{"id":18,"date":"2010-06-07T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/06\/sovereignty-aint-easy-1.html"},"modified":"2010-06-07T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-07T10:00:00","slug":"sovereignty-aint-easy-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/06\/sovereignty-aint-easy-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Sovereignty Ain&#8217;t Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->&nbsp;<!--[endif]--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\">Coming<br \/>\nfrom the tough love school of spiritual counseling as I do, I feel that it is<br \/>\nonly fair to warn you<i> &#8212; There are no 10 Easy Steps to Sovereignty<\/i><span style=\"font-style: normal\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> The<br \/>\nroads leading to Queendom are diverse and many. The way to Self-esteem can be<br \/>\ncomplicated and long. Each woman must take her own path, make her own trail,<br \/>\nclear a passage for herself through the thick brambles that reach up to trip<br \/>\nher. What roads do exist are unmapped, bumpy, and full of potholes, tumbleweed<br \/>\nand road-kill. There are no shortcuts along the Queen&#8217;s Highway, no services,<br \/>\nno shoulders, no signage, but many detours and cul-du-sacs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> And the<br \/>\nfare can be exorbitant. As Dear Abby, Abigail Van Buren, once noted, &#8220;If we<br \/>\ncould sell our experiences for what they cost us, we&#8217;d be millionaires.&#8221;<br \/>\nLike any grand journey, the trip toward Self-dominion requires stamina,<br \/>\ndetermination and the passionate desire to travel. But if we pack properly,<br \/>\ncheck our tires frequently, and take time for picnics, the adventure is<br \/>\nincomparable. And the destination of Self-empowerment is majestic. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Our<br \/>\nQueenly assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to identify, understand<br \/>\nand connect all the component parts of ourselves, to attempt to develop and<br \/>\nbalance them equally, and to maintain them all in good working order. The Self<br \/>\nis like a jigsaw puzzle or a quilt that promises to become a beautiful whole if<br \/>\nwe spend the necessary time and concentration to assemble it. It is at once the<br \/>\npuzzle, the parts of the puzzle, and also, most importantly, the process of<br \/>\npiecing them together. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> The Self<br \/>\nis the seat of sovereignty of the Queen. It is Her throne and Her domain, at<br \/>\nonce Her base of power and Her field of operation. Stepping into our<br \/>\nsovereignty involves an almost alchemical process of adding, extracting,<br \/>\nrefining, combining and recombining the myriad elements that make up our four<br \/>\nparts in the constantly evolving effort of perfecting the power of our best<br \/>\nSelves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> The holy<br \/>\nelixir that we seek is the transformation of the painful, rejected, neglected,<br \/>\nwounded, unsatisfied, unsatisfactory parts of our Self, into the unified,<br \/>\norganized, energized, golden glory and grace of the fulfilled Queen. It is<br \/>\nthrough our sincere and complete participation in this process that we learn<br \/>\nhow to recognize, claim and proudly proclaim our own true power. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\">The power of our fully engaged Self.<span style=\"font-size: 20pt\"><b> <!--[endif]--><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-right: -0.5in\">***<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of<br \/>\ninterest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to <a href=\"mailto:thequeenofmyself@aol.com\">thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"text-indent: 0in;line-height: normal\"><span style=\"font-size: 20pt\"><b><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->&nbsp;<!--[endif]--><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"line-height: normal\"><span style=\"font-size: 20pt\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->&nbsp;<!--[endif]--><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyTextIndent3\" style=\"line-height: normal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->&nbsp;<!--[endif]--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->&nbsp;<!--[endif]--><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Coming from the tough love school of spiritual counseling as I do, I feel that it is only fair to warn you &#8212; There are no 10 Easy Steps to Sovereignty. The roads leading to Queendom are diverse and many. The way to Self-esteem can be complicated and long. Each woman must take her&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empowerment","category-inspiration","category-self-esteem"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sovereignty Ain&#039;t Easy - The Queen of My Self<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/06\/sovereignty-aint-easy-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sovereignty Ain&#039;t Easy - The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Coming from the tough love school of spiritual counseling as I do, I feel that it is only fair to warn you &#8212; There are no 10 Easy Steps to Sovereignty. The roads leading to Queendom are diverse and many. The way to Self-esteem can be complicated and long. Each woman must take her&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/06\/sovereignty-aint-easy-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-07T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Henes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sovereignty Ain't Easy - The Queen of My Self","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/06\/sovereignty-aint-easy-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sovereignty Ain't Easy - The Queen of My Self","og_description":"&nbsp; Coming from the tough love school of spiritual counseling as I do, I feel that it is only fair to warn you &#8212; There are no 10 Easy Steps to Sovereignty. 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