As David Whyte reminds us to start close in:
“Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don’t want to take.”

Do we dare to take that first step, to have the courage to stand close to ourselves and see ourselves for who we are. To see ourselves in our entirety even if it is uncomfortable or unknown. Can we be still enough to feel and see ourselves, take the risk to get to know ourselves in the most intimate way (allowing ourselves to be seen).

I remember being a child and feeling the need to change myself, to be something that was not a true expression of who I am, only to be accepted. It seems like many of us for many different reasons in our past had the experience of not being accepted for who we are.

We have the resources to change this painful pattern if we have the desire to. We begin to recognize what is happening inside us and regard what we see with an open, kind and loving heart. We start close in becoming aware of what is happening inside of our body and mind without trying to control or judge or pull away.

We give ourselves the chance to be accepted as we are. To turn around and embrace ourselves in all our realness – broken, messy, mysterious and vibrantly alive.

Dare to come with me starting close in taking the first step that we all want to take.

Sit still. Breathe. Repeat to yourself “May I love and accept myself completely. May I love and accept myself just as I am.”