I live boldly

One of my inspirational readings on Sunday was entitled “I live boldly”. This affirmation rested with me all day as I contemplated living boldly. I thought of people throughout history, people I have known who dared to live boldly. Some are famous, some just quietly live boldly. I remembered how boldly my son Shane was born – barrelling into this world with such speed that the doctor hardly had time to catch him! And he has been bold ever since. I happened upon a video clip of a 13-year old young man, addressing the Conference of Conservatives in the United States of America and boldly lecturing the gathering on what conservatism really is – “A principle, not a policy” – with such gumption and aplomb. And I thought of myself – some of the bold, audacious things I have done and some I have thought of, but not done … yet.

Now, I have some very, very grand ideas. Many of them have not been carried out. Could it be that I am not living boldly? Perhaps, for what also keeps niggling at the edges of my mind is feedback from the leader of a painting workshop I attended two weeks ago: “You need to be bold”. At the time, I thought she was crazy – “Who me? More bold than I already am?” And then I let it sink in. Perhaps I am not as bold as I think. I took this comment to be not just about my painting, but about who I am; for my painting, indeed everything I do, is a reflection of that. What I express on paper is who I am. If I am not bold enough on paper – could it be that I am not bold enough in my life?

To add further to my musing on living boldly, yesterday I came across this sentence “I only have ideas I am able to carry out”. Does this mean that any idea I create, I have the capacity and capability to carry it out? This makes sense, for if I did not, then I would not even be able to think the idea. This is totally in alignment with two well-known quotations:

“What the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve”
“A think is created twice – once in the mind and then in the physical realm”

This is a powerful thought, that just by having an idea, I also have the ability to carry it out! Indeed, this thought is BOLD – pushing us beyond what we ever thought possible for ourselves, beyond the limits of our action, and indeed the limits of our ideas. Living boldly is how we manifest the abundance and the evergivingness of the Universe. It is also the path to joy, for living boldly is living exactly as the Universe is. When we live boldly, we are in full harmony with the Universe and all in it. And most of all, we are in harmony with ourselves.

What do we need to do to live boldly? We need to create two realities: the first is a bold vision, or idea of who we are and what we are about. I am a strong advocate of writing or drawing this vision, so that you create a strong emotional connection with it. There are no limits here – we have an infinite capacity to think and create. Let us use it!

Having declared it in our mind, and committing it to Mind, our next step is to create it in the physical realm. Now here is the tricky part. This is not about obsessive doing, nor passive sitting. It is about allowing our good to flow to us unrestricted. It is about tuning into Divine Guidance: to know when to flow and when to go. It is about removing or rising above our fears and acting regardless.

There is nothing hesitant or tentative about our Universe. It is a vibrant, alive, ever-changing, always evolving, creative force manifesting in every millisecond something new and magnificent. There is nothing hesitant or tentative about our true nature as human beings – our ability to create ever more magnificent forms.

As we learn to live boldly, ever and ever greater guidance will come to us to live even more boldly so that our lives become beacons of what is possible for humanity. Think of those who live boldly – isn’t that what they are?