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[If you’re reading this via email or RSS, you may need to click through to listen to this short recording.]
I recorded this last week as I was thinking about the ways we hide ourselves away. I hope you enjoy it. I’ve included the text below in case you want to read it rather than listening to it.
The picture above is of a rough blue opal. This is how gems look before we polish them, and the picture captures what this post means to me – that, underneath all of the rough stuff we put out in the world, there’s some supreme beauty just waiting to be seen.
***
You’re hiding.
Strip away the makeup, the hair, the clothes, and the social facade you put on.
Strip away the expectations, assumptions, self-talk, head-trash, and labels.
Strip away the not-good-enoughs, the second-guessing, the worry, and the proving.
Now, there you are.
This you is powerful. This you is beautiful. This you has something to share and knows it.
This you is also probably pretty raw right now. You’re not used to standing in the light of day and it might be a little intense.
This you is the real you. This you is the one who can smile and cry freely, want and need openly, and love and cherish authentically. This is you at your best.
This you is what we wait for and connect with. This you disarms all the weapons we don’t need and slices through the shields we’ve put up. This you allows us to be ourselves.
All those other layers aren’t you. They’re just the trappings of society, fear, and over-analysis. They’re only as real as we let them be.
You can turn the lights back down if you need to, but know that it’s your choice. This you can come out whenever you’re ready.
I love the image of the weapons and shields. It brings up so many other references, such as:
“Try to realize it’s all within yourself/No one else can make you change.” – The Beatles, “Within You, Without You”
“We are the ones we’ve been looking for. We are the change we seek.” – Barack Obama
This reminds me of the classic spiritual warrior attitude: to see the real battle as within one’s self, to see victory in the undrawn weapon.
The unpolished gem image is also powerful. It’s a central metaphor in the Studio Ghibli film, Whisper of the Heart.
🙂
Absolutely adore this. And the picture.
Wow, this is BEAUTIFUL and very inspiring! I definitely want to let “this me” out as often as possible… 🙂
Great post. Thank you for reminding me of the ME inside. I think we all need to remember this so I will be sharing this post as part of my Weekend Links & a Picture post next Friday afternoon 10/22/10.
http://mannhome.blogspot.com
Absolutely beautiful, Charlie. And I couldn’t agree more. You put into words my exact heart for others.
I would love to use this lovely recording for my psychotherapy clients…sometimes they (and me, too) get tired of my voice and relaxation exercises. I think the teens would enjoy and think the fighting references are cool, and the adults would welcome a new visualization/positive imagery piece.
Hope this is okay Charlie (with attributions, of course :)).
Thanks,
~Linda
This is awesome! Beautiful, powerful, wonderful.
Will be listening to it often, to remind myself of who I really am.
Thank you so much for doing, for posting, for being. 🙂
beautiful.
Charlie,
Nice post, as usual. Really deep stuff.
People achieve gold, silver and bronze.
They pride themselves on ownership of everything money can buy.
And then some, the ego shouts.
They strive to be happy without finding bliss, the pure, inner experience of being that is the real you. The essence of you.
That’s one of the reasons why so many of them suffer from drug and alcohol addictions, broken relationships, abuse, etc.
They feel a deep void in their lives. They feel there is lack of meaning, no hope.
That’s why so many icons in our society search for that inner peace that is lacking and finally find it in an ashram.
They become the students of a wise man with soulful eyes.
An ashram which, by the way, might as well appear on “Gilligan’s Island.”
Just my two cent’s worth. Cheers!
Liked it. I believe that the disconnection from “This You” is a major reason for the bullying problem in US schools. It’s exacerbated when the bully sees another young person who maintains their connection to the best that they have always been.