Is it that you don't believe all those things?
Let's look at beliefs for a moment. Do you and your best friend agree on everything? Probably not. But don't you each believe you're right?
Could that mean that what's true depends on the person?
What about the last time you went shopping and your friend said something looked great on you and you just rolled your eyes. Maybe he or she was right, and you were just being too hard on yourself.
The biggest difference between you and that super-confident guy or gal you admire isn't talent or skill, it's what you believe. (I'm not saying your role model isn't talented or skilful) I'm just saying that, if you believed you were talented and skilful, you would be so much closer to your dreams. Half of education is teaching you a skill - the other half is convincing you that you actually know what you're doing!
It is my belief that everyone - yes, everyone - is perfect. Not that you can always see it. Our innate perfection is covered up with layer upon layer of neuroses, bad habits, limiting beliefs, traumatic memories, antisocial tendencies, stuff our parents did or didn't tell us, and other dysfunctions. So if you're currently looking for ways to improve yourself, how about starting with the realization that you're already perfect, you just need to free yourself from those extra layers, like taking off lots of winter clothes when the spring flowers bloom. With each layer you resolve, more of the real you shines through.
Which leads me to the name of my organization. This is an Anglo-American* site, so you may not be familiar with the US Army motto "Be all you can be!" Of course, they're trying to recruit people with the promise of improving them. I want to turn that idea on it's head. I don't think you should be all you can be. Rather, I think you should
BE ALL YOU ARE!
Or, as Marianne Williamson put it:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Or Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus:
When a man undertakes to create something, he establishes a new heaven, as it were, and from it the work that he desires to create flows into him... For such is the immensity of man that he is greater than heaven and earth.
I'm currently reading a book recommended by a friend, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. Last night I read the chapter "Tassels" in which Rob talks about it being everyone's job to become the person God wants them to be. Well, I figure, if God wants us to be something, He/She has to have put the ability to acheive that inside us. We just have to find it. So obviously I'm not the only one who believes this way. :-)
I hope I haven't put anyone off by references to God. I happen to believe in God. I also believe it is an individual choice, and if you don't believe in God, it doesn't make my message any less applicable. If you prefer, think for a moment about natural selection. It is the urge of nature to improve on an organism. It does this by pushing forward the aspects of the organism that most enhance it's survival. Humans have evolved beyond mere survival - and by that, I mean, we no longer have to hunt and gather for our food, we have the technology to grow crops, we can build shelters that protect us from rain, wind, and sun, and we only very rarely fall victim to predators (and I am using the zoological definition of predator, not the social one). I'm not saying that life is easy. People have to struggle to get by in undeveloped countries, nations at war, and in inner cities. But humans as a species are more capable of the most basic survival than others. And we have it within ourselves to do more than just survive, but to flourish. We have it within ourselves to change conditions in undeveloped countries, nations at war, and in inner cities. So even if you don't belive that you are beautiful and perfect and amazing because God made you that way, perhaps you would be willing to believe that you are beautiful, perfect, and amazing because nature made you that way.
This is why I created Reminderwear (see the Tshirt images under the logo in the upper right corner of the screen). I wanted an easy way to keep in mind who I really am. I created a simple black and white logo, which you will see on Tshirts and mugs and other items at the stores above, but the website I used to create the spiral graphic was so cool - it had about a dozen different designs, all created instantly from my words - that I made several different logos. They all say the same thing, but create a different visual response. So please visit one of the shops above (you can order from either, they have slightly different items on offer) but Cafe Press is in the US and will bill in US Dollars and ship from the US. Shirt City prices items in Pounds and ships from the UK. Use the shirts, mugs, clocks, teddy bears, and book bags to help you remember the True You!
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