Permission to be Human

To have freedom, to be enough,
is to recognize that we are human.
To be human is to be imperfect.
Making the long journey from,
"What will people think?"
to "I am enough,"
is quite a task.

To take that journey means to own our own story. 
Develop self compassion,
to create a truth about who we are,
and build a wall against shame. 

To claim a truth about who we are and where we come from
is to be honest and willing to give ourselves the same compassion
as  we would give a friend. 

To be gentler and kinder to ourselves
and see ourselves with loving eyes,
that we are not perfect, that we too, just as we see our friends,
they are human, just as we are too. 

Give ourselves a break
and appreciate the beauty of our cracks or imperfections. 
Self kindness is being warm and understanding towards ourselves
when we suffer, fail or feel inadequate
rather than ignoring our pain or beating ourselves with self criticism. 

Common humanity is
recognizing that suffering and feelings of personal inadequacy
are part of the shared human experience,
which is something we ALL go through
rather than something that happens to "me" alone.

Take a balanced approach to negative emotions
so that feelings are neither suppressed nor exaggerated. 
We cannot ignore our pain and
feel compassionate towards it at the same time. 

Being mindful is that
we are not over identifying with the negative thoughts that come our way,
and get swept away with them.

Being mindful is that
we notice and allow ourselves to move through our feelings,
  not judge them or over exaggerate them. 

It is easy to get stuck in regret or shame or self criticism
when a mistake is made. 

It is more difficult to provide honest self compassion and forgiveness,
and remember our worthiness. 

The core belief that "we are enough"
comes from when we live inside our story. 

We can either own our stories
or stand outside of them---
denying our vulnerabilities and imperfections. 

Push away the thoughts of who we are 'supposed to be' 
honor ourselves with who we are,
what we want and need
and let go of needing other people's approval
for our worthiness.
Self approval is what is important. 

Perfectionism is exhausting,
hustling is exhausting.
Let go and be yourself.

By being ourselves authentically
and honoring ourselves
is living authentic, colorful, and creative lives.