What if being yourself is the secret to success?

Mindfulness is all about being you, with all of your quirks, foibles and hang-ups. In being all of this, you discover acceptance, compassion and love.

I don’t know about you, but for the longest time, every time I sat down to meditate I had a hidden agenda. I’d heard all about letting go and acceptance but really I wanted things to be different.

I wanted to feel different, I wanted to think differently, I wanted to be different. Really I wanted to be someone else. And so meditation became a subtle project of not being me. As you might imagine this isn’t much fun.

These days I see that mindfulness is all about being you. With all of your quirks, foibles and hang-ups. With all your painful parts.

In being all of this, with genuine vulnerability, you discover acceptance, compassion and love. In turn, this connects you with everyone around you.

The funny thing is that this feels good. And so as you learn to be yourself, in all of your clumsiness and imperfection, you want to be you even more.

At this point, it’s reasonable to question how you actually do this.

How can I be me when being me can be so painful and hard?

This is where meditation comes in. Exercises you can play with to learn different ways of being you. Ways that feel ok and that put you in touch with helpful qualities. Qualities like space, flow and kindness.

As you explore this you’ll discover that parts of you that have been rejected can be included. And parts of you that have been ignored can be nourished. Over time this transforms your experience of being you, without you needing to become anyone else.