Unreasonably Passionate!

When I was little, I was LOUD, lovely and Bold! I laughed BIG, exclaimed fearlessly, cried out emphatically, and spoke with passion and energy. I was FULL of myself and I believed it was ALL beautiful!

That began to shift when the “shush-ing” started. The worst was at the dinner table.
Growing up, dinners were required. We ate at a table-clothed, milk-in-a-pitcher, cloth napkin-ed table with lit candles every night. There were almost no excuses to miss. Dad would be home for the meal and it was the one time each day we came together as a family and had Dad to ourselves. I am heartened that cell phones were yet to be inflicted on us. For almost an hour each night, our family attention was on, well, our family. No interruptions. It was pretty awesome.
Except when I got shushed. I hated it the most when my Dad, trying to get my volume to an “acceptable level” would, in response to my exuberant dialogue, speak slowly and almost inaudibly to me. It was humiliating. I remember feeling like I wanted to screech and scream at the top of my lungs but instead, as my face grew hot with shame, I shut up.
And I learned. My authentic voice was unacceptable and what I needed to do was alter it to “fit” into the parameters given to me.
This is one of the many stories I was told as a child about who I needed to be and what it meant to be a good girl. It didn't change as a young woman or adult, and I worked hard to be small, quiet, unseen and calm, none of which came naturally. The toned-down volume of my authentic self flowed through my veins and I became known as “intense”, interrupted by occasional bursts of laughter that could be heard across the quad. I tried to downsize myself and actually got so good at it, I very nearly agreed to live in the strict confines dictated by that story.
Very. Nearly.

But Hell No. Uh-Uh. Turns out, I LOVE my laugh. And, I discovered, we – you, me, each other, the WORLD – need more willingly intense, unreasonably passionate, wildly dancing to the beat of our own-and-different-drum individuals!!! We need to go for it!

When was the last time you connected with your deep-down-slightly-wild-organically irreverent voice? Have you laughed loudly, danced feverishly, or spoken with passion?

Do it this week. Promise yourself to listen...to YOU. The deep-down-inner-fire-before-you-learned-to- “be appropriate” YOU.

This week – make it your mission, your challenge, your playful task - to be gorgeously loud about something you feel deeply about! What is it in this world, in your world, that needs the ring of your particular voice? Is it an injustice that you see? A stand for your own value? An insistence for joy? An open receiving of LOVE and ABUNDANCE? An expression of anger?

Listen for Yourself. Re-member You. You will not be alone – and if you lean in – trust that you will hear my voice joining yours! Yup. I am THAT big!