—video transcript—

A long while back at the church that my husband and I attend, they had a “take a prayer, leave a prayer” tree out in the lobby. So, as we were leaving services one Sunday, I took a prayer to see how I could lift somebody up in prayer
That little prayer just stuck with me. I still have it. I keep it in the car, and I look at it every now and then, and it really calibrates me and helps me as I create content to share with you. The prayer said,
“Who do you want me to be?”

I could almost picture a face—the exact person who might be asking that question. Our church has a certain demographic, so I’m picturing late 20-something or early 30 -omething woman who is just searching, searching. And, if I’m completely honest, my reaction to that question, that prayer, “who do you want me to be?— It made me sad because I just wanted to look at that person and say,
“You are you. Be you!”

Yes, we have an identity in our faith. You are certainly a child of God, but you are unique. And just be you! Turn that energy into excavating the realness of yourself versus clamoring and grasping for someone else’s or some entity’s definition of who you are. Be YOU.

This has come to mind today. It comes to mind fairly often, because I think it’s a very vital and wonderful quest to become our truest selves. I’ve got to read this quote to you. I come back to it every now and then, and I’ve actually purchased greeting cards that say this. It was written by Emily McDowell, and I love it. Here we go.

“Finding yourself is not really how it works. You aren’t a $10 bill in last winter’s coat pocket. You are also not lost. Your true self is right there, buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a kid that became your beliefs about who you are. Finding yourself is actually returning to yourself, an unlearning, an excavation ,remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you.”

Again, that’s from Emily McDowell, and if you google that, you’ll find her website. I think it’s Em and friends, and if you want to purchase items with that quote on it, you certainly can and support her very thoughtful, creative business.

Remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you. This is just a running theme in my life. And I have recently created blogcasts that touch very much on this topic about “who says,”—why do we do certain things? Things that are culturally accepted or socially deemed normal beliefs that we were born into family dynamics and standards that just by proximity, we accepted it as our own, and then at some point never questioned and just integrated them into how we operate in everyday life. And maybe those things are not really, truly you.

That excavation can help unearth the truest you, which leads to the most beautiful and abundant way to live.

This very morning, as the Emily McDowell quote came to mind, I was scrolling social media and there was a really cool post where the lady invited you to take a screenshot ‘cause it was a video in which phrases were rapidly, rapidly going across the screen and whatever your screenshot capture was from that post was your thought for the day. And I kinda sorta loved it ‘cause I played along and the screen capture I I got was “today. I am myself.” I was like, “oh, this is so on theme; this is where I’m at.”

The more I create here on this website that I’ve started and in the content that I’m bringing you, I’m really unearthing my truest self. everything I’m bringing you is very sincere and thoughtful, and I seek for it to be purely motivated. It’s a challenge in this crazy world, but that’s my goal. Everything I create, every post I put on social media, every blogcast, I’m excavating down to what is the core that’s most important to me, that’s so important to me that I want to share it with you.

Today. I am myself. I love the thought of what if we all sought to be our most true, authentic selves?
Like give it six weeks just to be fully you; be so honest, it’s a little scary, and see what becomes of it. Not clamoring to be a standard that someone else set, not clamoring to please people in our lives, even if we really care about those people, but getting to the true core of you—doing what’s best for the real you.
Imagine what could come from that.

The beauty of that is there such abundance and generosity that can be generated when you whittle down to that true you, the you before the world got its hands on you.

I just wanted to share these thoughts today because I want the real me to connect with the real you, the undiluted versions of us.

Thanks for being here!
oxo,
Irene