To clearly ask from a place beyond self

I used to be afraid of asking.

What will they think? Am I too greedy? Too demanding? Too bossy?

What if they say no? Does that mean they are rejecting me, the human? Am I not good enough?

What if they say yes? Might I be able to handle a yes?

What if they ignore me? Does that mean I am irrelevant? Or did I ask in a way that was not clear, not able to be heard, or perhaps irrelevant to them? 

What if they cannot do what I ask because it will be too big a burden for them? I do not want to burden people?

What if they can do what I am asking because it will be a pleasure for them?

What if my ask comes at a cost to another who might be more worthy? 

What if my ask is too small, too big, too obscure?

If I do not ask the answer is no.

If I am worried about what people will think then the cause that lives behind my ask is not big enough to take me outside of my own endless inner conversation of lack and unworthiness.

If people say yes or no against their own capacity or desire, is that their choice or my manipulation? Do I give them the right to choose, or do I  deny their right by not even asking?

Asking with a clear straight voice, absent manipulation, fear, attachment, petition or obligation, changes the field. 

The answer will come. Maybe not exactly when we expect it, or from where. But it will come.

To clearly ask from a place beyond self is a glorious thing.

Photo taken July 7th 2021