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She grabs shame by the scruff.
Yet speaks to it kindly.
Telling it that it is not welcome here.
And it is time to leave.
It listens.
She walks with confidence, learned slowly but
Now impenetrable,
Not egotistic,
Just a knowing of what she is worth.
She is still soft. She always was.
Naivity combined with street smarts.
Whimsy that can’t be stepped on.
Her softness was never lost.
She doesn’t keep her truth quiet.
As complicated and intricate as it is
She has finally found the words
To speak it.
She has taken all the words and sideways glances
That she once took as truth and rewove
Them into a learning that life as she knows it
wouldn’t have happened without them.
Perhaps she won’t stop being angry, maybe she will.
But her anger reminds her of the importance of
self-love, self-care
And defining your own worth.
She is not yet who I am.
Or perhaps she is but that I just can’t yet see.
So I’ll keep on turning the camera on myself.
Inviting her into the frame.
***
This appeared this morning in response to a photo prompt I gave the Re-Writing the Story class yesterday. I’m experiencing this class differently than I’ve ever experiences one of my classes before….needing to take my own advice that I’m giving to the participants. I’m also so moved by their bravery, the way that they show up in their images and words in this class. So grateful that I get to cheer on and witness people showing up for themselves, taking control of their self-image through the camera and in turn, I get to dig even deeper into my own process of showing up for myself.
The Re-Writing the Story class is no longer offered but was a pre-cursor to the Be Your Own Beloved E-Course which explores a similar theme of creating new stories of how we see ourselves.
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