Have you ever been in the presence of someone who made you feel like it was completely safe and totally encouraged to be your truest, deepest self? Who makes you feel like you don’t have to mask whatever emotions you’re experiencing because they are to be honored as a part of your authentic experience?
This was my evening with Glennon Doyle last night. She came to Kansas City and welcomed us all into one of the “Family Meetings” that she is known for within her cyber world community. What moved me most was that she didn’t come deliver some rehearsed speech. There wasn’t an agenda with a specific call-to-action. Rather, there was a broad call-to-action for us all to never betray our truest selves again. That we shouldn’t be ashamed of our truth; that, in fact, each of our individual paths/trials/fires are meant for us to walk through so that we can turn them into compassion and forge that compassion into action.
Damn. It is empowering to be in a room with someone that makes you believe, “I am made for great things. Me. Not someone I think I need to pretend to be.” That’s powerful!
Embrace all the good and the bad and the ugly. The anger, the sadness, the elation, the joy, the disappointment, the drive, the frustration, the fear, the indignation…the beautiful complexity and depth of it all. Embrace it and then use it to spread love and change in your community.
You don’t have to hide anymore. You are made for great things, too. Believing this is a journey, but it’s possible. Maybe that great thing is sticking up for someone being treated unfairly. Maybe it’s raising money for a worthy cause. Maybe it’s volunteering at the local school. Maybe it’s running for public office. Be it big or small, what remains true is that
You. Are. Powerful.
What’s the bee in your bonnet that you can channel into change? You’re capable. We all are. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Marianne Williamson (My own emphasis added):
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Shine. Love. Always.
Linds