Two days ago on June 1st, I decided to focus on recognizing and really owning my goodness for this month. This is something I've been thinking about for awhile now and something that was articulated into words during an inspiring life coaching session with the amazing Lena Meyer back in March. As wonderful as it sounds though, this has been a bit of a difficult topic for me, so I felt it was important to practice it this month as an act of cultivating more self-love, self-compassion and self-confidence in my life. And very appropriately, just yesterday, I started my new job! So this added boost of confidence, care and compassion is greatly welcomed as I put myself out there, take risks, try new things, and join a new community of colleagues.
I created a special collage (pictured above) in late March to help me remember this mantra of owning my goodness and it also serves as the cover of my first inspirational collage notebook. I also say this to myself every morning and every night as a way to ground myself in my goodness and remember all the good coming to me and coming from me everyday. I have found it soothing as well when I'm feeling frustrated or grumpy.
But now, this month, I would like to fill this "goodness" with actual examples and details--stories or memories or qualities that I possess that I can call upon to remind myself of my goodness. That is why I have created a whole page to this topic and why I'm writing about it each day this month. So far this year, I have written about creativity in January, abundance in February, self-love in March, grace in April, and surrender in May. And I feel each of these topics has had a great influence on how I view life now. So I am confident that focusing on filling in the details of what goodness really means to me and what my own unique goodness looks like and feels like will only bring more goodness into my life and make me more aware of the goodness that comes from within as well.
When I focus on a significant topic each day, a habit is formed and a greater awareness develops. That is why I know recognize so many different opportunities in life to use my creativity. I recognize how abundant the whole world is and how abundant my spirit is as well. I continually focus on strengthening my self-love muscle as this is a difficult muscle to tone and needs constant maintenance. My practice of grace and surrender are also continual focuses in my life and I see more and more ways that grace and surrender show up in my life now--or at least the need for grace and surrender in order to live with ease.
Each of these daily practices this year are actually cumulative--they truly build on each other and it seems that the topic from the month before becomes so interconnected with the current month. I enjoy this focus because before, I would research random topics, because I love researching and reading about wellness, but get overwhelmed by the wealth of information available to me. Now I feel I am really getting to a more unique space where I am creating the resources at times because I can't find other information about what I want to research. I know from writing a senior honors thesis in college that this is the sign of an available and needed subject to write about because there are not many--if any other sources out there on the topic.
So for Day 1 of my goodness practice this month, I found a definition of the word "goodness" that helped me begin the process of recognizing, looking for, and owning my goodness, and goodness all around me. And one of the words that really stuck with me is "essence." What is my true essence? And what does that mean? When you strip away all of life's stressors and all of your memories and pain and trauma, who are you underneath it all? During experiences of loss and health crisis, I was given the chance to see my true essence, what was underneath all the gunk, and at first I was surprised by all the strength and joy and creative energy I found there, but now I'm moving into a space and time when I can write about my essence and not feel as bashful or afraid of exposing my true nature in a public setting, and my intention is to feel as comfortable about these parts of me as I am about my eye color.
What's underneath all the gunk for you? Can you find your true essence? Your unique goodness? Keep looking if you don't see it at first. And if you feel comfortable, let me know what you find.
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