How often do you dim your light down for fear of shining too brightly?
In many ways, our society today is more accepting than ever, yet there still remain aspects within it that point fingers and ostracize others for being different. Standing out, being unique or expressing a point of view that may not be very popular, can sometimes feel like dangerous territory.
On a personal level, trauma from the past such as physical, sexual or emotional abuse, being picked on, bullied or made fun of just for being yourself, can lead you to shutting down the expression of your pure, essential nature.
The result of shutting down your essential nature is that it creates blockages in your body’s energetic systems, the meridians and the chakras. These blockages have a detrimental effect on your physical body, as well as your mental and emotional states.
It actually takes a lot of energy to diminish the expression of the life force within you. Your natural state of being is to radiate, to be creative, to flow, to change and to grow. To slow or stunt this natural outward movement of energy is to internalize it which leads to stagnation and eventual suffering.
If you have been blessed enough to have always received encouragement in all of your pursuits, encountered success in all of your endeavours and have always had a sense of self confidence that only ever resulted in praise, then this message is not for you.
This message is for those of you who have experienced self doubt that led to inner paralysis; ridicule that led to crippling shame; or punishment for merely being you that led you to hiding your natural radiant light. So somewhere along the way, you decided that it wasn’t okay to be the most authentic, truest version of yourself.
The outcome of this decision may have led you to making life choices that did not and do not reflect your true desires, e.g. life partner, career, health and lifestyle, home, social circle and ultimately your passion for life.
Then, throughout the course of life, you forgot that you ever made this decision to stop being your truest self in the first place. Instead, a gradual feeling of dissatisfaction eventually crept in on you leaving you feeling that whatever you now have, whatever you find yourself doing, wherever you are, and whoever you’re with….that somehow it’s not enough, that something is missing and that something doesn’t quite fit.
It’s at this stage that you can make the error of thinking and feeling that what doesn’t quite fit….is you. This can lead to feeling like a victim of your own life and externalizing your power by projecting it onto others and giving them power over you. Once you have externalized your power, you have abdicated responsibility for your own life and therefore hold everyone and everything else accountable for your own happiness or your own misery.
Now, you feel REALLY powerless, because you’ve given away your inner authority. Perhaps you now need to numb the loss of your true self through alcohol, drugs, or food. Either that, or you distract yourself with work, work and more work to earn more and more money to satisfy what need? The need to avoid the emptiness and pain inside. Like a boat without a rudder, you are tossed around by the storms of life, or by your own body, mind and emotions that are now rebelling against you because YOU FORGOT YOURSELF! The thing that you feel is missing…..is YOU!
Okay….take a breath, this can be a difficult realization to arrive at.
If you’ve come to this stage of awareness, how do you connect again with that long lost part of yourself and turn up your inner light to let yourself shine again?
Get Really Still
Sit still in a chair with your feet on the ground, or sit on the ground or lay down. Connect with your breathing, feel your body rise and fall with your inhalation and exhalation. Feel the aliveness in your body, the subtle sense of vibration or tingling inside your skin, this is your life force energy.
Feel What you Feel
Ask yourself: What do you feel physically? Then “listen” to the sensations that your body may feed back to you. Become aware of any tension in your muscles, any pain, heat or cold, tingling or any other physical sensation that you may experience without resisting it.
Then ask yourself: What do you feel emotionally? Then “listen” to any particular emotion that surfaces; joy, peace, love, excitement, anger, grief, regret, fear, shame. Just notice whatever emotion you are feeling without resisting it.
FORGIVE YOURSELF
No matter why you decided to dim your light down, whatever happened to you that caused you to decide not to express the most authentic version of yourself and to hide your essential nature from the world……Forgive yourself! You were responsible for choosing to diminish your light, therefore you need to be responsible for claiming back your true power and shine again. You do this by forgiving yourself.
Make a new decision to shine now
You’re still alive and there is no time like the present, so don’t waste a single moment more by regretting the time that you spent dimming your light down. Shine baby shine…..shine like the sun because that is what you were born to do. Shine in your unique way that only you can do!
Ask yourself: What does the deepest part of me deserve?
Ask yourself: What does the deepest part of me desire?
Pay attention to what arises in response to these questions and make a commitment to listen to the answers and follow them….this is how you express your own unique light and let it shine brightly.
This is the way back home to yourself.
I’d like to share a poem written by Marianne Williamson that expresses this truth so beautifully.
Our Greatest Fear
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 does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were 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.
—Marianne Williamson
I wish you the courage to be your truest self and to let your essential nature radiate and shine brilliantly which is your ultimate purpose.
Written by Christine Diamond