Once in awhile I run across a blog or essay that really causes me to stop and really breathe it in. Reading a good message can cause a shift in me, ignite a eureka, or cause a deep resounding “yes”, perhaps moving me to tears or giving me courage that day to make a change I didn’t know I had to make intellectually, but at the level of the heart, I did. With all the uncertainty in the world it’s wonderful so many people are sharing their thoughts and hopes. Blogging can be a way of keeping conversations alive and bringing people together.
Rather than have the typical home page on my computer that shows me the news and the weather, my home page is called UpliftConnect – it’s a website that offers content that does what it says- uplift and connect, something I hope my blogs do too.
A few days ago an article was posted by author Charles Eisenstein, and with his permission I am going to share it with you. Love to hear your thoughts after in the comments. What would you tell your younger self?
I know I would tell mine.. “You are enough, you are lovable, you are capable, you are talented, Just because awful things have happened doesn’t mean they have to happen again. You are worthy of respect. You don’t have to be afraid you will be punished if you say no. You can be yourself. You have to be yourself. You will be liberated when you stop trying to be what you think the world wants and follow what you heart and soul knows is true. Be brave little one.. Be brave.”
Look forward to your thoughts.. Love you so 😉
What I Wish I’d Known Back Then… A Letter to My Younger Self
By Charles Eisenstein on Saturday July 8th, 2017
Dear self: Your secret, lonely knowledge is true. Despite all you have been told, the world that has been offered to you as normal, is anything but normal. It is a pale semblance of the intimacy, connection, authenticity, community, joy and grief that lie just beneath the surface of society’s habits and routines.
Dear self: You have a magnificent contribution to make to the more beautiful world your heart knows is possible. It may not make you famous, but you have an important gift, an indispensable gift, and it demands you to apply it to something you care about. Unless you do, you will feel like you aren’t really living your life. You will live the life someone pays you to live, caring about things you are paid to care about. You can make a different choice.
Dear self: Do not believe the cynical voice, masquerading as the realistic voice, that says that nothing much can change. That voice will call your dreams by many names: naïve, unrealistic, immature, and irresponsible. Trust your knowledge that the world can be different, can be better. You needn’t sell out and live a life complicit in maintaining the status quo.
Your secret, lonely knowledge is true. Listen to it. Trust it.
Dear self: You carry a deep yearning to contribute to the healing of the world and fulfillment of its possibilities. This is your deepest desire, and if you abandon it you will feel like a ghost inhabiting the mere shell of a life. Instead, trust that desire and follow it toward whatever service it calls you to, however small and insignificant it might seem.
Dear self: The most reliable guide to choice is to follow whatever makes you feel happy and excited to get out of bed in the morning. Life is not supposed to be a grim slog of discipline and sacrifice. You practised for such a life in school; tearing yourself out of bed for days of tedium, bribed with trivial rewards called grades, intimidated by artificial consequences, proceeding through a curriculum designed by faraway authorities, asking permission to use the toilet. It is time to undo those habits. Let your compass instead be joy, love, and whatever makes you feel alive.
Dear self: When you follow your passion and come fully alive, your choices will feel threatening to anyone who abides in the dominant story of normal. You will be reminding them of the path they didn’t follow, and awaken in them the suppressed yearning to devote their gifts to something beautiful. Rather than face that grief, they may suppress it – and suppress you as well.
You have a gift that demands to be shared. For your sake and ours.
Dear self: At a certain moment it will become necessary for you to go on a journey. It isn’t to escape forever. It is to find yourself outside of whoever your conditioning trained you to be. You must put yourself in a situation where you don’t know who you are anymore. This is called an initiation. Who you were becomes inoperative; then, who you will be can emerge.
Dear self: Powerful forces will attempt to make you conform to society’s normality. These will take the form of social pressure, parental pressure, and very likely, economic pressure. When you encounter them, please understand that they are giving you the opportunity to define yourself. When push comes to shove, who are you?
Dear self: The old maps do not apply in these times of transition. Even if you try to follow them, even if you accept their bribes and heed their threats, there is no guarantee you’ll reap the promised rewards. The university graduates washing dishes and the Ph.D.s driving taxis attest to this. We are entering new territory. Trust your guidance. It is OK to make mistakes because, in uncharted territory, even the wrong path is part of finding the right path.
Even the wrong path is part of finding the right path.
Dear self: On this path, you are sure to get lost. But you are held, watched, and guided by a vast organic intelligence. It will become visible when things fall apart – as surely they must, in the transition between worlds. You will stumble, only to find overlooked treasure beneath your feet. You’ll despair of finding the answer – and then the answer will find you. Breakdown clears the space for synchronicity, for help unimagined and unearned.
