The title of this blog is actually a quote from a New Moon Gathering presented by Sarah Taylor early in 2022. The essence of her presentation that night was that I am here to be uniquely me and that it is perfectly fine to not be understood or accepted as I live my truth.

I wasn't raised that way, were you? In my teen years I was told to "just be yourself" but what was meant was "Behave the way we (parents, priests, nuns, teachers) tell you to behave." I was taught very clearly to figure out how to earn the approval of those I loved and those who had authority over me and were held up as virtuous role models. It was a lot to deal with when my role models fell off the pedestals they had erected for themselves and others. Witnessing their choices and the judgement that followed taught me a lot. I became a bible teacher because of my love of God. I could only teach from what I knew and believed at the time. When my awareness expanded years later and I began to speak and live from that...

The Inner Stillness that I Am dwells in the very depths of my being. It is that sweet place that remains peaceful even when my mind, emotions, body - or perhaps all three - are in chaos.

During a particularly challenging time in my life, I let myself collapse in primal tears in the middle of my dining room. My mind and emotions were filled with fear, frustration, anger and disappointment. My body shook with the intensity of it all and my tears erupted into screams. In the midst of this I became aware of this oasis of peace in the core of my body, behind my naval. It felt so weird to be in both experiences at once but it told me that I was okay; I wasn't losing my sanity. Chaos was clearly under-girded by deep abiding peace.

That was many years ago and I now understand that the Inner Stillness is the essence of my being; it is True Self. My practice now is establishing me in this Inner Stillness so that I may live from this place: consciously, peacefully, powerfully live from the...