On having the courage to feel and accept ALL of your thoughts and feelings.

No one WANTS to reveal that they have ugly thoughts and feelings – those of anger, rage, repulsion, judgment, egotistical, arrogance, ungratefulness.

And yet you have them.

No one wants to reveal feelings of weakness… sadness, hurt, pain, despair, loneliness, apathy.

And yet you have them.

Feelings like these are part of what it means to be human. They’re real as real gets. And to deny their existence by squashing them, pretending they’re not there, or rising above them in what’s usually called ‘spiritual bypass’, makes it very difficult for others to feel like they can deeply know you and trust you. Why? Because of your unwillingness to be real with them – owning and accepting all parts of how you think and feel.

We’re all human. We all have the full gamut of feelings.

Try embracing them fully… no shame, no guilt. If you’re not in that habit, it will feel uncomfortable and weird. You’ll probably feel awkward. And it will certainly make you feel vulnerable.

As you’ll find out if you stick with it, realness like this, true vulnerability… THEY are your strengths.