Opening the door to authenticity requires vulnerability and risk. It asks us to step out of our comfort zone and be willing to do something different. Reaching out, when we feel like withdrawing. Speaking up when we imagine it’s going to make someone else uncomfortable. Allowing our emotions to be seen, when we feel like hiding. Resistance is natural when we are called to change. It is scary. We take one step forward and one step back. We place our hand on the door, than we pull it back. Perhaps this is okay. Maybe there is something valuable about making contact with the door and getting to know it. What is this door? How does it serve me? What can I learn from it? ? Allowing ourselves to be curious about our resistance may be what helps us pass through it.

Prospective Immigrants Please Note

Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.

If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.

Things look at you doubly
and you must look back
and let them happen.

If you do not go through
it is possible
to live worthily

to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely

but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?

The door itself
makes no promises.
It is only a door.

–Adrienne Rich