The following is a post from two years ago that popped up on my site stats as having been read, so I clicked on the link and read it… and it spoke to me! I am pleased to notice that I’ve made more progress in these areas since then and that I’m much more at peace with who I am. Seeing the shared humanity in every single person has helped me become far more open-hearted and accepting, and that has led me to experiences and relationships I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I thank you for your lovely comments on the original post too.
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“It is never too late to become what you might have become.” ~ George Eliot
We all, in our own ways, sometimes treat our inner selves with something far from kindness and love. We walk around concealing our shame, those past experiences we are not proud of, our bad habits and our insecurities. I have issues that I am more than afraid to tackle… we all do. And yet, one by one, I am doing it. I am shedding the extra layers and lifting up my arms to realize that there have been wings hidden there all along.
Knowing that I hide things from people that I wouldn’t want them to know about me is one thing. Learning about what my beautiful friends consider to be their own secret shame is shocking and revelatory. No matter what it is, I see them from a perspective of love and acceptance that I was not giving myself. I look at them with forgiveness and pure grace, something I find very difficult to do for myself. In gifting each person we meet with forgiveness and lovingkindness, we are gifting the same to ourselves. And wow does it feel good.
I would rather feel the soft peace of understanding and love toward someone than my old standby – judgement. I readily welcome feelings of acceptance and empathy, which just don’t leave room for harshness, sarcasm, or anger.
I have heard it said that you can’t truly give love to another person until you love yourself. And yet I have found that my route to self-compassion and self-love comes by way of seeing the vulnerability in others. We do not need to be perfect to be loved. We all struggle. We all need to be healed. It has been in reaching out to other beautiful souls that I have seen the light.
This post was inspired by the life-altering connections I am making in Julia‘s online SoulClass, Getting Naked. I highly suggest you gift yourself her course. It’s 40 days (just the beginning of a lifetime) of knowing, living unapologetically, and loving yourself.
