Unpacking all parts of ourselves, our subconscious, and our conscious takes grace and love.  You could be unpacking centuries and centers of shadows.  Bringing our shadows to the light takes being uncomfortable.  Our Ego doesn’t like to be uncomfortable.  Our human mind does not like to be uncomfortable. Our human body does not like to be uncomfortable.  Working on being uncomfortable is a start in a healing journey.  Put yourself in uncomfortable situations, not dangerous ones, uncomfortable ones.  If you stay in this zone where you are comfortable all the time, then it won’t stretch, it may even start to shrink.  Go to the concert alone, or to that social situation that scares you to be without someone to talk to.  Sleep without all the comforts you think you need to get a good night’s sleep.  Go camping and sleep on the ground.  You might experience fear or panic, or you may not sleep for one night, but you do it to push through the walls and learn that being uncomfortable is OK.

It is also important to note that there is a difference between being uncomfortable because you are pushing through fear and being uncomfortable because you feel you are in danger.  Listen to that gut feeling and don’t put yourself in danger to be uncomfortable, it is not needed.    I mean pushing through what our brain thinks we need to be comfortable in life.

The more you live in the uncomfortable the more you grow, and honestly the more you live in the uncomfortable the more shadows that come out to play.  The more shadows that start to come out into the light to be seen, to be healed, to be loved.  Your shadows deserve love and grace and respect.  Your shadows have helped shape you to be who you are today.   They deserve attention, grace, and love.  They deserve to step out into the light and stand next to you.  Because when light and dark can walk next to each other and bring out the most beautiful parts of each other, then this is when you have truly stepped into yourself.  When the shadows no longer have control over you, when they are accepted and loved and shown this is true freedom to continue in this world as completely yourself and completely ready to step into your soul purpose and be a part of the change you want to be.

Start with yourself. What shadows are you hiding? What shadows can you show me or yourself?  What shadows can you love and accept?  We are all connected somehow and in some way.  It is only fair that we see all of what we are connected to.  This is living in complete truth.  It is in truth that love and light are pure.  It is in truth that we can fully accept and fully love and fully change the consciousness of the world.  So I invite your dark to step and stand side by side with your light.  Just like dusk is so beautiful and night with moonlight is still and serene.  So is your light walking with your dark.  This is the most beautiful of all, it is when we see all of your beauty!! It is vulnerable and it is strong.  It is all the dialectics of life in one, the opposite pulls that are needed for the other to exist.  It is the whole package.

What we fear others will think about us is just a reflection of what we think of ourselves.  When we love ourselves fully and completely, shadows, darkness, and light, then what others think of us ceases to become an issue. Honestly, we don’t even really notice until they tell us, and then we become able to say, “OK, Thank you for your opinion.”  We become better able to recognize when the thought, “What will people think of me?”  slips into our heads.  And we will be able to say to ourselves, “The real question is, What will I think of me?”  “How will I feel about myself?”

When we have compassion and love and forgiveness and grace towards ourselves, then ‘What others think of us’ becomes less powerful.

When we learn to love all the parts of ourselves, darkness and light, then ‘What others think of us becomes less powerful.

When we learn to change the dialogue in our head and allow ourselves to be imperfect, then ‘What others think of us’ becomes less powerful.

When we learn to show all parts of us to the world; When we learn to stop hiding those parts we want to change; When we learn to walk into our Authentic selves and shine out light and dark 100%; then ‘What others think of us’ becomes less powerful.

One of fear’s inner dialogues is “What will other people think?”  If we continue to hear and work on loving all of us and continue to work on shining at 100 percent, then this will help you to push past that fear of what others will think and continue to step into your soul’s purpose.

Fear is a four-letter word.  It is so small yet the impact it has on our life is so big.  I mean shouldn’t it be like a 100 letter word?  It shuts down dreams and boards up doors.  It lets vegetation grow over paths that were meant to be traveled.  It has power… Or does it?  Or is it us that gives it power? I mean has fear actually physically made you stop going after your dreams?  Has it put its hands on you and held you back physically?  Does fear have hands? Or have we just given it so much power that this four-letter word seems to be the tallest biggest entity we have ever seen?

What would happen if we stared this word in the face and said, ” Look here fear, you are only four letters and you can’t physically touch me, so I will not let you have the power that I have given you in the past!  I will take back my power and keep putting one foot in front of the other to walk on past you.  I will slowly and steadily move with intention and keep living in action.  I will slowly take back the power I have given you and use it to keep walking in the scary times.   I will use my power to stare you in the face.  It doesn’t mean I won’t be scared, but you won’t physically stop me anymore.  I will walk through your invisible presence and I WILL do what I need to do and I will do it scared if I have to!”

What if we could do this?

Wait… You know what?  I know we can do this!!

 

Healing is not a one-day thing.  You don’t decide to heal and then like “Bewitched” wiggle your nose and be done.  Healing is stepping into the unknown.  It is looking in the mirror and saying” I see you”, ” I love you”, “I love all of you” or if you are just starting your journey you can also say ” I am working towards loving you”, “I am working towards loving all of you.”

To truly step into our soul purpose we have to start with ourselves.  We have to heal ourselves and love ourselves so that we may hold space for others to do the same.  Do the work!! It is messy and it takes time.  But this is the ultimate self-care.  Self-care is not only taking time for yourself, to pamper yourself, or work out, or do things that bring you joy, but it is also taking time to connect with yourself on the deepest level.  Taking time to heal yourself.  Taking time to listen to that inner voice that is there to guide you into your soul purpose.  It is there to guide you into living your best life.  All the things we do for self-care are actually things that are a part of your journey to self-healing.  Healing of the mental, physical and spiritual bodies.  When you get a massage you… are working on healing.  When you work out… you are working on healing.  When you get a pedicure… you are working on healing.  Now that you are aware of this, you can start diving deeply into yourself and the healing of yourself.  Ask yourself or me, why is this part of healing?  What am I healing?

Loving ourselves truly, shadows and all is the ultimate tool to changing the world.  When you step into yourself fully, anxiety becomes manageable.  Fears become manageable.  See when you become fully yourself and live fully in love with yourself, then what others think of your journey becomes less important, and this is a root cause of fear and anxiety.  Healing is messy and hard, but it is also believable and amazing.  The work is worth it, you are worth it!