“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Mary Oliver, Wild Geese

I am crossing a new threshold. A new way of being in the world and in relationships. I am learning the way of conscious love and healthy detachment. Of true belonging to myself. To look only inward for my soul’s nourishment. To choose me first, above all else.

I used to think being chosen was about someone “picking” me. That it was something that happened outside of myself, like when I got engaged. Now I realize the most important person to be chosen by is my own inner being. To see myself through her lens and choose me over all the world and its various circumstances. Even all the people in that world and those circumstances. To validate my needs and wants as worthy. To recognize the love I have for myself internally is what will attract an equal measure of love externally.

I now know the thing I desire most is the freedom to be exactly who I am – someone I like very much. I also see my shadow sides and call upon the better angels of my nature to first, forgive myself for the imperfections, and next, celebrate how far I’ve come. I cajole my flaws gently into evolving and embrace the change they bring because it is all part of my growth.

So I declare my own choosing. My own belonging. I am the captain of my ship sailing the seas of freedom, guided by the winds of expansion. And surely, the winds are at my back.

[Photo: Parasailing in Mazatlan, enjoying the freedom of being in the open skies]