You are Unique - Wonderful As You Are!

As I was walking on the beach this morning I looked down at the thousands of pebbles beneath my feet, my mind looking to choose a 'beautiful' stone to keep. As I my eyes moved from one to another to another trying to discern which ones were 'special' and which were not, it came to me that I couldn't possibly choose. All of them were special, all of them unique and all of them were beautiful.

When I first started my internal (or spiritual) journey in earnest, I remember having a long engaging chat with a seventy year old spanish woman. I was talking all about my life and trying to find wisdom from her about what steps I needed to take to improve it. At some point in the conversation, she turned to me and said:

"Will, I need you to do something for me"

I was intrigued, I asked her what, she replied:

"I need you to put a large hook up above your bed at home. Then every night when you go to bed, I want you to take those whips that you whip yourself with so much, hang them up, then in the morning when you wake up don't pick them up again!"

That recommendation was like a hammer cracking my wall of illusion, letting the light shine in on how I was creating so much of my own suffering. As time passed, I began to see more and more how I was so used to being my own biggest critic, to always feel that I need to improve or change in order to be able to accept myself.

So while of course it is helpful to do our best to find a path of happiness for ourselves and others, really in life we just need to accept ourselves. When we can accept ourselves, so much peace and freedom arrives within us that we are able to be happy and to share our happiness.

An analogy I very much like is that of a tree. An orange tree doesn't need to do anything but to be itself. It doesn't need to save the world, it doesn't need to change into a different type of tree, it just needs to be what it is and with that we all get to enjoy its unique beauty, to smell its fragrance and to taste it's delicious fruit. We are a bit like this, all we need to do is to be fully ourselves, in our own uniqueness, so that our energy will be fresh and those around will benefit from our good energy.

Of course it's easier said than done! But through bringing awareness to what we are thinking and what we are saying to ourselves, we can, over time, change these patterns. The practice of 'mindful living', of connecting to our bodies, our breathing and our environment is very helpful to help us to be able to slow down enough to be able to see what is going on within us.

Furthermore once we become more able to accept ourselves as the wonderful beings that we are, we are able to start accepting others just as they are - partners, parents, children etc.

You may say you don't want to accept yourself as you are, you don't want to accept others as they are. But without finding love and acceptance for yourself or others INSIDE us, we can not in my experience find a state of peace, freedom and love. And without that we are not truly happy or healthy and do not have much to offer anyone!

All just my opinion on things, but an insight that has been and continues to be incredibly helpful in my life.

Wishing you all well - and celebrating all of your unique wonder!

Will