BEING WHO WE ARE

     It's ok to be who we are. It's ok to love what we love and to laugh at the things that strike us as funny, and to cry at whatever moves us to tears. It's ok to be a little pudgy, or skinny, or muscular, or lanky. It's ok to have any and every combination of imperfect body parts. It's ok to need time alone, to want to be with people, to take naps, eat desserts, be a vegetarian. Authentic living does not apologize for itself.
     If we squash ourselves to fit some mold, or live according to specific cultural ideals or expectations, we will suffer for it. If we live restrained and in check, containing our passions and our pleasures, we miss out on freedom, and we miss out on love. We are meant to be true to ourselves, and to contribute to the world what we, alone, can contribute- our unique combination of life and heart and body and soul. We are love in action when we are who we are. When we are who we are, the joy of self-expression radiates off of us like sun-rays and we light the path we travel, and illuminate the people we touch.

I do not apologize for being who I am. I glory in self-expression.