Enough|

Tonight inspiration runs deep. Like a grand canyon, layer upon layer of rock. My hands are eager to write and my heart open.

Pain is everywhere. It comes in the dark shadows of dusk, the quiet breezes of summer. It comes to the strong heart, to the weak heart, to a heart full of fear, and even comes to the brave. It reaches it's cold hand to dampen your spirit.

But this post isn't to make you aware of pain. Anyone who has known deep love, allowed deep love in or been deprived of deep love, knows that it is part of the tapestry of life.

I was sharing with my mom the other day, how people who are going through deep pain and sadness are drawn to me. They open their hearts and feel that they have a space to be honest and vulnerable. I feel honoured every time someone shares their heart with me.

This is what I have learned from people sharing their struggles with me. We all can relate to one another. Maybe we don't all experience the same things, or we didn't have the same set of sequences that lead to our heartbreak, but we all know what it is to feel rejected. We know what it feels like to "miss the mark", to not be "good enough" or "smart enough". We have all felt some form of inadequacy in our lives.

But how can you not feel like you're "not enough"?

The world screams at you to meet their standard of perfection, untouched beauty, genius and grandeur.

Sometimes I wish that I could just shout out to the world that they are enough. That that insecure teenager who spent hours alone in her room because she didn't think she was pretty enough, is beautiful. That that mother who looks in the mirror every morning doubting her adequacy, is adequate. That that man who uses lists and deadlines to feel a sense of fulfilment, is competent enough. That that friend who doesn't think she is capable of being loved by someone who treats her right, is worth that kind of love. That that the person who thinks that being alone makes them less valuable, is invaluable.

What if we began to transform our perception of beauty? What if art galleries would be full of paintings that had uneven edges,rough patches and odd arrangement of colour? What if the lines of a old woman's face, the soft wrinkles on her well lived hands, became something songs were written about? What if the imperfections and the insecurities of our bodies became something we celebrated? What if we laughed at our desire for perfection, like a raunchy joke? What if we found solace in our shortcomings, realizing that each broken piece of ourselves was there to help others better understand us?

One thing I know to be true, and this is it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The change doesn't start with the world, it starts with how you see it.