Recent life events have me wandering through my inner hallways trying to determine which doors open up to reveal true aspects of myself and which are filled only with doubt and deceit. I'm trying to stay away from those doors. It's too easy to go in, turn on a light and shut the door behind me. Getting cozy in that room of self pity and negativity is a dangerous thing. Rough patches like these are when we count on the messages from childhood to sustain us. Surely there are other ideas about ourselves that we create and gather as we travel through life, but the foundation is made up of those early messages. And if they've been missing or not so positive? Then a lot of effort must go into combatting them. It may be more important to hang onto the newer messages, but it's a lot easier to fall back into the familiar, despite the knowledge that it is a false and self destructive place.“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” The most beautiful affirmation to a child as quoted in The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The happy people that I know, the positive, peaceful ones....they spend time affirming qualities of their character or the life they want to lead. It's something I have been working on, having the faith and patience to believe my own words. And making sure they are the right words.
I'm also busy making sure I am sending the right words to the children in my life. It's not always easy, especially on those days when patience is short and stress is long. I can't seem to take this post where I want it to go. Maybe I'll revisit it later. I guess for now just trying to remember I is kind, I is smart and I is important. And so are you.