Dear self: None of this advice can be sustainably implemented by a heroic effort on your part. You need help. Seek out other people who reinforce your perception that a more beautiful world is possible and that life’s first priority is not security, but rather to give of your gifts, to play, to love and be loved, to learn, to explore. When those people (your tribe) are in crisis, you can hold them in the knowing of what you know. And they can do the same for you. No one can do this alone.
Yes yes this is the letter I would have said to the young self. You ora rock colette
I really needed to “hear” this right now…
Dear self: stop trying so hard…trust that it will all work out because it always – ALWAYS – does.
(PS Colette, I’m looking forward to seeing you in Red Deer Friday!)
Yes! Beautiful letter! And, today I am that young one aching for that letter. And today and the one I am today is reading it. This is the moment I get to be that person who has read and headed this letter. This more beautiful world is awakening together!
The one thing I forget most often “Breakdown clears the space for synchronicity, for help unimagined and unearned.” We are so caught up in always appearing to be “okay,” we forget the importance of letting the not okay moments devour us sometimes – just for a bit. Love you, Colette!
I call breakdowns ‘break-aparts’ because it reveals the true you, the true self. It also takes courage and bravery to rebuild a new life after the ‘break-aparts’. Its also called post traumatic growth. Blessings to you.
Loved it! This is what I forget most often: “Breakdown clears the space for synchronicity, for help unimagined and unearned.” Thank you for reminding me that it’s okay to fall apart sometimes instead of pretending that everything is always okay. Love you, Colette!
Dear Colette….I felt the message was talking to me…In my deepest heart I wish I could have told my younger self those very words..It took a long journey through my life to reach my goal of spiritual enlightenment.I am still traveling in a uncharted territory. I am still learning. When I was younger I did get a very clear message from Spirit.But didn’t follow the path until I was 50 yrs. old. I know I have a long way to go. But that’s what life is all about. A Endless wonderful journey back to spirit…Sending you lots of love…Pauline .
Dear Colette and Pauline, Thank you for sharing. I too felt the message was talking to me… I just thank my spirit guide again. I don’t believe that I would feel and think the way I do today, unless I had gone through those experiences and felt that pain. Today, I am so grateful for everything. Again, thank you so much Colette. You are an angel. May you be blessed. Sending love and light, Jeannet.
Colette you are my guru!!! As the saying goes. When the student is ready the teacher will appear. I remember trying to find myself as early as my twenties, and then thirties. But as long as I stayed around my family I could never do it. At a very young age about 5 years old I had an out of body experience, I knew it was real but even that young I wouldn’t tell anyone, because even that young I knew it was the wrong thing to do and later chalked it up as a dream. Today I stand by it, it happened! I was a magical mystical misfit. I could go on but, you are a busy lady. This article applies to me so very clearly. Now I am 63 earthly chronological years old and I am pursuing me. I am in Tucson, Arizona away from my family. In the near future I would love to read oracle and Tarot cards (your beautiful cards, I will buy both decks soon.) This morning I pulled the deck wisdom of the oracle and asked about being a card reader, for my highest good. This wasn’t the exact phrasing but I pulled fork in the road, flexible and blessing in reverse. Thank you Colette with love.
Higher Power reversed. Building Blocks reversed. Round and Round reversed. I’m still struggling with old fears about how this new form of my work will actually come into being: Am I good enough? Can I get the support I need? I had it brought home to me a few weeks back that I really can’t do it all by myself and now I’m struggling with a crisis of confidence in my aims and my level of commitment and the quality of what I can offer.
Thank you Colette. Even at 70 these words ring so true. As a child I knew there was something more than what I saw. At 13 I had a dream that I was standing in front of all the people of the world. A voice spoke to me saying, “Pray and there will be peace.” In the dream I did and there was peace, beautiful peace…but waking from the dream, I still had to get ready for school and “get on with reality”.
I never wanted to grow up because the adults I knew and saw seemed so sad weighted down by their daily existence. As I grew older I tried very hard to grow up, to fit the mould of accepted adulthood, but I never quite did.
I am a painter. I knew in my deepest soul at age 16 that was who I was. And so I began painting. Learning what I could from books and other painters’ work I persisted. For awhile I was able to support myself as an illustrator but when computers entered the scene I knew I was not meant to use a machine to create.
Now at age 70 I have taken a stand for my art. If not now when? I have stopped beating myself up when my bank account is close to $0. I am learning to trust and follow the unmarked trail into the imaginary garden of my calling.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Thank you ❤
I love your idea of posting something inspirational and of course your letter to your younger self. This is perfect since as an adult we get to re-parent ourselves.
