As the sun shines in my apartment on this beautiful (almost) winter’s day, I am reminded of so much light, positivity, and happiness that I am blessed with in this life. More so than that, the sun reminds me to SHINE.
We were so lucky last night to have a holiday get-together with friends old and new and truly catch up on the exciting and sometimes frightening unknown of THE FUTURE…dun dun dun.
There was a common theme of existential uncertainty in all of our conversations: “life is good for right now, but….”, “I’m not sure if this is what I want to be doing forever, but….”, “How did this whole adult-hood thing happen? What’s next….”
If you’ve been reading my posts, you may also notice a common theme, I LOVE to give advice. I truly believe in the positive, I truly believe in trusting a Greater Plan, and I will always try to advise the silver lining and find the positive in any situation.
I had a moment of clarity while I was listening to my friends’ existential internal conflicts and while I was finding a way of spinning to the positive last night. If you read this far, here comes my unsolicited advice!
We all have this light. Like the children’s song, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!” It is our personal light; the positive side of our personality. Our sense of humor, our courage, our strengths, our compassion, our empathy, our love.
Sometimes, our light gets covered up. Sometimes there are circumstances or events or words exchanged or [insert what upsets you here] that shovels a scoop of dirt and darkness over our light. With conscious thought, we can quickly sweep away the dirt and darkness and continue sharing our light.
But sometimes, the circumstances are too constant, too overwhelming, too heavy to quickly sweep away. We let the darkness, dirt, toxicity sit there and become our new norm. We become detached from our light and we feel like a piece of us is missing. We feel like we have lost the warmth of our soul.
When this happens, we can do two things: one) we can accept the darkness and let this new norm consume us and live knowing “something isn’t quite right, but I can learn to be okay with how it is now.”
Or two) start the intense, mindful, conscious process of shoveling away the darkness.
“Hide it under a bushel. NO! I’m gonna let it shine.”
How does one start this intense, mindful, conscious process of removing the dirt, you ask?
- Trust in your family, friends, faith! Talk it out, cry it out. Your family and true friends will love you unconditionally. You may even experience comfort in knowing that you are not the only one feeling this way and you can work on shining your light together!
- Practice self-care! Even if it’s taking a few minutes each day to listen to music or sit in silence.
- Keep a journal that focuses on Gratitude. Gratitude is a CHOICE. Be mindful, be conscious, be appreciative and watch that dirt disappear and your light shine through!
- Be open to change. If something is not making you feel like your true self, have the courage to lean on your loved ones and “take a risk, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway” (thanks, Kelly Clarkson!)
- Practice patience. When weeks, months, years have passed with your light being hidden, it will take weeks, months, years of conscious work and heavy shoveling to chip away the layers of dirt, toxicity, and darkness.
You are unique. You are beautiful. You are enough. YOU ARE RADIANT. Let your light shine bright. Be a beacon of hope and an anchor of love.
Brightly yours,
Ariana xo
