I’m sorry. I know it’s painful. It’s awkward, and it makes you turn your eyes away. You may even wince when it happens. It’s such an ugly, twisted idea. How anyone could contort the real, secret you into something so beautiful and lovable that you would actually deserve a glowing compliment? You simply can’t imagine.
That is really what is really holding us back from gaining greater access to our most profound capacities: a lack of imagination. Our imaginations are too limited for most of us to be able to even grasp how strong and wonderful we really are.
I’m sorry that it hurts and that it’s uncomfortable to hear about, but I can’t help it. This is me looking you in the eye and saying to you: I’m sorry, but you’re worth it. You’re worth all the hassles the world undertakes to allow you to exist.
You’re not only worth it, you’re integral. You’re valuable, and really quite beautiful as a being. Incredible really. Loving, and open and strong.
Their love for you is why people get upset if they feel they are moving away from you, or if they’ve let you down and that you might move away from them. It’s heartbreaking for them to think of living away from you. So much so that even the thought of it can make the strongest people in your life cry. You are a wonder. You really are.
I realize this is difficult for your imagination to get wrapped around. It’s so much bigger an idea than the one you started this with that I feel for you. It must feel like you’re trying to carry a two meter square box all by yourself. But you’ll get used to it. I’m just the first one saying it this clearly, but many people feel this way about you, both to your knowledge and secretly.
Them thinking it is nice, but you’ll be uncomfortable with their compliments until you feel their source yourself. But that feels too big right? That’s egotistical if you give yourself that credit, right? No. No that is not right.
It is not egotistical to let your light shine, it’s egotistical to think that our light dims anyone else’s. But we have to let our spirits shine. That isn’t egotistical, that’s what we’re searching for. That’s what the world wants from us.
That thing inside you; that thing that won’t let you say great things about yourself? That thing that locks away the idea that you’re good enough for a great life? That’s just internal resistance. It’s entirely thought-based. Everyone feels that. Even Mother Teresa’s diary talked about moments of doubt. It’s part of the journey. But you’ve done doubt. Your lifetime has been built around doubt. It’s time for acceptance.
Accept yourself. Warts and all. Understand that our imaginations are the issue, and that you really are exactly what the universe honed you to be. Do the stars question the heavens about the authenticity of their light?
Do not use your thoughts to stifle your light. You are so big, so beautiful, so strong, and so resilient that you can face failure and success with near equal grace. You know you are not in an ego based competition, you are confidently and simply being you, just as the universe intended. Your search is over Now go, and Be.
peace, s
A serious childhood brain injury lead Scott to spend his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and identity. It made others as strange to him as he was to them. When he realized people were confused by their own over-thinking, Scott began teaching others to understand reality. He is currently CBC Radio Active’s Wellness Columnist, as well as a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB where he still finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.