“What’s dying to be born?”

Lianne asked some of us women this question over mint tea earlier this year. Kelly. Ronna. Gwen. Lee-Anne. We nodded, quietly, taking it into our hearts. It was a lot to take in.

This question wouldn’t leave Lianne alone. (What question won’t leave you alone?) Until she knew she had to give it its own red tent in which to be explored. She sent out a fiery, impassioned request to dozens of global-hearted chickas—among them, Martha Beck, Meg Wheatley, Brene Brown, Patti Digh, Colleen Wainwright—and midwifed a veritable feast of wisdom and art. (NOTE: creating a work of art can be that easy when you don’t hold back.)

Click here to download free copies of What Is Dying to Be Born. It’s generous and intense. Leaders of every kind should read it. And because Lianne Raymond is such a multilingual mystic, it’s full of gorgeous artwork.

My contribution to the collective goes something like this (an excerpt):

What is dying to be born?

The beauty of our DNA is dying to be born: an acceptance of the order of chaos; the reverence of High Priestesses in the grocery store; the force of incredibly tender men; the critical necessity of senses that transcend technology.

The genius heart is being born.

NOW THAT QUESTION WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE

This question has since set up its own lounger in corner of my psyche, and it’s been demanding to be fed. When I worked in Washington D.C. with a team of futurists and freaky brainiacs, this question, to varying depths, drove everything we did. Scenarios on AIDS in Africa, water wars, extraterrestrial contact, the evolution of consciousness. The Future in All Its Gore and Glory. Naturally, we were obsessed with it.

But these days, I’m much less interested in the future and fancy suppositions as I am about the present.

If we can penetrate the present, we can be more pro-creative with what’s next.
@DanielleLaPorte (Click to Tweet!)

When we can clearly see the now—as the hologram that it is—we step into to our Godliness.

WHY THIS QUESTION IS SO POWERFUL (IF YOU LET IT BE)

There’s a similar question that I’ve come across with organizational development consultants and high-minded facilitator types: What wants to happen? It’s effectual, for sure. It allows for authenticity to surface. But what’s so brilliant about Lianne’s question is the double entendre of it:

1) What is dying to be BORN—gotta hatch, must happen, on the way, what emphatically desires to be real?

2) What is DYING to be born—crumbling, fading, breaking down, in order that something, therefore, can be…born?

I’m interested in the dying part today. Because this question comes with a premise, I think: Something must die in order to be born. Today, I believe that.

And if this is true, then we’ve got to ask this of our lives: What needs to die? Fears. Perceived failures. Contracts that bind too tight. Excuses for hatred where compassion is called for. Limited thinking. Antagonism. More fear. Callousness. Lethargy. Cynicism. Greed.

These are big sweeping concepts. We tend to place them “out there” on groups and nations and others. But each of us has some stinky, life-sucking behavior or paradigm or dis-ease that is having its way with the best of us—the part of us that always wants to be born. And whatever it is (and it’s probably ugly), it needs to die so that you can be You. Fully.

Euthanize whatever is holding you back. (Might I suggest that you do it gently, swiftly if you can, ideally with gratitude and free of aggression.) That’s the only way to know what’s dying to be born.

Danielle LaPorte is the outspoken creator of The Desire Map, author of The Fire Starter Sessions (Random House/Crown), co-creator of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan, and soon-to-be publisher of DANIELLE Magazine, launching in early 2014. An inspirational speaker, former think tank exec, and business strategist, she writes weekly at DanielleLaPorte.com, where over a million visitors have gone for her straight-up advice—a site that’s been deemed “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality” and was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes.

You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter @daniellelaporte.