When Everyone Shines INCLUDING You – FREE PEEK at CHAPTER 1

 

It’s easy to remain in the shadows of life when the voice within screams ‘not enough’, ‘too scary’, ‘people hurt me when I’m seen’.

It is safer… but safe is not what living is about; safe is the known – shaky ground is the new.

Many of you were brought up within a family or cultural system that refused to acknowledge your worth. If it were not parents criticising your lack of grades or abilities, it was your teachers letting you know that you simply did not fit in, because you were not able to do as they asked.

You may have rebelled and played up as a child, because why not? Nobody was taking you seriously anyway and nobody believed in you, so if they were correct, why not just have a laugh and not commit to learning?

Or you turned the other way where you were so shy or quiet that you were criticised for your introversion and you tried to fit in, but you never matched up to other people’s expectations.

Either way, you were given a flawed life education, taught by people who had also been given a flawed life education. There were no role models of encouragement.

You were not accepted for who you are.

You were not accepted as someone who simply learned differently and had different interests to other children.

You were not accepted for your kind heart and thoughtful ways because you lived as an introvert in an extrovert world.

You were encouraged to speak out in class, be smart, be confident, be social, but not too social as to disrupt the class.

You were forced to speak up when the very idea filled you with dread, and made you create mental blocks when it came to learning, because all you were focused on was the world looking at you because you were so incredibly shy.

Nobody saw you sitting day after day wanting to embrace who you are, wanting to learn, but to learn ‘your’ passions, ‘your’ skills in ‘your’ own unique way.

Teachers tried to force you to get better at subjects you did not like and placed less emphasis on those you loved.

Your parents looked at grades not growth.

Your parents looked at behaviour not someone screaming for something new, something vibrant to get your mind and heart into.

So you dulled everything down.

You stopped shining.

The extrovert with a desire to be physical, to learn with a passion in an engaging way became sick, became tired, gave up and settled.

The introvert or shy human snuffed out what light was quietly flickering in class, as each teacher scared you half to death wanting you to perform and be verbally social.

You dimmed your light.

For some of you, you switched it off completely and this is often when physical health issues began.

You answered to the world and said YES when you meant NO. And your body said NO through stopping you in your tracks so that you would listen to it speak.

You answered to the world by ‘people pleasing’, trying to speak confidently as you ached in intense anxiety, wondering if you would ever feel safe again.

Yet dimming your light became your own safety zone, even though this self-protection was also protecting you from your own inner sense of joy, happiness and freedom.

That light was your soul’s calling, your soul’s purpose and it was snuffed out.

Acknowledge that for a moment.

Feel it inside your heart.

The cultural and societal conditioning snuffed out your life-force.

This requires compassion, whole-hearted presence and acceptance.

Hold that child in your heart right now, before turning another page. That child needs tending to and to be acknowledged and accepted for the trauma it suffered at the hands of an unhealthy education system and society’s demands and expectations.