DANGER! DANGER! Do NOT misplace yourself.

I have found many times in life I have conformed to some degree. I do not like to admit this but I have, I think we all do once in a while.

The most depressed I have ever been is when I am not with myself. This simply being stated is that when you are not true to who you are, you can not thrive. I know people at 35-45 and even 55 searching for who they are. They have misplaced their identity in the process of becoming someone for someone else.

I think it is important that one continues to look inside, see what means the most to them. What is it that makes them laugh, cry, get angry or even get sad. What is your passion, if you have none, explore the world, find out who you are.

I had a friend one day tell me that she didn't know who she was. She didn't know what she liked to do. She was afraid to find herself. "What if I do not like who I really am?" Is that possible? So many people are afraid of who they are. They are afraid of the core of themselves. Truth is if we look for who we are in a spiritual sense and follow the golden rule, there is not anything that we should be opposed to. I think that the inside of all of us is a soul that just wants to be loved and to love.

Some would say that there are those who are dark, and morbid. Some would say these people are beyond love and do not want to love. However, in some twisted way that is exactly what they are seeking going after the opposite emotion of hate and anger. They have been tainted or were born with the inability to feel love and if one can not feel love they must seek another extreme emotions and if they can feel that, well they finally FEEL SOMETHING.

We need to remember that the only way we will not like ourselves is if we judge ourselves constantly. We need to love who we are on the outside and we need to love who we are becoming on the inside. We need to be true to what we love and our passions. My mother spent her entire life being something for someone else that she is so lost she can not find peace in herself. She hates herself, but the self she hates isn't even her true spiritual self.

Often times people ask me if I am striving for perfection. (Insert belly laugh here) Perfection does not exist here but I try to be a good person. I try to live by the golden rule. I try to be honest and true to who I am. I do not sugar coat myself so that people see something I am not. If I am having a bad day I am honest, I share. I do not cover up my hardships but I try not to dwell on them. I state them and move on. If I try to post one positive thing a day, it isn't because I am trying to make it look like I have a perfect life but rather remind myself to focus on the positive and not the negative. I try to be "authentic" as my dear friend Jenn would say.

Life is too short to be someone you are not comfortable with.

Consider this, do you love who you are? If not, what is it you want to change? Can you honestly say that you are happy enough with yourself that you can find inner peace and focus when confronting problems in your life? Do you take things personally? Do you blame everyone else?

Are you who you believe you are meant to be or do you feel trapped?

Tend to your Garden and remember, you can be that beautiful butterfly, you can fly out of the chrysalis and help pollinate your spiritual garden.

Spread your wings and fly.