An adaptation of a passage from Être à sa place by Michaël Lallemand, published by Éditions Persée. The book is available in French only.
What if we returned to the centre of our own world? What if we reclaimed our ability to choose by beginning within ourselves and taking full responsibility for our decisions?
Our choices might then come less from a sense of duty or a wish to please, and more from our deeper aspirations. Listening to what brings us alive is part of learning how we want to live.
How many of us dare to step into the unknown within ourselves? To listen to the heart, to notice our joy and to discover what matters deeply, rather than responding only to the expectations of society or other people?
We are often encouraged to put others first: to be a good friend, parent, employee or citizen. Attending to our own needs can then feel selfish. Yet before giving to others, might we also need to give something to ourselves?
There is a kind of love that begins with the way we meet ourselves. We can nurture it inwardly and let it move outwards into our relationships. In the image I use in the book, we are our own sun: our sense of worth need not depend entirely on the love or approval we receive from outside.
The movement begins within. The heart offers a direction; our embodied capacity to act gives that direction a place in the world.
In the spiritual language of the book, this movement connects the heart with an inner centre of power. I understand this power as something to place in service of the heart, rather than as a means of imposing the mind’s wishes on life.
It is a way of exploring harmony between what we feel deeply and what we do. The wider connection I describe through the heart of the universe, or the Source, belongs to this spiritual perspective. It is an invitation to experience and reflection, rather than a promise that life will unfold without difficulty.
Listening is only part of the movement. We also take responsibility for what we choose to do with what we hear.
Can we welcome what arises without immediately judging it, or judging ourselves? Can we recognise that we are different from others and allow that difference to have a place?
The image of the inner child speaks to the joy and lightness that can emerge when we stop trying to fit every expectation. It invites us to bring curiosity into situations that have become heavy with duty and the need to get everything right.
Doubt can sometimes become like sand in the gears, holding us in familiar loops. That does not mean abandoning useful questions. It means noticing when questioning helps us see more clearly, and when it keeps us from taking any step at all.
We can learn to be a support for ourselves: to meet ourselves with care, listen inwardly and move through life with a little more openness.
Being at the centre of your world does not mean withdrawing from others or placing every desire above all other considerations. It means recognising your aspirations and taking responsibility for your choices within the reality of your relationships and commitments.
This invitation is at the heart of the Être à sa place method, which I developed to explore the movement from returning to your centre to conscious choices and action in alignment with who you are.
You can read more about the book, available in French only, or explore an individual session if you would like to work with a particular situation.
