Honestly ask yourself and answer this question: What is your sense of your own Self?

Who are you living for? What is the biggest reason you do all the things you do and the way you do them?

Are you happy, healthy and at peace? Or do you have areas of living that confound and frustrate you (if only a little)? Does anyone you know love their life JUST AS IT IS all the time? I’ve yet to meet a person who had it so together; they loved their family, loved their friends and partners, their work, and their body and didn’t need a thing from anybody to complete themselves—which is how it could be if one had a well developed healthy sense of self (and a well-developed sense of humor!).

Could you even imagine having a life where you were genuinely “content” with what you had as you had it—or you knew how to create what you wanted for yourself—and took responsibility for doing just that?

Or perhaps you are like most of us in some way or another: Living with mild discontent at home or at work, in our relationships, and with our very own bodies!

It need not be this way. Peace is possible. It begins with having a Healthy Sense of Self.

This last week has been a flurry of production activity preparing a short preview book of the (Sense of Self) SoS-Method for release into the world-a small debut in the name of starting a big movement that has one grand goal:

More Peace. Less War (inside ourselves and out in the world).

That large and audacious goal kept me going till the wee hours of the night when I needed it. Sometimes it takes all we have (or rather all that we are) to accomplish something till done.

Ever since I began working with Antoinetta Vogels and this team on her project to bring her S0S-Method to a greater audience some interesting things have been happening for me personally. As I go about my daily and weekly tasks to raise awareness about the SoS-Method of what it takes to truly be and live for ourselves, I cannot help but be transformed by exposure to its language and the concepts–gently and consistently–as I am.

I see the world through a different lens, colored by the core ideas of the Method–that came from her own journey to self-awareness and healing. I also find myself recalling memories of my childhood, teen and young adult years–and seeing them differently. I see them with an understanding of how I was being influenced–in both subtle and aggressive ways– and what choices I was making in those developmental moments that were pivotal.

First Things First

What is our work as a human being? Knowing who we are and gaining a Sense of Self  is our key work. Some experiences and people in our life make this task more challenging, and some make it easier to navigate. Napoleon Hill wrote:

“Every adversity, every sorrow, every challenge carries with it the seed of greater benefit.”

I want very much to believe this. I know from experience that the energy it takes to become masterful at something is demanding–and also worth it. It is a gift to have my daily work involve working with the SoS-Method for it keeps me on my toes and is my favorite reality check:

Who am I doing this for?
What is my “real” motivation?
Am I fooling my “Self”?
What “Self” is running this show called “me”?

And, am I recognizing an opportunity to honor my (Restored or Natural) Sense of Self? Knowing what I know now:

I experience events, people, and self-reflection with an awareness that is heightened, more lucid, observing what is happening and how I am reacting to it. I am literally better at being honest first with my Self.

Being honest first with ourselves is not a cakewalk. So many are experts at getting and staying in their own way. Taking responsibility for our Selves is also not a cakewalk. And it is an honorable quest to be committed to.

Most of us are “directed” on who to become by others in our life–starting from birth. If we are “lucky,” we have mentors and caregivers who let us be ourselves (first) and let us simply be. To be glad that we simply exist at all is harder to embrace than one would think. WHY is this? WHAT can we do to heal ourselves and our future generations?

The  SOON to be available “Preview of the Big Book” (coming Dec 2012) is an easy to grasp introduction to the core ideas of the SoS-Method. If you are one who likes to hold books and highlight and dog-ear pages and make notes in the margins, plan to order yourself a copy and please, please, please, give us feedback and let us know what insights you gain .

In five days time the book will be available through Amazon. If though you are eager to read it, sign up and order a printed copy from the source below. And share your story with us. We are listening.

Meanwhile, I am counting the days…excited as can be.