Today I heard a message from our congregation’s minister entitled “I See You”.
I thought he made a great point: We all want to be seen/recognized and we can do other people a great deal of good by simply recognizing and acknowledging them.
I would like to piggy-back on that idea…
You see, a few years back I was at a life-changing event. What made it so life-changing was a meditation exercise we did where we recognized the light that is shining within each one of us.
What I realized in that exercise was that, because of my fear of what other people thought of me, I had buried my light behind my fears. I was afraid of being myself because of the negative input I had received from others, and the expectation of more disapproval. I yearned to be seen and accepted.
Sure, there were people who saw me and accepted me for who I was. I also believed that God saw me and accepted me for who I was.
The thing that was holding me back, though, was that I wasn’t seeing myself or accepting myself for who I was.
Now, you might think I’m talking about my dark side. That’s not the case.
I’m simply talking about being me. What does that look like?
Well, take today as an example. My wife is stranded at the airport. She’s been sitting there all day waiting to get a flight to her conference. I decided I would encourage her by singing some love songs to her on Facebook live. But, I wasn’t going to do it in just any old fashion. I donned my cowboy hat and cowboy shirt for this one and sang her song old fashioned cowboy love songs. (If you’d like to see the replay, you can watch it here
https://www.facebook.com/naturalGTR/videos/10158386413357388/
.)
I’m sure I looked like a total goof ball. Plus, I don’t have the greatest singing voice in the world. I’m well aware of that.
But, I am who I am, and I recognize that, and I’m proud of that. I am secure in who I am because I’ve recognized and validated myself. I see the real me. I don’t need to put on a facade.
What seeing, recognizing and validating myself has done has made me more aware of how deeply others need to be seen and can benefit from seeing themselves.
That’s what the Dream Highway is all about – eliminating the road blocks of self-doubt and self-criticism and going for it!
You never know, you just might find yourself dressing up like a cowboy and singing love songs on Facebook live
https://www.facebook.com/naturalGTR/videos/10158386413357388/
!
If you’d like to go deeper into this topic, reply and let me know. I’d love to tell you more!
Cheers!