When I was little I overheard my parents talking about a friend of theirs who had decided to go and find himself. I remember breaking abruptly out of my imaginary world to address that new and very weird idea. My imaginary friend patiently waited while I listened a little more to make sure that this wasn't some sort of a joke and that there wasn't some sort of punch line like, "And there he was, under the table all along."
But it wasn't a joke. It was for REAL! There was apparently such a thing as a person who could hide from themselves and then go and look for themselves! This idea held enormous potential for a little girl who actually BECAME her own imaginary friend, Lisa.
Eventually, I had to sadly recognize that in my world, the one person I could never hide from is myself. At least not for long...
Later, when I was a young teenage girl I remember my mother talking about people needing to like themselves. Again, I don't think she was actually talking to me (it turns out that my older son's penchant for eavesdropping is genetic!). I sat in my tiny blue room thinking that I liked myself very much and that that was a good thing because the one person in the entire world I would spend every single waking hour with for EVER was ME!
At the end of the day, as it is at this moment outside of Washington, D.C., for me the most important person for me to like is still and always will be Day Daisy Day-Anna Pritchett Leary. If you go to this website, you'll find the most beautiful definition of an authentic life: http://www.brenebrown.com/badge. The rest of the website is pretty terrific too!
I hear all the time about how we are supposed to love ourselves. Usually, it's a directive associated with the marketing a bottle of bubble bath or a cute skirt. And if we are loving our Selves in the way we love our children, giving our Selves what we NEED, even if it isn't fun then I'm all for the idea.
Just as important, though, we have to LIKE ourselves. What I love about Dr. Brown's definition of an authentic life is that it taps into what I've always believed: Ultimately the idea of living an authentic life means allowing your liking of your Self to supersede other people's liking of your Self. It means that if we've lost ourselves along the way, that we just look under the table with the excited eyes of childish anticipation that we've really been there all along.
Amen! says her mother--who now knows what her little girl Daisy knew all along. Amen and yes and I'll toast to that, says her mother--who just woke up in the middle of the night with an Idea she wants to hatch herself. To Daisy--who continues to inspire and delight her momma, even in the middle of the night far away. I just love this piece, Day!
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