What do I mean by "Be You?"  Just so you don't get confused there is only one you and you are always you. What I am talking about is something completely different. I am talking about following your dreams and following your heart, not someone elses dreams and expectations of you, not societies expectations of you. 

Let me tell you a story about yourself and how important you are to this planet, to this universe, so lets get down to basics. You are meant to be here, yes you!! You already won the race... your fathers sperm fought billions of other sperm to get you here, so the fact you are here, means you are definitely meant to be here. Next, from the time you are born all perfect whole and complete, you are conditioned to believe the opposite. You are taught that you need to do this and you need to act like that and this is wrong and that is right. You are taught that if you do this you are good and if you don't you are bad and on and on it goes until you become a Human Doing rather than a human being.

We live in a society that teaches us  how we should do, be and think and it becomes harder and harder for us to hear the true calling of our heart, the true reason we are here on this planet. And yes, since it is an amazing miracle that you are here on this planet, you must know that you are here to contribute to others and the planet, not as who and what you have been conditioned to be, but as your pure joyous beautiful self. That is what I mean by "BE YOU."

So how do you just "Be You?" One of my favourite researchers and authors Brene' Brown, says "you need to let go of who you think you're supposed to be and embrace who you are." To me this means that you need to love yourself exactly as you are, warts and all. This means totally excepting yourself, with your so called weaknesses and strengths. The sooner you can start to embrace all parts of you, meaning the parts of you like and the parts you don't like as much, the sooner you will feel whole, empowered and you will thrive in your life, rather than just survive.

When we are walking around trying to be what everyone else wants us to be or thinks we should be rather than excepting the truth of who we are, we are like and empty shell walking around and we all know this doesn't feel good. It feels like we don't know who we are and like we are so far from where we want to be.

Another important aspect of being you is worrying more about how you feel and less about what others might think. It is about setting boundaries and letting go of the need to please, perform and perfect. Perfectionism is about judgement.

For me I think the first thing you need to acknowledge is that you are nature. You are just as perfect as the beautiful flower, the trees, the shell and an animal. You are made of the same stuff. It is just that with our human minds we have somehow started to believe that we are above and beyond nature. No!! We are nature. We are meant to shine in our already perfect magnificence.

When I say accept yourself warts and all, I don't mean don't try to improve yourself. Of course it is important to learn, grow, adapt, change and pass it on to the next generation, as this is what life is about. That is what civilisations have been doing since the beginning of time. That is about improving yourself, it is not about competing with others and being better than them. Once again that only leads to that empty shell feeling and we are aiming at feeling whole and empowered.

The next most important thing you need to do is to find the time to spend some time with yourself and get to know yourself, love yourself and do things that make your heart and soul sing. This might also mean doing some meditation or yoga. What this does is help you to hear the voice of your dreams, heart and soul, which is sometimes drowned out by the business of our lives and society.

Some ways you can start practicing "being you" are:

• Laugh at yourself and your so called mistakes. It is from making mistakes that we learn and change.
• Practice saying what is important to you, even when your legs are shaking. You can speak your truth calmly and gently.
• Honouring and noticing the small things that you achieve on a daily basis.
• Make it a habit to look for what you have to be grateful for in your daily life.
• Look to appreciate others and yourself. It is okay to practice appreciation and gratitude, as that is how we get better at anything, is by practice.
• Practice having the courage to act like yourself and be vulnerable enought to show yourself.
• Meditate or learn to meditate for a short time each day.
• Spend some time alone each day, even if only for a few minutes.
• Spend some time in nature anytime you can. Nature has the clues for us. Because in nature we see it all, life, death, ugly, pretty.

Most of all enjoy yourself. Find ways of having fun and laughter. Enjoy practicing "Being You."

Jaye :-)