See your beauty not your flaws

In this blog, I am sharing, some reflections that came up in a week long gratitude challenge that I ran in one of my beautiful communities.  If you weren't able to take part, it is always there, there is a link below that takes you to all my offerings. 

(You can hear more in Episode 19 of the SLOW DOWN Live Deeply Podcast - Link in the side bar)

Each day, we focused on things that we felt grateful for in the morning and evening . And that was a beautiful practice to have, but it's very outward driven. It's very external, centred around  the things around us, the things we have, the things we see, the things we experience. 

The last 2 days were more challenging. I asked the participants to make a list of all the things that they had, that they were grateful for and all the things that they have inside of them, their qualities, that they were grateful for. All the things that make them different, make them unique. And this was very challenging for a lot of people. I knew that it would be challenging because I have done this work as well!

As part of my role in this world. I see myself as a truth seeker. I want to look underneath what society tells us, what we believe we should do, what we have learnt from peers, teachers, everyone around us. I want to look under all of that because quite often we're programmed. 

I refer to this often,  these programs are really powerful, sometime they benefit us, sometimes they don't. We live in a society that is very geared towards the negative complaining, moaning, focusing on what we need to fix in ourselves. 

This was demonstrated in the gratitude challenge, the beautiful souls in the challenge could easily list their flaws, the things that they weren’t happy about in themselves, the things that they would like to change. 

It wasn't so easy to write a list of what was positive, because it is not something that we practise in general. This isn’t taught at school. In the UK, I believe that in the past, and still now,  if somebody is confident or believes in themselves, they are often labelled cocky, people wonder who do they think they are? An underlying current of disdain and judgement. This infiltrates into our being and psyche.

Now, I aspire to be that, confident, know my worth, and teach all my students and oily community to be that. Until recently, I just wanted to hide, not out myself out there, my wisdom, my style of teaching, as I feared criticism. 

I have seen and experienced too much playing myself down, and people around me, not owning our talents, our unique gifts in the world, playing small.

Whether you took part in the challenge or not, take the time to write down for the first time or again,  all the things that you are grateful for about yourself, all the things that you are good at and see how it feels. NO JUDGEMENT. 

Note how the things you want to change flood in, park them, refocus on the positive.

Sometimes, this might be so big and new, that it feels too much and you can’t think of anything. Ask someone you love and trust and is KIND, what they see as your qualities. That they are grateful in you. 

 It requires a change of perception, not easy but worth the effort. 

Sending Love K xxx