Belonging: Shedding The Layers of Untruth

Have you noticed how the media has sold our son's and daughters a version of fairytale expectations about behavior, appearance, happiness? The toy aisles are coded by color- assigned to presumed genders of our littles? Have you wondered how our children feel about this? Have you seen the impact it has had on your adult life? How you quiet down or shrink around certain people- assumed to be more worthy of the space or the floor? Have you used your appearance to gain power or have you shamed yourself because of it? Have you started to notice the ways in which you behave out of a sense of expectation rather than honesty?

It isn't easy to navigate the world as our truest selves. We've been trained from a young age- from the color or our clothing and treatment we were given as newborns, to the religious classes that taught us Adam was the creator and Eve was the reason for original sin- we've been shaped, groomed, filled in, filtered, shaved down, whittled, speckled, painted and squelched. Not just women, but men, too. They've been made to feel the protector, the stoic, the breadwinner.

Sure, it's not a new story. This narrative has been discussed and changes are being made, but it is still part of our experience. 

As I've been searching my soul for some time now- trying to distill the most essential me- the one that is aligned with her purpose and voices her truth- I am also aware of the many layers of unlearning that have to occur to get closer and closer to the essence.... We have a shedding process to journey through. 

Begin to examine the stories you hear yourself say as you encounter your world. Pause. Ask yourself is the story kind and does it honor your truth? Does it feel like it came from somewhere else? Can you recall the first time you felt it or thought it? Do you need that story to survive or can you acknowledge and forgive yourself for believing it? If you can begin to forgive the circumstances or person who first inflicted that painful story, you can begin to yourself for believing it. Then, you can shed that layer of weight holding you back. 

It takes time, breathing and patience with ourselves to become more and more free of the guilt, shame and falsities that have glommed onto us. BUT, it is worth it. The more in practice of this shedding I become the lighter, freer and more transformed into my light I feel.

You are worthy of that freedom. Awareness first. Breathe. Forgive others and yourself. Let go. Fly.

Love,
LeeAnn

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