Claiming Your Authority!

“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
Albert Einstein
Claiming Your Authority?

There is a time and place for doing as we are told. Then there comes a time, when questioning, not just rebelling, authority becomes our door to freedom and truth.

Who tells you what you can and cannot do — what is right and what is wrong? Does your authority come from a book you’ve read? From a speaker you’ve heard? From a parent who’s alive or deceased? From a teacher, friend, sibling? More than one of these?

How has your mind incorporated these authorities into a voice or voices you hear, seemingly in your head, that dictates what you do, shy away from, like, dislike, who you vote for, which political party you align with or what religious beliefs you hold or resist? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself these questions or others along these same lines?

So many people come in and out of our lives and have had and continue to have influence over what we do without our knowing it. There are those we are probably aware of such as family and friends, and those we might only know through the media and books. The latter include people from our country and countries we’ll never set foot on and from people whose words have been recorded accurately and inaccurately throughout time.

What part of what we think and do is actually our own and how much is a collaboration of all we’ve taken in over the years?

It might be interesting to reflect on these questions? We’d probably be amazed at our list of influences and how much we plagiarize those we’ve given authority to. The important thing is to pay attention to where we place our allegiance now.

During a talk, a young Llama advised that in both rebellious times and as we mature we should question authority. Most of us do this. We question our “outer” authorities. We question our teachers, family members, our politicians, etc. However, most of us do not question the authority we give most of our allegiance to—our mind. When we don’t pay attention, we dance to its tune like a marionette on a string.

When we go on automatic, just doing what we always do without questioning if it is accurate for this moment, we give authority to old habits messages. In a world that is constantly changing, moment by moment, this doesn’t really make sense. If we did this all the time, it would be like using a typewriter that didn’t allow for spontaneous change in place of a computer that allows us to move and update data as needed.

How can we become present to the current moment and all life demands, allowing us to make decisions and take action based on what’s true for us now? I think the first step is being aware that this is even a viable question. Then, we can bring our attention to what we are doing in the present moment instead of overly multi-tasking, which often leads to unconscious behavior and actions.

If this is of interest to you, consider this.

For one hour of any day you choose, focus all your attention on doing just one thing.
1.    If you are eating, simply eat, tasting every bite, being aware of how you are chewing, and the pause between when you’re finished chewing one bite and taking another.

Or
2.    If you’re walking somewhere, be conscious of the way your foot lifts off the pavement and sets back down again as the opposite foot lifts off.

Or

3.    When you’re talking on the phone, give your full attention to the conversation instead of answering emails or walking around the house or office multi-tasking.

Try any of the above or make up one of your own. When you’re done, notice your breathing, your sense of focus. If you really get into it notice your heartbeat. You’ve probably slowed down. Once you’ve been able to do this with simple acts, you can take on bigger tasks like parenting, working on major projects, and decision-making.

Thich NHat Hanh, the well-known Zen Master, calls this a moving meditation. You actually bring your full presence into the present moment. When you do this, the innate intelligence and wisdom you have infuses your actions. You are no longer operating on automatic, obeying an authority that replays itself automatically in your mind; you are creating from the now. When you begin to trust this and infuse more and more of your actions with this intelligence, you are fresh, and can experience yourself anew.

This slowing down and bringing awareness into the body/mind breaks us free of old conditioning and enlivens us so our authority, our truth, comes in present time.

Feel free to email Jasmyne with any questions or comments.

Jasmyne Boswell is a writing coach/editor/marketing consultant. For over 28 years she has been a midwife to professionals in all fields, helping them successfully overcome personal stumbling blocks and birth their businesses, practices and project. She uses her creative gift with the written word to help bring your ideas into form. Jasmyne can be reached at (808) 268-5807 or by visiting www.jasmyneconsulting.com.