“Let’s look at what I can control – saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to certain opportunities. And that’s about it. And, of course, saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ requires that I look at all the data, all the benefits, all the costs, and calculate what is best, not according to MY wants or desires or will, but according to what I perceive to be the Will of my Higher Power. Understanding, of course, that the Will of my Higher Power has within it the Way of my Truest Self, – that is to say, that it has in mind my best and fullest realization of the gifts that I am here to give.”
I wrote that in a burrito place in Oslo, in the midst of dealing with a lot of uncertainty. Actually, uncertainty has become a sort of theme in my day-to-day life. I used to be made very uncomfortable by uncertainty. Today, I accept it as a fact of someone who has made the decision to be self-reliant.
It would appear that I am not alone. I’ve found that the vast majority of entrepreneurs, freelance artists, and self-directed beings deal with this phenomenon of uncertainty, to greater and lesser degrees. So I guess I’m in good company.
Before this year, it never occurred to me in such a big way that so much of what we self-reliant people do depends on dependence of some sort on a Higher Power. I’ve tried operating with the assumption that I’m not getting any help, and believe me, that doesn’t work.
But wait a minute – aren’t the concepts of being self-reliant and Higher Power-dependent in conflict? How can we be self-employed, self-assured, self-confident, and still require the help of something bigger than the self?
This is where it just becomes a matter of definitions. See, most times, “self” is defined as “ego”. The “little me”, the “finite being”, the “person” or “personality” that is creating all the problems. But this is not my definition of self.
The idea of “self” can be looked at as having two separate parts. One would be the “false self” – the ego, the artificially-created identifications. That’s not what it means to be self-directed.
The Higher Power wants us to follow our hearts. Not our egos, not our fake roles. But our “Truest Selves.” That’s what to be “self-reliant” actually means. It means to be in tune, in rhythm, in sync, with that True Self. So that we can be ok with uncertainty.
So we can give the gifts that we’re here to give.