Let me get personal right off the bat. Stop trying to fit in. Stop pretending it’s all good if it doesn’t feel that way to you. Stop measuring yourself against other people…what they have, what they think, what they believe. Stop following someone else’s dream. Why would you do that?
You don’t need permission or approval to be fully alive as you in this very moment. Really. No permission, no approval…from anybody else.
To be fully alive as you, you only need one thing. You need to mindfully care for yourself. To do this you must suspend your sometimes frantic desire for acknowledgment and encouragement from others and settle into the warm embrace of self acceptance. There you will find the joy and grace of living life in your own skin.
I am reminded of this poem by St. Catherine of Siena:
What is it you want to change?
Your hair, your face, your body?
Why?
For God is in love with all those things
And He might weep when they are gone.
No permission. No approval. Just you…
Much love always
Paula
