After my interview with Beth, I was reminded again of how people in the public eye have a need to maintain boundaries between their private and public lives. My significant other was, earlier in his life, a very high profile rock and roller and has told me stories of how complete strangers, and even more challenging, people he knew slightly, could be incredibly intrusive. But upon reflection, I began to realize that almost everyone I know, regardless of their status or occupation, has “public” and “private” lives; the “person” they will readily share with others and the “person” they keep to themselves. I know that, for our well being and our safety we need to identify and maintain boundaries, AND I wonder, what is behind what we share and what we don’t.

In the early days of my spiritual training, my teacher gave me an assignment–every day I had to tell a secret about myself. It was frightening. But little by little I came to understand that much of what I had been keeping “private”–those things that I didn’t like about myself, or my fears, or the remnants of negative messaging that I’d taken on as truth–once shared, stopped having the power over me they once had. I came to understand that the boundaries I had set that were founded in negative energy could be removed and I could still maintain my safety while engaging so much more fully with the world around me. 

I asked myself, “Who can you think of whose private and public lives seem to be the most integrated?” and I thought of Ghandi; a man who, without position or wealth or authority literally changed the world for hundreds of millions of people. I wonder if those two things are somehow connected…

TIP OF THE WEEK: After you identify what your vision or passion is, GO FOR IT!

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