Welcome and thank you for joining me for this short talk about being true to ourselves.
In today's world it feels like our every move,
Word and even our thoughts are being judged.
The way we look,
What we have and have not is constantly being measured against some artificial standard.
The constant judgement,
Feeling like we have to prove ourselves over and over again.
Our very being placed on the altar and sacrificed to the gods of commercialism.
Our sense of self is stripped away and replaced with an artificial shell of materialism.
It is all so emotionally and physically draining.
But this need not be so.
This should not be so.
Instead we need to find our own unique voice and say loudly for all to hear,
No,
Not me.
We need not be paralyzed by the fear of being discovered to not be as perfect as the picture we paint.
Don't paint the picture in the first place.
Instead paint with your true emotions,
With your true colors.
Do not let your sense of self,
Your uniqueness,
Your very identity be made less.
As Rumi says,
Your task is not to seek for love,
But merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
If we give in to this unseen pressure,
We grow small and we retract.
Instead,
Rumi says,
Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.
And if I may paraphrase a little,
Stop acting so small.
Everything in the universe is within you.
You are the universe in ecstatic motion.
Often we silence our voice,
Whether that be our physical voice,
The written word,
Our art,
Our passion or our love.
To this Rumi says,
I want to sing like the birds sing,
Not worrying about who hears or what they think.
Do not hide your gifts.
Share them freely and widely.
Do not hide yourself.
Step out into the world and invite and embrace abundance with open arms.
Speak your truth.
Live your truth.
Be unapologetically you,
Because you know there is a candle in your heart,
Ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
Ready to be filled.
You feel it,
Don't you?
Rumi says.
We hide behind a mask made for you by someone else.
Why do that?
Or as Rumi says,
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?
When you feel judged,
When you feel like no one understands,
When you feel like wearing your mask just one more time.
Do not.
Do not let the world demand of you,
But instead demand of the world and say,
Study me as much as you like.
You will not know me,
For I differ in a hundred ways from what you see me to be.
Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself,
For I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see.
Be strong,
My friends.
Be courageous.
Be true.
Be a hero to yourself.
Be like a mountain standing steadfast no matter the weather.
Do not let unseen forces determine who you are.
And with that,
I will leave you with the following from Rumi.
You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling,
So don't.
You have wings.
Learn to use them to fly.
And from Florence Nightingale,
Rather ten times die in the surf,
Heralding the way to a new world and stand idly by on the shore.
Be unapologetically you.
Namaste.
