I see you there. You try to hide, but I can see you. It’s not easy, but with a little bit of intention I can see through the countless facades that you’ve nurtured. I like what I see in there. I wonder how much more you would shine if you would let go of the false self you cower behind, hoping not to be discovered. If you let the real you come out for air and a bit of sun. If you find the courage to poke your head out you'll find yourself amazed at what’s returned to you.
I get it. You’re always trying to protect your core. You’ve bought into the lie you were sold by numerous agents that says that its not ok to be you. You’re not ok just the way you are. You will never be enough. You’ve done the best you could with product placement. But the contracts you’ve entered for those are completely bias towards the vendor. They never deliver on their outlandish offer. But you already know that don’t you? We all do. But most of us keep entering bad contracts time and time again, hoping that... “this time it will work”. It's insanity.
I know what you’re thinking as you sip your skinny, vanilla Latte. “Does anyone know? Have I been found out yet? It's only a matter of time. They got too close. I never should have let my guard down in that brief moment of weakness. I’ll pull back for a bit. Maybe they’ll forget. Maybe they didn’t even notice.” You keep going down the list of people, making mental notes. Mending the cracks in the armor as best you can. It’s served you well over the years. It worked extremely well when you were eight years old. It shielded you from the kind of pain you believe you wouldn’t have been able to recover from. It’s been your trusty companion all these years. On the rare occasion, you dare to ask if it still serves you well, but you don’t wait for the answer.
I have a message for you. I am honored that I'm chosen to deliver it. The message is simple, but you’ll have to let it sink in. In fact, it’s rare that these messages hit home on the first pass. You might want to return to this over and over again until the dust shakes free and the light clicks on. Here it is….
You can be enough for yourself. It is possible. You can learn to love and accept yourself. It isn’t rocket science.
It’s true. Well, there is science behind it, but you don’t need to know how it works for it to work. It’s enough to know that it's possible to love yourself. To know that when you begin to love and accept yourself, it matters less and less what anyone else thinks. The irony is, the more you love yourself and the less you care what others think of you, the more they love you. That’s because they finally have the genuine article to engage. People will be so authentically surprised that you have the courage to show up and show off that they won’t be able to help but admire you. They'll want to be near you. They'll hope it rubs off.
But you can’t do it for them and for their affection. You have to do it for you and your own affection. It is doable. You can learn it. Ask me how. I dare you.
““To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
– William Shakespeare
“Awakening is the process of overcoming your false self and discovering your True Self. It begins when you decide to grab the tiger by the tail and ends with the tiger tenderly licking the sweat off your brow and face.” - Steve Baxter
“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable.”
– Madeleine L’Engle
”