4^th of July celebrates the birth of independence here in America and the beginning of a revolution, a great rebellion.

If you could confidently declare your independence…if you could powerfully revolt…if you could successfully rebel and free yourself from a foreign domination, an excessive duty, and an unnecessary dependency, would you?

Do you see how these tyrannies appear in your life.  Is there

A foreign domination of your feelings?

An excessive duty on your efforts?

An unnecessary dependence in your thinking?

What claims your space, uses up your time, determines your choices without reverence for your individuality, your destiny, your freedom?

As I work with these tough questions I need courage to contemplate them and design what is right for me. To seek what is self-evident.

First, I want to write my own declaration of my rights, my responsibilities, and my dreams. I write it down in a bold and beautiful language and I sign it!

Then I need to look at what impinges on each with domination, duty and dependence.

Then the fun begins…the revolution and the rebellion.

The declaring of rights, responsibilities and dreams must come first…they are my reasons and my results…without them the fight would be about rage, unfocused, chaotic and undeclared.  Revolution is about a new future clearly imagined.

Maybe you want a new way to tell your truth, express your feelings, make your living, engage in relationship.  Maybe you want to break free of expectations and live radically and creatively. Write your declaration!

My Bookkeeping War of Independence

Yesterday I spent two hours with an expert in using Quickbooks. She was training me in doing my own bookkeeping. I am declaring my right to a healthy conscious financial life, my responsibility for being financially accountable, and my dream of financial clarity and security. I am rebelling against the domination of my financial bad habits, traumas and fantasies, the false loyalty and duty to my family of origin’s misuse of money, and the immature dependence on others to manage my bookkeeping.  In fighting my bookkeeping revolution, I am evolving a new freedom, a new liberated financial self. I am pursuing financial happiness.

I’m scared. Fighting this war of independence is scary. I am an untrained army of one going up against the enemy who has a huge army of engrained habits, attitudes, and seductions.

But I have confidently declared my independence and begun the fight.

Dear friend, what inner revolution do you want to fight? What freedoms do you want to win? What happiness are you pursuing?  It all begins with a well-contemplated, well-written and signed Declaration of Independence.

PS: If you are like me, you have many revolutions that are worth fighting.  Wisdom tells us to fight one at a time.  Hone your inner battlefield skills one rebellion at a time. Make your list of all the aspects of yourself where you want to declare your rights, responsibilities and dreams of life, liberty, and a path to personal happiness.  Then choose the one where you will focus your creative rebellion for the next 30-90 days. Describe it in words, paragraphs or poems, do a collage, make a video or audio reading it out loud and watch it every morning.  Post on the Imagine Self Blog or send me an email describing it. Let the world know…it is your signature.

My insight…I began this post thinking I was declaring Financial Independence.  That is too big a war for me to fight…too many battles all at once.  I need the war that changes everything – that wins the revolution.   I always look at earning, saving, paying off debt, buying things I want, giving gifts, budgeting and so much more.  But I can’t fight and win any of these battles without first winning the bookkeeping revolution.  This came clear as I was writing my poem of independence.

PPS: If you need support in declaring your independence, I can help. We can do a session on choosing your independence focus or we can make the list of the skills, rhythm, goals, and celebrations you will need to win your War of Independence. I have been in the trenches and in the war room. It is best to begin in the war room. Contact me.

My Declaration of Bookkeeping Independence

My Confidence

No real change comes without

Confidence.

It is not longing or wishing that

Rebels or establishes something

New

and

Free.

My Confession

I regret that I have always doubted the virtue of bookkeeping.

I ignored it.

I postponed it.

I neglected it.

I grabbed at it with manic attempts when panic overtook.

I let others manage my numbers, thinking that was winning a war without fighting.

I was sloppy, lazy, foolish and so dependent.

My Independence

I did not have an instinct for bookkeeping. My instinct was to avoid.

I did not have an impulse for tracking my numbers. My impulse was to guess.

I did not desire the truth of my financial life. My desire was to pretend.

But now the motive comes

Beyond the easy tyrannies of

Instincts, impulses, and desires.

I choose bookkeeping freely…from my imagined rebel self

I am learning the skills, acquiring the tools.

I am shaping the rhythm of attention and

I revere and joyfully practice the self-revealing

art of bookkeeping.

My Celebration

Now I look at bookkeeping with

Calm soft awake eyes.

I feel its balanced beauty.

It offers me a solid and truthful ground.

It whispers to me that my economic life

Has a fluid harmony: the living tides of adding and subtracting.

Bookkeeping is myself in numbers.

Bookkeeping celebrates my life and my destiny.