Kim Lincoln along with Alan Gutman, MD, co-created LIVING!SOURCE, a way that mentors clients in the artful relationship of Presence.

We all have at one time or another doubted our feelings, giving ourselves instead to the confusion of our minds. Is this true or not? How do I know? What should I trust; what I see what I am told or what I feel? We look to others for answers mistrusting our own intuition, sometimes even constructing elaborate stories to justify and enhance our decision. And then there are those very few that are so integrally connected to the innate wisdom that there's not even a question or doubt as to what is true or false in the interior of their world.

It was not so easy for me. A history of complex circumstances threw me into a hurricane of self-doubt and for decades I struggled with unraveling, discovering and after some time learned to divine and trust the truth. What made a difference was that along the way I began to notice subtle and sometimes not so subtle signals that peeked through the morass of confusion. Whispers calling my attention, between the spaces of breath. At first I was surprised and put these in a category of special and separate experiences. I chose to ignore the possibility that these invitations could be a Way of life because they didn't fit into the limited experience of my world. My pain and suffering increased. It soon became clear that what I was doing or rather not doing no longer worked. Eventually I began to experiment little by little with allowing bits of perception and sensation into my field of awareness. Now I gratefully noticed the whispers and accepted the invitations. This was not so comfortable because to meet this required me to presence and be with the grip of my control and my belief that everything would fall apart if I relaxed for an instant. I lived my life at an edge perched and readied for flight. It was alot easier to stay busy than be caught in a moment of emptiness and feel the terrain of unease packed around it. Relaxation was loaded and to be avoided at all cost. As these beliefs and others began to surface and I developed my capacity to witness, my tolerance to actually feel and stay with the movement of sensation and energetic charge in my body increased, slowly melting the frozen fear that consumed me. For the first time in my life I could relax and it lasted more than an hour or a day!
Suddenly one day a shift occurred and I noticed it. I embraced the profound simplicity of this truth with full conviction and as a result my life changed, it really changed, and I've continued to live in the radiant flow of Being ever since!

So the question I bring forth is do you dare entertain the idea of a new you? Are you willing to let go of that which you have outgrown and no longer serves you? Maybe a little? Perhaps you might like to experiment with this in the following exercise? You can try it on briefly and maybe, just maybe you might find that you like it. If not nothing is lost.

What does truth look like or how does it feel you might ask? Okay, I'll share with you what I've discovered and practice, and have taught to hundreds of students, but first it's important that you arrive at a place in yourself that feels as neutral as possible. To do this relax your brain muscle and simply allow your brain to go along for the ride—it doesn't need to drive.

It's just a passenger, an observer for now.

Drop your jaw slightly so that your teeth are not touching and as you do this allow your eyes, throat, chest,* belly, hips, and knees to soften. Allow your belly to easefully expand as you inhale and as breath is released on the exhalation the belly returns to neutral. Of course it's not' only the belly that moves when we breathe it's our totality but for the novice this is the simplest place to begin.

For this exercise to be accurate you will be asked to notice and eventually rely on what arises in the field of your subtle perception. So the scent, taste, texture, sound, and vision of this sensate terrain will be heightened, while others may find this world barely perceptible. One is not better than another, they are simply different experiences.

Now choose a statement that is a known truth for you and say it to yourself. For example something that's a fact like your name, age or food you love to eat. Instantly your body will respond. You may feel it soften, relax or expand. Maybe you sensed a brightness, lightness, or freedom of breath, Say this statement of truth to yourself again and pay attention to the instantaneous response in your body. Experiment with other statements of truth until your barometer is tuned to give you consistent and reliable information that is unique to you personally. There are a variety of responses that represent truth. You might sense a subtle glow, or a scintillating quality of aliveness, and so on.

Next I'd like you to make a false statement to yourself. Something that is an out and out lie. Notice what happens. Do you feel yourself withdraw, shrink, or collapse? Is there a sensation that is dull, contracted or hard? Is there agitation, fogginess, swirling or instability? Did your light dim? Maybe your breath is tight, held or feels stuck.

If you were able to simply be with the truth or the lie without imposing a preference or judgment onto your experience then these are some of the sensations you may have felt. Yet if your experience was opposite of what was shared such as a contraction in response to the truth statements or an expansion in response to the lie statements then it's possible you weren't neutral. Sometimes our personality is attached to a particular outcome and this gets in the way of clearly and objectively sensing or seeing. If this is the case perhaps there is fear or unwillingness to change or be different than the way we've always known ourselves to be. It takes time and patience for some of us while others will get this instantly. It's also important to remember that this is a general formula and that each one of us is unique and brings with us our own individual history, orientation, and process. Sometimes patterns of trust and mistrust were formed before we learned to speak and as a result what we believed to be true or not got woven into an unconscious fabric of distortion and confusion built upon a foundation of intimidation and fear. So the program of denial is not so easy to see because it seems normal according to our limited reality.

In this case it is essential to strengthen your muscles of discernment. Here a practice of basic reality would be helpful in creating a safe ground to support the simple truth. For example, this is paper and right now I am reading words on this paper, etc. This pragmatic practice might sound ridiculous to some of you, yet for those who have been harmed in such a way will find this to be a powerful tool, and as you grow this trusting relationship to self you will in turn learn to root in the body of truth and emerge with a newfound confidence. I'm not speaking of the false egocentric confidence that arises from the accomplishment of conquering goals, but rather a deep seated confidence that confiding in spirit cultivates; our very connection to our soul. And so we ourselves become a divining rod of truth. When we allow our subtle movement of innate intelligence and inner wisdom we can then enter the effulgent Grace of our living source!

Truth is simple and has nothing on it. There are no edges, Truth is light, free, full, and pure. Truth is alive, loving and illuminating and is in service of our Being. Truth is living prayer.

Each moment we choose truth we evolve into a new beginning. And our spirit is nourished with love will thrive and manifest our truest and fullest potential.