A Love Note To Myself

There are so many voices in this world. All of them, most of them, some of them, maybe half, maybe a quarter, a handful, the inner circle, one that matters, they want what is best for you, or possibly something of a compromise between what is best for you and them, perhaps even what seems good for you but is excellent for them. They make tons of racket, noise that lets you know that you should love yourself as you are but you should also lose ten pounds, stop eating your favorite food, graduate from an Ivy League university in two years with no debt and solve the problems facing society, while you run ten miles daily, meditate for at least ten minutes, feed your family three squarely healthy meals a day, read a book a week, and be a general portrait of perfection.

But that noise, it blocks out all the best things.

The sound of leaves as the rustle on these days just before autumn sets in full, lazy afternoons with small people watching movies on your worn-in (well-loved?) sofa, the sound of your heart churning away to let you know it is still there, keeping you awash. The quiet whir of your mind as it goes to someplace amazing, leaving beautiful things in its wake.

We aren't projects. I am not a project. You are not a project. You don't have to constantly improve. I don't have to work so damn hard all the time. Neither do you. Unless that's your thing. I don't suggest that you leave all attempts to be better behind, but are you doing all this to quiet down the most important sound of all? Sometimes I catch myself listening to all the noise, and I devour the words and they become part of me, because you are what you eat. I will brutalize myself in the name of improvement.

When I do that, I stifle the most important sound.

Let your inner voice be your guide. Allow her the volume to reach through to your daily life, to fuel your happiness in the present. Muffle her power less. Nurture her, so that she may be a beast among men. Then we can take on the world, with love in our hearts. Love yourself.

Note: I have not read the piece from which this graphic is excerpted.