We meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it. -Jung

It’s Easter, a time for regeneration, revitalization and coming into new life. Perhaps it is the perfect time to look at ideas that dog us and the same situations that continue to follow us around. Somehow what we need to learn finds us wherever we are hiding, in fear, denial, or sheer laziness. We are constantly making choices about how we live our lives, but we also need to decide whether the choices we are making support who we authentically are, or whether they are just a reflection of what we think we ought to be. Spring is the perfect time to do a little digging and give more thought to what it is that really matters to us. It’s easy to talk about authenticity when very little is at stake, when we have no real commitments to others, or are just beginning and everything is a clean slate. It is a completely different issue when the lives we have built, or the people we’ve lived with and grown up with, no longer suit us. Following what has meaning for us can be a monumental undertaking with many excruciating obstacles if we have to begin letting go of what previously held our attention and our hearts. This is where choosing authenticity can be shattering, life altering, and tough as hell.

The problem, or gift, depending on how we want to look at it, is that nothing ever stays the same, and this is especially true for us. What we wanted ten years ago will no longer apply to what we want today, and that may involve moving our lives around in ways that are really uncomfortable and challenging. To honor and allow what is authentic for us to take root in our lives means we have to strip down to the bare bones. Needless to say this can turn our lives upside down, and it usually comes at a time when we think we have everything figured out. Somehow the illusion of safety no longer sustains us for whatever reason, but if we are honest we see there is no escaping that which pushes us to grow. We may refuse at first, we may be fearful or overwhelmed, but what we need finds us. When we can embrace what it brings we will find ourselves laying the foundation for the authenticity that will spill out into the rest of our lives. Of course we can always say no, but somehow or another that question or situation will creep up again, asking us to take a closer look. We may avoid the decimating lows for awhile, but we will also never experience the breath-taking highs. We rob ourselves of the deepest riches life has to offer by refusing to live authentically.

Going on the journey means we accept all the gifts of the journey, especially the challenges and twists. They bring us closer to our deepest truth and let us more consciously live our authentic lives.

kb