Tag Archives: affirmations

Reclaiming Personal Authority: A Journey to Authentic Living

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Knocking From the Inside: Recovering Personal Authority and Meaning

“I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve knocked from the inside.”
— Rumi

There comes a moment—sometimes quietly, sometimes through crisis—when we realize the life we are living no longer fits. I’ve seen it in my own life and in countless conversations with others: a persistent restlessness, a sense that something essential has been left behind. We may be successful, responsible, and functioning—yet inwardly disconnected. That disconnection is not a failure. It is often the beginning of an invitation.

Carl Jung named this condition with clarity:
“All of our trouble flows from being separated from our instincts.”

Sigmund Freud framed it differently when he said, “The price of civilization is neurosis.” What Freud called neurosis can be understood as the cost of adaptation—the ways we shape ourselves to belong, succeed, and survive. Over time, we may lose touch with our natural truth and begin living from an external script rather than inner authority.

In modern life, this shows up everywhere: burnout, anxiety, quiet despair, a feeling that we are performing our lives instead of inhabiting them.

To live authentically means reconnecting with what is uniquely ours—our passions, instincts, talents, and values—and expressing them in ways that feel meaningful and alive. This process is often called vocational integration: aligning who we are with how we live and contribute. But it requires courage, honesty, and a willingness to ask deeper questions.

Questions That Open the Door

Jungian analyst James Hollis, PhD, emphasizes that transformation begins not with answers, but with the right questions. Questions invite the psyche to speak. Silence, solitude, and patience allow us to hear what is already trying to emerge.

You don’t need to answer all of these at once. Choose one or two that resonate and stay with them over time.

Reflective Questions (from James Hollis, PhD):

  • How do I know what is true for me?

  • When and how did I lose my personal authority?

  • What core beliefs or ideas have defined my life so far?

  • What forces brought me to this moment—family, fate, culture, or unconscious patterns?

  • What parts of my life are working, and what feels constricting?

  • What messages did I internalize? (e.g., Be perfect. Be successful. Don’t disappoint.)

  • Why does my life sometimes feel scripted rather than chosen?

  • Am I choosing security over truth?

  • Where do I hide—from others or from myself?

  • What feelings or desires have I pushed underground?

  • Where do I experience meaning, awe, or transcendence?

Keeping the Appointment With the Self

Jung believed that the highest calling in life is an appointment with the Self—the deeper center of who we are. Not everyone keeps that appointment. Yet life continues to call us back through dissatisfaction, symptoms, and longing.

If the life you’ve lived feels too small, that is not a judgment—it is information.

Each morning, we face two familiar forces:

  • Fear: I’m too small. It’s too late. I can’t do this.

  • Lethargy: Tomorrow will be easier. Stay comfortable.

Jung warned that fear negates life force, writing:
“Only boldness can overcome fear. If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated.”

When Symptoms Are Messengers

Depression, anxiety, addictions, and compulsions are often viewed as problems to eliminate. Hollis offers another perspective: they may be signals that the psyche can no longer cooperate with a life that isn’t true. Symptoms can be cracks in the false self—attempts by the deeper Self to reclaim direction, much like reins guiding a horse back onto its path.

Jung believed that at some level, every person already knows what they need to do. Our task is to listen, discern, and act.

Practical Ways to Begin

If you feel stirred by these ideas, here are simple, concrete ways to engage the process:

  • Journaling: Write freely for 10 minutes on one question each week—without editing or judging.

  • Solitude walks: Walk without distractions and notice what thoughts or emotions surface.

  • Dream reflection: Record dreams; ask what part of you is trying to speak.

  • Reading: Explore works by Jung, James Hollis, or Rilke slowly—letting passages work on you.

  • Guided support: Consider therapy, coaching, or a reflective group focused on depth work and meaning.

An Invitation

If you truly knew what you are capable of, would you still hesitate?

There is a place in your life where your voice belongs. There is something only you can offer. Genius is not reserved for the few—it is part of our birthright.

As Rilke wrote:
“Our task is to be defeated by ever larger things.”

So I invite you to reflect—and respond:

👉 Which question in this piece feels most alive for you right now?
👉 What part of yourself is asking to be reclaimed?

If you’re willing, share your reflections or experiences in the comments. Meaning deepens when it is spoken—and when we realize we are not walking this path alone.

“The Privilege of a Life Time” by Peter Metzner

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The privilege of a lifetime is being
who you are.
The goal of the hero trip
down to your jewel point
is to find those levels in the psyche
That open, open, open,
and finally open to the mystery
of your self
being Buddha consciousness,
the Christ.

That’s the journey
(Joseph Campbell) Reflections on the Art of Living – A Joseph Campbell Companion

“Find a place where there is joy and the joy will burn out the pain” .

