I would like to start this sharing by thanking my friend, Stephanie Kostopoulos, from Roots, for sharing this picture with me in the form of a card created by the company Recycle and photographer Heidi Lane.
At one time in my life I would have called this a "bad hair day," but now all I see is a being who touches and opens my heart so that I may share the love and light that it brings forth. Isn't she beautiful?
What actually is "being yourself?" Good question! There are as many definitions and perceptions of being yourself as there are people.
A friend had a tarot card reading the other day and she shared some of the information with me. It turned into a great experience for me, to ponder and feel, yes feel, what perception I hold of being my self.
My friend shared that there was a physical place (state) that she would travel to and find herself while being there. I began to unravel all of my past perceptions of what "being myself" was and what "finding myself,” meant. What came to me was the many ways we travel to find ourselves. It looks different for everyone but for most one thing is usually there in the beginning... purpose.
Before we will allow ourselves to embark, we need a purpose. Not just because "I'm drawn to it," but real hard evidence that there is reason for this journey. Sometimes we even need a glimmer that we will arrive "there" before we will even begin. But if it is a journey, do we really have to leave to get started? This may or may not make sense.
I have found that if we take this particular journey, needing a purpose, we will start down the path looking ahead and moving toward what we "think" we are. The cool part is that we need to stand still long enough to be able to see or "feel" that glimmer of what we actually are searching for. Still with me?
Now in the brief moments that it took to get down to the continuation of this writing, through the blank space, what did you feel? If you didn't notice anything go back to the last paragraph and experience it again.
What you felt was You! You could say, You have found Yourself. Could it be that easy?
That's right we have to stop to receive that glimmer of feeling of ourselves. The real question is where are we going and what is it that we think we are looking for? Ohhh... something other than what we are right now. Got it!
This wonderful child represents to me, the ability we all have to just stop in the moment, share ourselves with the camera and maybe millions of people without going anywhere. The question for us is can we stop for that moment, day, week, month, year, lifetime to feel who we really are in any given moment and share that with who ever we are with, and feel the vulnerability of being with millions of people or maybe just one.
We could be making our choices in life based on what we are drawn to, without judgment or expectation of making the right choice or of expecting to arrive at some destination "thinking" that we have now found ourselves, so that we can now "be" ourselves.
I have to tell you, traveling to a place that we have never been to find ourselves seems to contradict itself. Can we find ourself there if we have never been there? How can I leave my baggage there and go back for it if I haven't been there before?
But in actuality, the places that I have traveled within myself that have been the most familiar are yet the most foreign. It is in those places I have found the aspects of myself that I have left lying in wait for my conscious return.
The word found to many implies that something has been lost. My computer dictionary, which by no means is the "be-all end-all" of definitions, does not list the word lost in the many ways the word found is described. Here are a few:
Discover or perceived by chance or unexpectedly.
Discover after a deliberate (conscious) search.
Recognize or discover something to be present.
Discover the fundamentals truth's of one's own character or identity.
To reach one's destination by one's own efforts, without knowing how to get there in advance.
To reach the understanding or conscience of someone.
All of this leads me to a knowing that is already within me; just to stop once again long enough to hear it, feel it, sense it and to actually take the time to choose how to bring it out into the world.
We all have that within us, the ability to heal with a look, a touch, an embrace and often with words.
The journey at some point will lose its initial purpose. If we continue to chase some illusive perception that we are something other than who we are, we will never realize that we can never leave, we are our own constant companion, we are our own counsel, we are our own guide, be it conscious or not.
When we stop to listen, when we stop to feel in acceptance, we are as songwriters Mike Post and Stephen Geyer's, theme song to 80's show The Greatest American Hero:
Look at what's happened to me,
?I can't believe it myself. ?
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world, ?
It should've been somebody else. ??
Believe it or not, ?I'm walking on air.
?I never thought I could feel so free.
?Flying away on a wing and a prayer. ?
Who could it be? ?
Believe it or not it's just me. ??
It's like a light of a new day,
?It came from out of the blue.
?Breaking me out of the spell I was in, ?
Making all of my wishes come true.
Believe it or not, ?I'm walking on air.
?I never thought I could feel so free.
?Flying away on a wing and a prayer. ?
Who could it be?
?Believe it or not it's just me.
Happy travels everyone... Travel with (in) no other reason or purpose other than to be with you, just because.
Joan Emmons and Ron Damico are partners in an energetic healing practice seeing clients in Maine and Connecticut. Joan and Ron are also publishers of Inner Tapestry. They can be reached at www.ronandjoan.com.