You Are Beautiful

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One day I was walking my dog downtown, along a sidewalk where we had walked hundreds of times before.

But this time, as I glanced down, I saw something I had never seen there.

You are beautiful

....was written on the sidewalk with a heart below it.

It stopped me in my tracks.

This is the actual photo I took of it!

Along the lines of random acts of kindness, this special little love message felt both personal and universal.

Someone wanted to remind all of us about the truth of who we really are.

It's so easy to forget!

We get caught up in self-criticism and perfectionism.

We want to be more, do more, look better, and feel valued and validated by other people.

We try to live up to impossible standards.

And we get so focused on what's wrong with us or not enough that our mind marks our "flaws" in bright yellow highlighter so we will see them every day!

Then we try so hard to overcome those "flaws", hide from them, or hide them from other people that it becomes normal for the background elevator music of our lives to be a perpetual state of low-grade, chronic stress and dissatisfaction.

How exhausting!

We forget to look at ourselves with the loving eyes we wish others would see us with.

And then someone comes along and does see us with loving eyes. And sees the truth.

And writes it on the sidewalk You are beautiful.

Writes, I imagine, knowing that if we are receptive we will recognize the truth. We will be stopped in our tracks. We will let it in and be reminded, for a least a moment.

What if you had an inner source to see you with loving eyes and remind you of the truth, the real truth, every day.

The truth that...

You are beautiful And wonderful. And special and unique.
And your presence in this world matters.

You do have that inner source. It is your true self. It's who you are at the deepest level. And it always speaks the language of truth: loving kindness.

That's because your true self sees you and talks to you from a level much deeper than your personality's (or ego's) criticisms and not-enoughness.

If you're not hearing your true self or feeling its love,
I want you to know that you can. You absolutely can.

And if you want me to help you do that, that's what I'm here for!

Let's keep this conversation going. This is a topic I'll be coming back to in future blogs because it is of core importance.

Meanwhile, keep your eyes and ears open for signs in the most unexpected places that You are beautiful. And wonderful. And loved.

Believing in you,