“Who are YOU?” said the caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I–I hardly know, sir, just at present–at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.” –from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Sometimes I need reminders of who I really am. Life can become so crazy, convoluted, chaotic, complicated…and plenty of other words that don’t just start with C, that I can lose touch with myself, engage in self-abandonment and become directionless, depressed, despairing, doubting…and yes, other words that don’t just start with D.
I need a reminder to take a breath, to check in inside; a reminder that all is not lost unless I lose myself because the only way of truly living is living fully in myself. And so I remind myself that…
I am loving and generous with that love. I make no excuses or apologies about that either. I don’t know how to be cautious or miserly and even though this opens me up to being hurt, so be it.
I am crazy loyal and fiercely protective. For good or bad, I am trusting. I always see the good in people and believe that that good will win out in the end.
I know that the willingness to be vulnerable is more powerful than any wall we may encounter in another’s heart.
I am passionate about what I love and sometimes have to have a stern talk with myself to rein it in a bit. I am also vain more times than I care to admit, impatient with life in general and critical with myself. But then again, it can’t all be good.
I have a spiritual nature that must be nurtured daily because without it, I am nothing.
I know that no matter how hard things get, I am stronger, I will learn the lesson and I will overcome.
I know that a good apology is a seriously powerful magic.
I am good at knowing where I end and others begin, at saying the hard thing in the kindest way, at seeing the heart of others.
I am forgiving, forgiving, forgiving. I need to learn to sometimes stop at two.
Although I am an intelligent, educated woman, I still believe that my long hair makes me look thinner, that to leave the house without at least mascara on is a travesty and that the pint of Chunky Monkey I downed in one sitting does not contain 1200 calories. I don’t care what the nutrition label says. It’s wrong.
I am a woman who prays, who hums when she’s happy and who knows that the greatest adventure in life is not to visit foreign lands or to see new and exciting things, but the greatest adventure is to know, and in turn to be known by, another’s heart.
And lastly, I will always find something to laugh about. Always. I do not care what is happening, I will find the funny…because Life is absurd most of the time, because how we react to that can be nonsensical and silly and always, always I know that if you can laugh about it, you can live through it.
Ahhh,now I am centered. I have found what was lost. I can move forward now because I am home, safe and sound, inside of me.
When Life Becomes a Trip Through the Looking Glass…
“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, because I’m not myself you see“–Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Today invest in yourself and take a personal inventory. Make a list. Start with “I am…”, move on to, “I believe…” and then, “Here’s what I know…” Spend some time with you. Get reacquainted. Then take that list and see what areas of your life aren’t allowing you to be who you are. What needs to change, you or the situation? Sometimes we just need to bring more of ourselves to the situation, to our work or our relationships. Sometimes those things cannot support us being ourselves and we need to walk away. But we will only know which is which when we are clear in who we are. Today, gain clarity. Come back to you.
Live True To You 