“Life is brief, but if you’re brave, it’s deep.” Elissa Schappell
“Oh if I only knew then what I know now!” How many of us have said THAT before?
I led a life coaching workshop this past weekend, where women were asked to bring in a photograph of themselves when they were children, paste it into their journals and then write down the gentle whispers you would say to that young girl now – knowing what you know today.
I wanted to play along too and my whispers to my 10-year old self would be something like this:
- Be honest – with yourself and everyone else.
- Forgive yourself – then forgive everyone else.
- See the beauty in yourself – then look for it in everyone else.
- Protect your energy.
- Laugh….a lot!
- Travel as often as you can.
- Your friends will disappoint you. So what? Love them anyway.
- Perfectionism is an illusion. Give it up.
- It is not your responsibility to change anyone, ever.
- Just because someone didn’t have the capacity to love you as you needed to be loved does not make you unlovable.
- You have a bright light inside of you – don’t let anyone dim that light, including you.
- You really are more powerful than you can even imagine.
- When you slow down and get still, you will hear your own intuition.
- The answer to every problem, every troubled relationship and every moment of self-doubt is love. Just show up in love.
- Be brave. Even when you’re scared to death.
- You will know what truth is for yourself when you feel it. Pay attention to that feeling.
- You are big. Your life is big. You love is big. Your heart is big. Act like it.
- No matter what happens, you will always be okay.
- You will be told how this path called life is supposed to look by well-intentioned parents and teachers. It’s actually going to look vastly different than what you were told and there may be some surprises along the way and that is exactly how it’s supposed to be.