Happy Sunday my GOLDEN friend ,

Recently I stumbled across a post from awhile back that put a lump in my throat. You see, in that moment I was feeling so inadequate and alone in the midst of some hard circumstances. I needed to re-read my own words and speak them over my own self! Perhaps you too might be encouraged by this reprised email:

Do you ever feel inadequate? Unworthy of good things happening in your life? I don't like to admit this but I often do too. A small mistake or forgotten task can send me into a downward spiral of negative thinking and self-berating that makes me tell myself that I will never be "enough."

I will never accomplish anything.

I don't deserve positive things happening.

I will always let people down.

I am not enough.

When I feel myself start to implode I have to remind myself of the truest thing about me. I wrote it down (with tears streaming down my face) in one of the chapters in my book, The Donkey Principle. 

Tonight I'd like to share the truest thing about YOU. 

I wish you could close your eyes and let me read this over you, especially if you've had a hard day, or week, or year. Here it is:

This is the truest thing about you: You are enough, and you are worthy. 

(Try to pause right here for a moment.)

You are worthy of being loved. 

You are worthy of having beautiful relationships. 

You are worthy of good things coming your way. 

You are worthy of being seen and heard. 

You are worthy of running with those "racehorses." 

You are worthy of standing tall in what I call your "donkey-self." 

Your truest you is the one who sleeps untroubled, who wakes hopeful, who embraces the imperfections of life with grace, and who contains a deep well of wisdom to meet your challenges. 

Your truest you is a fully integrated being whose inner self matches the outer self. 

You are enough. 

Your value is intrinsic. 

Your worth is beyond measure. 

Your heart beats with the thought, You belong here. 

This life is yours. 

You are worthy of living it fully.

The truest thing about you is that you are worthy of all the love, all the dancing, all the belonging, and all the goodness this world has to offer. 

You are enough.

Let's add some gold to this:

Give yourself permission to embrace your imperfections, accept your mistakes, and STILL be enough.

When you make a mistake or let someone (or yourself) down, the best thing to do is simply own it. Apologize, learn from it, grow, forgive yourself. Mistakes and failures are inevitable parts of living this life. Make these moments part of your story, but not your WHOLE story. 

Make it a practice to counter the negative self-talk with the truth. 

Remember your Truest You is who God made you to be: worthy, capable, wise, at peace, loved.

This takes practice, lots of practice. Feel free to take the words from this email and recite them again and again until you start to believe it. Trust that God has made you complete and whole, and begin to live into it.

What would your truest you--the one who is wise and capable and worthy--choose to do this week? Hold your head high, square your shoulders, and take on that thing.

Stepping into your true self means rewiring old mental circuits. It means you begin to live from that foundation of wholeness and hope, rather than a lie of brokenness and inadequacy. This is how you will grow and BECOME who you are meant to be. 

I am rooting for you.

With love, 

Please feel free to forward this to a friend! And, if a friend has forwarded this to YOU, I hope you'll subscribe so you'll never miss this weekly GOLD!