According to Campbell, Satan is the epitome of the intractable ego. That part of ourselves needing to be right, to defend ourselves, feeling separate, better than or not as good as others depending on our beliefs, dogma and life’s situations. Hell is the concretization of your life experiences, a place where you’re stuck, the wasteland. In hell, we blame others for our condition and are so bound to ourselves that grace cannot enter. What is hellish is being stuck without hope, without relief.*

How we mature, depends on taking responsibility for our choices, no longer blaming others, or expecting rescue from them. And to acknowledge the pain of loneliness however much we are invested in social roles and relationships. (James Hollis) Swamplands of The Soul. The mature person i.e. one who is psychologically free : “is confident in his inner world, responsible for his strengths and weaknesses, consciously able to love himself, and thus, able to love others”…. Marion Woodman

In a simple and poignant description of the human condition, and of growth; Jolande Jacobi, a Jungian analyst writes: “Like a seed growing into a tree, life unfolds stage by stage. Triumphant ascent, collapse, crises, failures, and new beginnings strew the way. It is the path trodden by the great majority of people, as a rule unreflectingly, unconsciously, unsuspectingly, following its labyrinthine windings from birth to death in hope and longing. It is hedged about with struggle and suffering, joy and sorrow, guilt and error, and nowhere is there security from catastrophe. For as soon as a man tries to escape every risk and prefers to experience life only in his head, in the form of ideas and fantasies, as soon as he surrenders to opinions of ‘how it ought to be’ and, in order not to make a false step, imitates others when possible, he forfeits the chance of his own independent development. Only if he treads the path bravely and flings himself into life, fearing no struggle and no exertion and fighting shy of no experience, will he mature his personality more fully than the man who is ever trying to keep to the safe side of the road.”
J. Jacobe, The Way of Individuation

There are two gremlins we face every morning.

Fear: I am too tiny it is too hard… I can’t do it.

Lethargy: – chill out tomorrow is another day…

Each will eat us alive… Fear and lethargy are the enemy they are not out there they are inside
Carl Jung wrote: The spirit of evil is the negation of live force by fear… only boldness can overcome that fear.
If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated”

Our task is to recover our personal authority and discern the meaning of our lives.
Who are we to stand in its way?

River of Time Guided Visualization and Relaxation Process by Peter Metzner

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How ready or able are you to: 

  • Eliminate stress?
  • Sustain self-confidence in the most challenging situations?
  • Maintain a healthy perspective towards life challenges?
  • Letting go of self-limiting beliefs?
  • Discovering your true life’s goals?
  • Staying  calm?
  • Generating a good nights sleep 365 days a year?
  • Enjoying a greater engagement with life?
  • Maximizing your energy all day long?
  • Dealing with the complexities of life?

For the price of a decent bottle of wine you can change your mood and life forever. 

I  made a CD and audio of a guided visualization and relaxation process I have been doing with various groups for over twelve years.  After going through the process,  many report:  increased self-confidence, sense of well-being, a healthier perspective, ability to  connect to meaningful goals, greater calmness and focus as well as sleeping better and having more energy!

The River of Time Audio enables you to experience  deep relaxation, allows you to release stress and let go of self-limiting beliefs.

It is crucial for health and mental well being to activate the the relaxation response daily.   A relaxed body relaxes the mind, giving a much greater capacity to manage life’s challenges.   It is clinically impossible to be anxious or stressed while the body is relaxed!

There are numerous ways to activate the relaxation response.    Gardening, golf, walking,  meditation and yoga to name a few.  An advantage of the guided visualization and relaxation  process is that not only does it assist  in achieving a deep state of relaxation – it  helps in letting go of self limiting beliefs and can you connect to the  true  North of your  inner compass.

After facilitating dozens of this process live to students, teachers, and people from all walks of life, many have connected to deeper and more meaningful goals;  and experienced the calmness, focus and drive to take action in going after them!

I hope you will experience this proven process.  Below is a  testimonial:

“I really enjoyed the River of Time CD!  After listening to the River of Time CD I experienced that I slept better than I had in a long while. Those 20 minutes were the most stress-free, relaxing, and encouraging 20 minutes ever!”
Once again, thank you!  Mollie D.

River of Time CD

The River of Time audio can be ordered for $9.99 from http://dynamicchangeinc.com/blog/shop/shop/river-of-time-digital-audio-download/

Or a  CD for 14.99 (Free Shipping) from:  http://dynamicchangeinc.com/blog/shop/shop/river-of-time-cd/

Please send your comments. They will be helpful for others to see!

Affirmations by Peter Metzner

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When confident, we  have the expectation of a positive outcome.  Tony Robins once said that “the mind sees what the heart feels”   The Fielding Institute found that “whether we know it or not we steer the ship of our experiences based on the prevailing beliefs of who we are and what is real.  So believing is seeing – not the other way around!    Much of  our self talk, beliefs about ourselves and how we act and how others treat us is a reflection about how we feel about ourselves.  We mistakenly think it is the other person who makes us feel the way we do or our situation etc…  As Psychologist Eric Berne found ” We act in ways to make people behave in order to justify how we feel about them”.

If we feel (even if it is unconscious and we are not aware of it) unlovable, undeserving not good enough, smart enough, capable etc we will set up the condition’s to mirror these beliefs.    We make up a story that: you can’t trust people, the economy is lousy, better play it safe etc.

Since the brain can’t distinguish between what is real or imagined (Waitley) affirmations help in moving us forward.

They can be used for business success, relationships, health athletic performance, creativity and other areas of life.

If we say something over and over again our mind will eventually believe it.  When  we were young we took our parents or teachers or others judgments of us to be true.   So letting go of these self limiting  beliefs can be done and affirmations is one way to do so. This video link shows one young lady who at an early age understands empowerment they bring.