Bravely Seen

I want you to know that it’s safe to come out from hiding.
That no harm will be incurred in revealing yourself from behind the thick curtain in which you have been so cautiously living your life.
My wish for you is to be free.
To be raw.
To be real.

I want to encourage you to live unveiled from the suffocating masks of your numerous perceived identities; the roles that you have unknowingly adopted for yourself, and the ones that others have developed for you.

Regardless of what you may believe, you are allowed to take all the time and all the space needed for yourself.
Space that is free from the pressure to appease or please anybody else.
You are permitted to sit here, in this moment, and give every ounce of your attention to your own incredible self.
To your own generous heart.
To your own beautiful body.
To your own intelligent brain.
It is, and will always be, okay to acknowledge your tenderness.
Your beauty.
Your abilities.

Let this moment be a reunion with all the buried parts of yourself that you do not permit to be exposed in public.
The pieces that too often get left behind.
The messiest portions of Who You Are that get tucked away for fear of judgement and criticism.

May this be a welcomed introduction to your truest self.
To the deepest part of Who You Are.
To the most tender heart inside of you.
Rediscover the pieces of you that have been intimidated, ridiculed, and bullied into hiding.
Rescue the authentic version of yourself that has been shoved into a corner and told to act more appropriately, more professionally, and with more grace.
The you that has been stifled quiet, has been told that bravery means to hide feelings, the you that occasionally acts inauthentically to appear more attractive and lovable to someone else.

The real you.
That deep-seeded, innate person that just wants to exist unrestrained from the confines of everything everybody else want them to be.
The you as you were at birth – before society squeezed you into a square-shaped box.
The you that entered this world unembarrassed, unapologetic, candid, unburdened, ferociously wild, and with potential deeper than the ocean.
Sensitive, wise, and wide-eyed to the playfulness and wonder of this existence.
The you that you comfortingly return home to when everyone has let you to be.

Feel safe to be this person.
Acknowledge and take care of them with fierce loyalty; trust me when I say it is your most important pursuit.
Do not divide and sever yourself into tiny pieces in an attempt to be loved and accepted by anyone else.
Find unimaginable freedom amidst rawness, realness, and imperfections.
And, understand how, when you choose to live in a space of total openness, every need to be anyone else completely dissolves.
You shed all that does not serve you.
You exist solely in your own wholeness.
You discover your bliss.

From this place of vulnerability, unrestrained by excuse and concealment, it becomes easy to see and feel the aspects of your life that are out of balance.
The decisions that are maligned.
The times when you try too hard to be perceived a different way.
The situations where life is being experienced from something other than your truest nature.
The relationships in which too much unnecessary energy is being expelled to hold together.
The moments where you fail to say everything as you feel.
The exchanges where you are efforting to be loved as something that you are not.
And all the instances in which you are afraid to be seen so, instead, build armoured walls of protection up and unintentionally compromise the beauty of everything that has been intended for you.

My wish is that you feel and notice all of these things.
That you endure momentary discomfort in holding up the mirror and becoming awake to all of the gaps.
All the ways in which you are currently living differently from the manner in which you so desire to live.
All of the places where you are not allowing yourself to live from your most fundamental ground.
All of the moments in which you disguise what you really think or mean for fear of not being received by others.

Know that any pain associated with these realizations is a kind of progressive pain.
A type of pain that loves.
That teaches.
That transports you far away from an existence where life thoughtlessly moves right through you.
Allow this pain to speak, highlight, and magnify the places within your life in which you are holding back; a faithful indicator of where more truth is needed.

I want to reassure you to trust the unwavering wisdom that is yours from within.
I want to remind you to choose to love yourself first.
To tell you that, in doing this, the best will follow and all the rest will fall away.
I want to give you permission to sit here, on this earth, and understand that this is all for you.
And, most importantly, I want you to know that you do not need to try harder to be loved and appreciated for anything other than what you are in this moment.
You are allowed to feel.
You are allowed to say.
You are allowed to change.
You are allowed to move on.
You are allowed to let go.
You are allowed to be as you so simply, perfectly are.