As we begin a new year, I invited guests to reflect on what their #dailystep #towardthegreater would be for 2020. Today’s post is from @christiannesquires. I first met Christianne through her book writing course. Her current projects center around helping people share the ways they bring light to the world.
“When Gretchen asked me to share a daily step I’ll be taking toward the greater in this new year, I knew I would tell you about a new practice in my life that I’m calling “standing in my own ground.”
But the first thing you should know is that I’m pretty practiced at absenting myself from myself. It’s second nature—and much safer—for me to lose myself in the preferences and needs of the people around me. (I’m an Enneagram 9, which explains a lot of this.)
But about a month ago, I started to hear God inviting me to practice standing in my own ground.
Here’s how it can look in ordinary moments.
When I’m visiting family out of state and they’re working out an issue between themselves about their daily life, I go into the other room so they can work it out. It’s not my responsibility.
When my husband asks how I want to spend our evening together, I pause and tune in to what I truly want to do, and then I tell him that.
As often as possible, I heed the 4PM daily alarm that goes off on my phone, telling me to take a walk—a literal way of standing in my own ground by being inside my body.
And when I have a hard decision to make that affects other people, I communicate it with as much grace and kindness as possible and let them have the response they need to have.
Standing in my own ground means all these things and so much more as I live into it in a dozen tiny moments of each day. Slowly, by doing this, I know I am more fully becoming the person God made me to be, which is to say I am more fully becoming myself.”
Christianne Squires, @christiannesquires
[Christianne Squires is the host of the Bear the Light podcast and the founder of the Light House community, where she helps people notice and name invitations for stewarding their light in the world and where she provides ways for them to live into those invitations with intention. You can connect with her on Instagram at @christiannesquires or on her website at www.christiannesquires.com.]
If you want to check out an episode of her podcast, here’s a link to my episode – she now has all episodes up on her site.
