Did you ever come home and look at yourself a bit differently in the mirror?
Because someone told you you're beautiful?
Have you ever looked at your own work with new eyes and conviction?
After someone mentioned to you how it resonated with them or touched them deeply?
It feels good to be liked,
To be accepted,
To know that we contribute positively to the spaces we occupy,
At home,
At work or in our communities.
Since we are so wired to seek connection and belonging.
And yet there is a very thin line between choosing fear or love every day and determining whether we interact with the world from a place of lack,
Seeking validation or sharing our authentic self-creative expression from a place of belongingness in our body and being.
I can speak for myself on days that I am grounded,
Connected to the light within.
I do not blush when someone tells me I'm beautiful or talented.
I do not shrug or make a silly face or tell them to stop.
Instead I hold their eyes and tell them sincerely that they are too.
Because it's true.
The life force,
Majestic and vital as it is,
Is not just about me.
It is the same in a blade of grass,
To the most fragrant prettiest flower,
To the tallest mountain.
The more I can see it,
The easier it becomes for me to drop judgments about myself and others.
The more I intentionally honor it,
The more acceptance fills my heart.
For myself as well as others.
I also know that on days I lose connection with this knowing,
With this light within.
I hustle for my worthiness,
For acceptance.
I create to please.
I overthink that which feels good and true.
That which feels good and true.
And sometimes to not share myself,
My thoughts,
My work,
For fear of judgment.
The song in my heart becomes a heaviness on these long,
Cold days.
And I feel resentful and stuck for days and phases like this.
I put up a reminder note on my vision board in the middle,
In bright pink background.
It reads,
If you chase butterflies,
They will fly away.
If you spend your time working on your garden,
The butterflies will come to you.
Being,
Connecting to presence,
Perfecting my art.
Soul work,
Doing things out of love,
For love,
Is the garden.
Material success,
Other rewards,
Praise,
Are all butterflies which may or may not float by.
It is here in the garden that I can sit and unearth the wholeness once again.
It is here that I see that there is a season to everything and no two beings in creation will have the same expression and time of flowering and that is okay.
It is here that I can welcome the butterflies if and when they come,
Appreciating them as they land in my open palm and then let them go just as easily.
It is here that I can imagine the light Hafiz was talking about when he wrote,
How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty.
It felt the encouragement of light against its being.
Without it,
We all remain too frightened.
It is here that I realize that the garden extends to places and in ways I do not or cannot see with my physical eyes.
It is here that I see that the garden is not always a space outside of me.
I carry it in my bones.
I am its flowering essence.
I am the love,
The validation I seek.
I am it.
There is one more practical tool I use when I find myself looking outside for some validation.
I go and write a review for a restaurant or a service I've been using.
I use sincere compliments for people around me and find my way to this thread of connection.
Again,
And reaffirm that I am the love I seek.
I can source it when I need to.
I am it.
