Good morning,
Happy March! Did you wake up this morning overflowing with gratitude for what an awesome human you are? What?!? You didn?t? Well, unfortunately, you have a lot of company. One thing that I have noticed is prevalent in my work with clients & students, in my social interactions, and in my interactions with myself sometimes, is that ?I?m not enough? seems to be a common belief that we?ve adopted. Oooo, I feel a serving of Soul Food coming on! Here?s the thing?
We get to choose how we perceive our reality. So when, when it comes to perceiving ourselves, why would we choose to see anything other than a fantabulous rock star of a human creature?
After all, you are perfectly imperfect. To think anything less is as silly as a beach thinking its sand is too uneven, its waves too loud, its water too warm, and its water too salty. Says who? I, personally, have never met a beach I didn?t like. Sure, I like some better than others, but they are ALL amazing in their own way.
You are the only you there ever has been, the only you there is, and the only you that will ever will be. That?s Truth.
So, where do things go wrong?
It starts out pretty well. We all come into this physical existence trusting our intuition; only eating when we?re hungry and then stopping when we?re satisfied; breathing deeply all day, every day; and not caring about when anyone else thinks about our self-expressive outfit, our loud laugh, or singing voices, our dance moves, or what our hair looks like. We know how to play, create, and love without holding back. Joy comes easy, as it?s our natural state. We fail to think of ourselves as anything less than 100% amazing. We rock on wit our bad self. (?Bad? as in splendiferous, not as in ?yucky.?)
Then, we get ?socialized.? As we grow and learn from people around us, we replace many of these innate understandings with negative false beliefs about ourselves and others?with fear, with doubt, and with shame. And that feels pretty terrible, so we often choose one of two paths, or a bummer combo of the two:
- We settle for mediocrity, working hard to meet the expectations of others and of our culture, and/or
- We numb our pain with alcohol, drugs (prescription and illegal), sex, TV, internet, shopping, Ring Dings, etc.
We end up totally ripping ourselves off (and the world at large) by investing a huge amount of the power of our mind in believing that we?re just not good enough.
There?s a more aligned choice: we rise to the occasion and set out to remember how truly amazing we are, and peel back the socialized layers to what we knew in the beginning?which is that we are love, joy, and AWESOMENESS. And, if you truly love and honor yourself, everything else in your life becomes easier.
It starts with you. And then. Imagine what our world would be like if everyone adored themselves so much that they weren?t threatened by other people?s opinions, sexual preferences, sexual expression, skin color, nationality, religion, talents, education ?level,? customs, job, income, or their general tendency to just BE whoever they heck they ARE. THAT would be a big ol? honkin? shift for the better.
I invite you to start with you. If you have a hard time seeing your amazingness, take on the perspective of your best friend, or your partner. They likely see your amazingness very clearly. Soon enough, you?ll start to see it on your own. And one thing about self-acceptance. A little tends to lead to little more, which leads to more, etc. Be gentle with yourself, as those ?you?re not enough? records have been playing for a looooong time!
With love & honor for all that?s YOU,
Laurie
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