Burning Brightly - Allowing Your Soul to Shine

This is the Daily Om from a week or two ago. I've been letting it sit for some reason, perhaps because it feels too relevant to my life right now. As I begin my work as a therapist, I feel like there is so much to learn, and at the same time, when I am sitting with clients I feel like this is what I should have been doing years ago (even though I know I was not ready then).

I have spent much of my life trying to be invisible. Social anxiety does that to a person. And as this article mentions, making myself invisible also has the unintentional result of preventing me from living in and owning my own talents and skills.

Blogging without a pseudonym was a first step in the direction of living more publicly, and then attending conferences and speaking at them, all of which has moved me to this point where I participated as a speaker in a large teleconference for men this last week, the same week in which I began to see clients.

Burning Brightly
Allowing Your Soul to Shine

When we hide and try to be invisible and unseen by all
we are only really hiding from ourselves.

At times, we’ve all wanted to crawl under a rock and hide away from the world. We may have preferred to be invisible rather than let other people see us or notice that we exist. This desire not to be seen often happens when we are feeling very hurt, angry, or simply weary of the world. And while we may console ourselves with the defense that we are shy, an introvert, or a loner, we may actually be hiding.

When we hide and make believe that we are invisible, we can think that we no one sees us even though, truthfully, we are only really hiding from ourselves. And while we may try to live life as inconspicuously as possible, we only succeed in becoming more conspicuous because people can’t help but notice that we are trying to hide our light. None of us are meant to hide; each one of us radiates a unique brilliance that is meant to illuminate the world. When we try to dim our light, we diminish the natural radiance of the Universe, and we deprive the people around us of the unique gifts and talents that we are here to share.

Stepping out of the wings and letting your light shine is actually a way to serve the planet. We each have a responsibility to contribute to our community, and we do this when we let ourselves be seen. It doesn’t do anyone any good when we try to hide. We are all beings of light and we are here to light the way for each other. When we let ourselves shine, we become a bright mirror that others can see their own reflected brilliance through, and they can’t help but want to shine also. Shine your light out into the world, bless those around you by sharing your gifts, and watch the universe glow.

Tags: Burning Brightly, Allowing Your Soul to Shine, Daily Om, Psychology, personal growth, social anxiety, self exploration, talents, gifts, skills, brilliance, unique, offering, hiding, being invisible