Break free by being YOU
S2E5 : How About Love and Relationships?
It's Valentine's Day, so why not chat about love, relationships, and all the should be's, what if's, and why not's?
Truth or Comfort
Is it about pleasing your desires? Validating your expectations? Confirming your biases? Comforting your beliefs? Clinging to primitive ways?
Or...
Is it about being curious about the unfamiliar? Exploring something different? Reconceptualizing your worldview? Discovering new perspectives. Unlearning conditioned behaviors and thought patterns? Learning anew in the present moment?
You Are Pure
We all get distracted from recognizing the purity, the beauty, and the splendidness of our true self in the moment. And yet, it remains. What causes us to be so distracted and more so, label oneself something one is not? Simply stated, our minds. Our experiences from the past. Our expectations about the future. Our looping of what ifs. The bombardment of cultural and societal shoulds. All of this feeds our minds to construct myths which distract us from what is. Strip away the outside landscape, silence the outside noise, let go of the past and the future. What is left? A beautiful, pure soul lovingly basking in the present moment.
Fear Is Not A Validation
People hear what you say. People see what you do. But people do not experience your life experiences as you do.
Furthermore, we often dial down or even hide our truth. The deep, core experience dancing in our souls and warming our hearts. For as real as it feels to us, we still try to make sense of it. We question it and doubt it. There are so many reasons why we do this and it all points back to fear.
How much do you reveal in your moment to moment?
We tell people what we think they will accept. We show people what we think they will accept. We surrender to fear. We tell ourselves we have difficult choices to make, but what that really mean is we have tradeoffs to make. The tradeoff is our authenticity for someone else's acceptance. Why? Because we allow fear to be a validation for how we choose to live.
Fear is NOT a validation.
words on image: Michael Barata / image: Jez Timms
Be Instead of Prove
Think about your energy. Think about your time. Think about YOUR LIFE. How do you want/need to be expressing yourself? How often do you allow someone else to influence how you create and live your life?
Your reference point for your authenticity is within YOU. Your successes and failures contribute to the path you are blazing. Burn the bridges of conformity and judgment with every step you take.
Stop proving yourself. Love yourself. Trust yourself. Nurture yourself. BE YOURSELF!
all words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Nick Fewings
Questions
So busy. So distracted. So tired. So frustrated. So doubtful.
How can you see? How can you be? What should you see? Who should you be?
Where have you been? .
all words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Jon Tyson
Your Inner Journey
We ask for advice. We get judged. We look for signs. We take wrong turns. We heed others’ opinions. We ignore our own intuition.
Of course there are people in your life who can help you. That’s a beautiful thing. But that doesn’t mean you ignore what YOU can do for you. We are taught as children to heed, to obey, to get in line, to follow, to respect others. All of this leads to a dissolution of self. Is it any wonder why so many people don’t know much about themselves, even worse, scoff at the notion of going within to discover more about themselves AND life?
Your willingness and wonder about who you are can reveal your gifts, your talents, your passion, and yes, your strength. The journey within is lifelong. Along the way, we hit detours, obstacles, and even deadends. What do those things look like? Well, they could be family and friends, authority figures, failures, and traumatic experiences. However, as long as you have breath, the inner journey can continue.
If you’re looking for answers, for love, for direction, start within. What you discover inside of you will be YOUR truth rather than their suggestions.
words on image: Michael Barata / image: unknown
You're Magical
Stop forgetting. Please. We all do. For so many reasons.
Our magic disappears under layers of guilt, after years of conditioning. Our magic is intimidated by our fears and harshly judged by others.
But guess what? You’re the magician who can make your magic re-appear. You can use your magic to overcome and rise above it all. Because you can make your magic do whatever you want.
You’re pure magic. Let that sink in.
words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Garidy Sanders
Your Energy Foundation
We allow the outside world to influence how we live. We all do. From situations to people, what is happening outside of us receives so much of our attention.
Speaking your truth cannot be contingent on how it may be received. Choosing who or what gets space in your life does not require permission from anyone but you. Being there for yourself in every way possible is a healthy imperative. And your dreams, are your dreams to discover, pursue, and live out.
You deserve your own attention, time, and space to create a strong, grounded, and loving foundation for yourself. It’s your energy.
words on image: Michael Barata / image: Chetan Menaria
Empty Yourself
What are you holding onto?
When you empty yourself of grudges, hidden pain, unsaid words, and suppressed fears, something happens. You free yourself of emotional weight.
This requires you to be stripped down, incredibly vulnerable, and completely truthful with yourself and others. Why with others? Well, we often lose sight of who we are because we hide ourselves from others.
To be seen is to empty ourselves of all conditioning, of all “should be’s”, of all fears, of all self-doubt, of all reservations about what others may think or say or do. Relationship with ourselves is the starting point, but we need to overcome hiding that precious relationship when engaging in relationships with others.
Emptying yourself creates space for truth, healing, love, and nurturing healthy, authentic relationships.
words on image: Michael Barata / image: Beata Ratusniak
Your Inner Badass
Inside each of us is a badass. Our inner badass lives authentically. Loves boldly. Speaks confidently.
To our inner badass, fear is something to overcome. Pain is the teacher and healing is the lesson. Vulnerability is an opportunity for growth. Our inner badass will only express our truth.
What stops our inner badass? We do. We quiet it. We hide it. We ignore it. We deny it. We doubt it.
No more. Give way to your inner badass.
words on image: Michael Barata / image: Mabel Amber
Or Lie
So much is said about living authentically. Identifying your purpose. Being who you were meant to be. Acknowledging your vulnerability and choosing to live wholeheartedly. Honestly expressing yourself. Knowing and accepting yourself.
Essentially, if you’re not living your truth, you’re living a lie.
image: Joe Longo