT of resistance to my idea that we don't have to look at blocks in order to heal. Well, it's interesting to me, but I think these things can be got at from multiple directions. And it is more fun and lively to come to the idea of creativity as a celebration - affirming the constant flow of creativity - broadening our understanding of it and inviting people to step into the creative stream whenever it feels comfortable to them.

I KNOW that because I'm kinesthetic in theta state. Being up and moving will engage me at a very deep place. Some people need visual or auditory stimuli for this to take place. Have them all PLUS help people LEARN their own truths about what helps them enter the trance - the widest space - where their consciousness can float with and engage or draw in the widest range of ideas and influences.

See. It's NOT about being blocked. It's simply about not knowing where to go to connect with the river, the pool, the valley, the mountain, the ocean of creativity.

this week i'm inviting emergence... i'm inviting myself to emerge more fully into the world... i'm inviting my writing to emerge... the process of writing... my writing... to emerge. i'm inviting myself to let go of what is a distraction, what steps in front of my writing, my vision, my self. i'm inviting myself to experience emergence... the process of becoming.

i invite emergence. i emerge.

last night my dreams took me into terrain both strange and familiar. something ancient wanting to be revealed. the greek letters of alpha and omega (beginning and end) carved into stone... holding a mystery in the space between them. i won't delve into the imagery here in depth, but i'll share this... the fact that there are letters in an ancient language carved in stone tell me i'm dealing with the ancient power of language to shape the world. i step into my place as a bard... among the bardic lineage of storytellers, poets, mythmakers, songwriters, creators of meaning...

i embrace my participation in the timeless process of unfolding the imaginal realm so that it manifests in waking reality. i am a writer. i write. i step up to that process, that task, that sacred trust... of telling the truth through the mysterious power of gathering words together in new ways... to usher the creative forces of the unseen realms into the manifest realms.

i am inviting the dream world to emerge into the waking world. i'm inviting us to harmonize with the dream of a new world - a world in ayni, in tukumunayniyok (the total power of unconditional love). i invite myself to merge and emerge with all that is.

i feel like sharing an invitation... something that might support you
on your journey into authenticity...

it's a little thing, but see if it moves you to enter your life in a
more authentic way.

select an action, a gesture, a movement, anything physical that you do
regularly.... it could be brushing your teeth in the morning OR
walking to the fridge for a snack OR opening your mail OR doing an
energy medicine/yoga/qi gong/etc exercise OR unlocking the car door OR
whatever - but make sure it is something that is physical. i suggest
you choose an activity that does not require the participation of
anyone else. keep this simple.

for an entire week observe yourself in relation to this physical
activity. become aware of the circumstances immediately prior to your
beginning to engage that action. pause and attend to your body. what
do you experience? who is with you? what's happening around you?
what inspired you to begin this action? was there an action or a word
or a thought or a sensation or an emotion that preceded or accompanies
the action? do you know why you are engaging in this action? when's
the first time you engaged in this action... to the best of your
remembrance? was it something you learned? what were the circumstances?

as you engage the activity, ask yourself what you are thinking? what
thought(s) flitted through your consciousness just before you engaged?
how does engaging in this action feel to you this time? next time...
see if the feeling changes, the thoughts change?

does this activity, gesture, ritual, practice, movement arise from
deep within your being? is it applied behavior? can you discern the
difference? does it matter to you? is there another way you might
want to engage this action? a new time? a new place? with or
without others present?

and observe if the activity you selected is something you rarely do.
why is that? at least one time a day assess your relationship to that
activity... even if you haven't engaged in that activity that day.

no matter what arises as you explore this process... please
remember... nothing "needs fixed" as they say in Southern Indiana.
you are simply observing. you are inquiring. you are asking yourself
to look deeply.

i invite you to share your experiences of this process in the evoking authenticity
group... if you choose to give this a go.