Can't take a compliment? Me neither.

WELCOME TO AUGUST

This Summer I turned a year older and I still cringe a little bit when someone tells me that I am talented, beautiful, or accomplished. I can’t seem to take a compliment wholly. 

It is not that I don’t believe it, it’s that I'm the only one that has been in my body and in my mind for my entire life and I know what my accomplishments all demanded of me. What may seem like a grand accomplishment on the outside to others, came with sacrifices, loud, fearful thoughts, crippling doubt, and a fight. In case you are curious, most of my successes and “wins” in life arose from mere curiosity, faith, confusion, fear, and loneliness coupled with thousands of invisible helping hands and a village of strangers that become family.

Maybe not all compliments are genuine and maybe a lot of them are. When a compliment is coming your way, open up to the possibility of it being true. Then, think about the words and information that they missed: Did they forget to add how good of a person you are? Or how you always dress so nicely?  Or how wonderfully you take care of your family? Take the recognition in as it is happening and if you know you are beautiful or that you are independent and hardworking, say "Wow, I know. Thank you kindly."

This month, let’s try our best to see ourselves as impressive and respected people, and the very least, because that is what August means. Let's take those compliments. Let’s observe ourselves as beings that are capable of being deeply loved by others. Let’s consider that we might be worthy of our biggest dreams. Let’s hold onto the goodness of our awareness and accept that we deserve the good things that are currently in our lives because we have attracted those good things with our own inner gentleness and belief. 

Happy August! Don’t forget to sleep, drink your water, and be kind.