It’s good to be me!

Remember the movie Stepford WIves? Last night, I woke from a nightmare in which my personality was about to be taken away. I don’t remember the details exactly, just that I was working really, really hard to hang onto me.

Much of the time, I think about ways I can improve—my patience, my health and fitness, my business focus, my listening skills, my cooking…the list is limitless. But in this dream, I was fighting to stay just the same. I didn’t want to be perfected based on another’s standards. It wasn’t clear who the “others” were but the new model of Mimi seemed to be equipped with less capacity for independent thought…that’s all I really remember of the dream plot. Here’s what it helped me remember that I know to be true…

You are uniquely equipped to be exactly who God needs you to be in this world. When you spend time wishing for other attributes or judging—even via envy—another’s skill set, you aren’t exhibiting much gratitude for the gifts with which you’ve been blessed. Granted, we can always improve the manner in which we convey those gifts…you know, removing the strings we attach to the gift or our time, the conditions attached to the gift of our love, the expectation of reciprocity we attach to anything we offer…but, wanting to be someone else entirely is unhealthy (not to mention, a bit unrealistic!). It limits your sense of sufficiency.

So today, try absolutely adoring yourself. Start with the your eyebrows and work your way down…or start with your toes and work up…what matters is that all points in between are uniquely you. You are equipped to do great things, even if they seem small and insignificant, they are seeds of goodness that can’t be cultivated by anyone else but you. And they might not be the big things you are working so tirelessly to achieve—those might be things anyone could do and another might even do them better.

Think of the things only you can do. The ways only you can understand and love your family. The way only you can connect with the clerk at the supermarket at just the moment he needs it most.You are a unique channel for understanding, friendship, community, love. So start by loving you just the way you are. Then maybe you can love others just the way they are. And then…guess what…you’re a goodness growing phenomena!

Here’s to beautiful you!

If we could learn to like ourselves, even a little, maybe our cruelties and angers might melt away. John Steinbeck

The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor’s shortcomings as he is of his own. Eric Hoffer

The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself. Mark Twain

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