I picked cards from your Wisdom of Hidden Realms deck. All prescriptive & upright were The Eyes of Beauty,The Arrow Master & The Winged Wise Ones. Look at life as beautiful with a glass half full positive, gratitude attitude. Be open to aiming for whatever i wish to achieve with the aknowledgement of being in alignment with spirit and the gift of detachment in trusting in spirit deciding & delivering on the how and when my wishes happen. Also to become still and meditate to hear the wisdom of the angels and spirit’s guidance for me. Just perfect xx
I picked cards from your Wisdom of Hidden Realms deck. All prescriptive & upright were The Eyes of Beauty,The Arrow Master & The Winged Wise Ones. Look at life as beautiful with a glass half full positive, gratitude attitude. Be open to aiming for whatever i wish to achieve with the aknowledgement of being in alignment with spirit and the gift of detachment in trusting in spirit deciding & delivering on the how and when my wishes happen. Also to become still and meditate to hear the wisdom of the angels and spirit’s guidance for me. Just perfect xx
Yesterday, you asked us to comment on this week’s oracle card reading by taking the added step to visit your online website and draw those three cards for the day, week, whatever. I drew Happy, happy–Message in a bottle, and the same Fork in the road as you had in this week’s video. When I first attempted this, my thinking was scattered and so I impulsively began selecting without first centering myself, and in the process, was reminded that w edo need to respect ourselves and the cards.
Orphaned. Regeneration. Breathe. Out of this I get to be myself, prepare for renewal and new beginnings and to stay calm about it. Very fitting for what I’m going through personally and the things I want to change in my life. This week I have had a more focused effort of staying focused on taking the steps in front of me. Small steps daily will get me to where I want to be.
YES…YES…YES! I am in the initiation/transition phase and boy is it difficult to navigate everyday life when it no longer has any meaning or connection to me. I REALLY needed to read this today. It gives me the courage and strength to keep moving forward, thanks for posting this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful letter to younger self! Your Tribe has become my Tribe & my safe zone when things need to be said. Thanks to you & your magnificent decks I will always have a co-creator in Spirit at my fingertips <3
I would say to my younger self You are enough, you will be enough, perfection is imperfect and finally Like TGT #9 of Water says “It is right to say NO to what isn’t right for me”!!!
Perfect!
Dear self stop trying to hard go with the flow! You are worthy , you are loved & most of all I love myself! Be confident in everything you do! ????
Exactly what I needed to hear. These are the messages my innerself has been whispering for months now. Beautiful. Thank You.
Wow! So much rings true for me in this article. Thank you for bringing it before me and into the light. Where it says “you must put yourself in a position that you don’t know who you are. This is called the initiation” calls to me as I think of the Good Tarot deck. For in my first tarot deck the fool card was called the “initiate”. We all have to begin our journeys as the one who initiates the act of going forward. It give us permission to not know all that is. Each step is just that a step toward knowing ourselves.
Dear Younger Self, life beat you up emotionally & physically at a very early age. Even some of your “trusted” humans cause your pain. Some by design and others believing they were right. This was their lower Ego not yours. Out of these shadows will emerge a stonger, worthy and more compassionate Soul. A survivor not a victim. Keep going!!
I am speechless. That was devine timing ❤
Colette, you wrote that you hope your blog “uplifts and connects”. I am here to tell ya…IT DOES!
Dear self, let go of the confusion trust your instincts, love yourself, and don’t listen to the external negitivity be strong, trust you will be loved regardless of your flaws and health.
Be kinder to you and be happy to be you, you are a good person with so much to give, give not to be loved but to love.
Omg I could go on forever thank you Collette xxx
Hi Colette
I was listening to your weekly reading and I understood the message but felt like it is a few weeks time for me not this coming week. But that’s okay, I followed up and picked my three cards of what I needed to know for the week ahead, Magic!
My cards were New Life, Change in the Wind and All that Glitters. I instantly looked at them and thought fabulous without looking at your meaning I thought the cold I currently have is clearing things that I didn’t need to hang onto so that I can start the next chapter. Change is very much welcomed and appreciated at the moment for me so bring it on. The last card all that glitters I felt was a celebration on a personal level after these changes occur. Then I read your meaning and saw that it’s about seeing beyond the sparkles so I feel that for me is a lesson to not what to be like those I admire and just be comfortable in the way that I am. I can still shine and be natural without needing to mask up and pretend.
I now look forward to my week ahead, Thank you
I just can’t describe the feelings that overcame me with this reading—I felt like it was meant for me and just in time. I was ready to toss in the whole bit… just could not go on any longer but this reading and the letters to self opened my eyes to the fact that I can do what I need to do and want desperately to do even if I’m told it makes no sense. Now I know it does make sense, might not for everyone but it does for me and I’m ready to forge ahead. Again Thank You from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful talent that you so willingly share with us all– love you. I’m heading for the cards and checking what I have to learn for this week, should have before but wanted to post my comment.
This letter speaks to my SOUL!!!!
Thank you. It’s just what I needed.
It reminds me to be true to my authentic self and not to wear the masque of conformity. In other words… I am free to be the me I was meant to be.
Camel Boy, Hawk Prince and Resting Tree in protection!
