One of the things I am exploring at the moment as part of a mentor-ship program I do with my teacher and mentor Elena Brower is what belonging means to me.
I have been pondering this for quite a few days and also started reading Brene Brown’s new book “Braving the wilderness” which explores belonging in a very deep sense. I highly recommend this book – My highlighter is all over it!
What came to mind for me is that I really belong to myself and to my family – my husband, kids & dog. This is the place that is home to me, where I feel safe, relaxed and where I can be myself – I am so super grateful for my husband who supports me in all I do and puts up with all my weird and wonderful ideas, views, plans …..
I belong to me and my family, I belong to me comfortably, I belong in this beautiful country, in our beautiful house, I belong in my little yoga room, I belong to my books, to my garden, to my friends, to the ocean, to the forests. I belong to many places and things but certainly I don’t belong to any box in particular and I completely and utterly refuse to be squished into any more boxes either by my own doing or by others doing intentionally or unintentionally.
Today when I walked the dog I had this vision of me trying to squish into all the pre-made boxes over the years and the discomfort when realising again and again that I didn’t fit ANYWHERE – no box would suit me.
So now I am just spilling out nicely all over the place wherever my inner light calls me to go, my heart tells me to look. I am making my own mold and it fits perfectly and it changes constantly and it belongs to me and I belong to it.
Today Nina my daughter asked me if we could do something together, so we decided drawing was the thing and I made my vision of belonging visible – dinner was terribly late and prepared in a panic. Part of the mentor-ship is to explore our creativity and its been so nice to have an excuse to sit down and do something creative. I have always had the thought that my art wasn’t good enough to show anyone, but bugger that. My art belongs to me, its not a masterpiece but its made my be.
Here is a part I would like to share from “Braving the wilderness” by Brene Brown for you to ponder your own notion of belonging:
True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are, it requires you to be who are.
Sending love and gratitude to my family, my friends, all my students and people who follow me and see me and accept & respect me for who I am – I appreciate each and everyone of you. xxx