Small steps….and ask for help. Lightning my burdens….phew! Spirit communication. awesome, Listening to Spirit as its not all on my shoulders….phew again! and resting tree in protection is perfect. Permission to slow down.
this is so in harmony with the reading! I do have a big decision in front of me both with work and personally and i am feeling tired but telling myself i have to push through. so this is really welcome guidance. Awesome Colette! THankyou so much.
Dear Colette, thank you so much for all that you are. This article really moved me as i have been praying for guidance and this was definitely a beautiful reminder. Something in me wants to come alive, I feel like a tiger has just woken up inside my tummy and it won’t sit still, it just wants to roar, its bigger than me, I feel alive. I am definitely in uncharted waters, as what I did no longer makes my heart sing and i’m not sure where i’m going now. I had a vision three years ago that I was in a sailing boat heading out of a safe harbour and moving into a vast ocean without any map. At first it terrified me, but now I see that it is time to surrender to the unknown possibilities that exist beyond what i’ve known. Bon voyage.
Lots of love
Sundai
Dear Colette .. WOW WOW WOW .. thank you .. that was powerful !!! xoxo Lisa
I chose a spread from the Wisdom of Avalon deck. #29 The Wind Faery – the power of our thoughts – I feel that abundance is being manifested yet it is not present in my life in the physical form… yet it is, but I may not be aware of it… and yes, I will continue to be positive, compassionate and kind to myself ; #15, The Spider – creative projects – reminder that God is always with me on my side – I co-create with Him for that happiness and fulfillment – it is time to create, move forward (with well thought out strategy): #48 Fear – Yes, I recognize that fear is holding me back – fear of change – success &/or failure – fear of repeating past failures – fear of a major change (again) -fear of depending fully on my abilities… and in writing I recognize that it is not me… I am supported always..- I know the time is coming for me to break through these fears as well as the fear of what others think (which is losing it’s hold, but still has some) I will write that inventory… have started this earlier this week or last week… When I sit and know that Spirit Within me is connected to God, I feel safe, loved and knowing… I know transformation is unfolding. There are signs (red-winged black bird died in my back yard and I buried it with ceremony) I am becoming more frustrated with my workplace and at the same time more open to allow others their input and opinions w/o comment from me … Thank you Collette!
Your words always align with my spirit! This is how I know that you are speaking true wisdom and I cannot get enough of your writing. I am an aspiring writer and enjoy your depth of character and fun filled stories! You have helped me find the light in the darkness of life. Thank you so much for sharing with all of us.
Yes, the readings are super ON! I saw this today and my week has been just that. I am in an ecopsychology masters program at Naropa and I had to rewrite an experiential paper for a final. I needed to change how I perceive the topic and I kept myself in the south and west of the life wheel and pitched a tantrum with myself, venting with some friends who understand me. I had to shift, ask for wisdom and guidance from Spirit, complete three new meditation practices and then simply write what my body experience was. I’m in the North always and too much in my head. I had to give in to a new me (just finished a vision quest as well) and listen to the still small voice. Not easy, yet well worth it! Loves Colette!
????????????????????????????ON THIS VERY TRIPLE 17 CODE DAY OF POWER AND IMMORTAL LEADERSHIP BLESSINGS TO YOU —– kisses and hugs Diana
Dear Self, it is your right to fulfill your dreams and live your life, because it is your life after all. There will be those who attempt to manipulate, shame, humiliate and punish you. They will try to bend you to their will. These are their failings and wrongs, not yours. These are their methods of control, because they are sadly lacking. You are enough, you are strong, you are worthy, you deserve respect and love. Stand strong in your power and be the awesome self you are meant to be.
I loved this! I appreciate my past because it is what brought me to this point in my spiritual journey. I am attracting beautiful loving people because I have changed and shifted due to all that I have experienced up to now and it will continue. I went through situations similar to yours Colette and I just love what you are doing. I’m glad I found you. Like attracts like. so true….
“Don’t die with you music still inside of you”. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul ” Wayne W. Dyer The saddest words in the English language are :
“It might have been. ”
” If we knew what we were capable of it would literally astound us. ” Thomas A. Edison
Don’t think I could have said it any better.
XOXOX
Hello, Colette, and happy belated birthday greetings.
WOW! When I saw the first picture Charles Eisenstein used in his blog post featured above, I got out my copy of “Ashes & Snow” (a DVD featuring the works of Gregory Colbert, of which that photograph is part of) and just melted into the bliss of that amazing work. I don’t know if you or others here have seen, “Ashes and Snow”, but it is an amazing work. It’s also just what I needed to pull me out of where I’ve been.
I’m going to come back and read the rest of the blog, but I just had to share my excitement over seeing that image just in case anyone else might have been interested in, “Ashes and Snow”. (I also have the music CD from the production.).
Blessings!