(I am Becoming) A Deep Weathered Basket…

Of all the things that you’ve each shared so beautifully about the burdens you carry, the one that most touched my heart was this. At the core, underneath everything you do, everything you say, everything you feel, everything you face, this is what you said.

“I am afraid of not ‘being enough’!”

Not. Being. Enough.

Dearest Courageous Women, if there was one thing I could say to you, one thing that would carry you through the day, ONE thing to help you hold your head up, to walk proudly upon this earth, taking up all the space you want to, without apology, and with true confidence, it would be this.

You were BORN perfect.

Everything since then has been education, and fine tuning.

I have often said that one of the things I love about getting older is that I get clearer and clearer about what Matters Most in my life. The older we get, the less we tolerate the trivial things that take up so much of our earlier lives. Through trial and error, fire and fury, we (slowly, gradually) come to recognize and cherish our truest Self.

And we like her better than we thought we would.

So with that in mind, I’d like to share with you a poem that I love dearly. I hung it, years ago, on the wall outside my office in honor of every woman who walks in my door. Because they, and you, are Enough.

Enjoy. :)

Finding Her Here

by Jayne Relaford Brown 

I am becoming the woman I’ve wanted,
grey at the temples,
soft body, delighted,
cracked up by life
with a laugh that’s known bitter
but, past it, got better,
knows she’s a survivor –
that whatever comes,
she can outlast it.
I am becoming a deep
                weathered basket. 

I am becoming the woman I’ve longed for,
the motherly lover
with arms strong and tender,
the growing daughter
who blushes surprises.
I am becoming full moons
                and sunrises.

I find her becoming,
this woman I’ve wanted,
who knows she’ll encompass,
who knows she’s sufficient,
knows where she’s going
and travels with passion.
Who remembers she’s precious,
but knows she’s not scarce–
who knows she is plenty,
                plenty to share.

**********

If this is new to you, try reading it out loud, several times in a row. Go slow. Add emphasis here and there as you like. Read it as if you were sipping a fine wine. Take your time. Taste the words. Make them your own.

 If there’s any way I can help you fall in love with, and celebrate, the precious, sufficient, Courageous Woman in your mirror, let me know. But no matter what, somehow, sooner or later, I hope with all my heart that you, too, Find Her Here.

*****

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_{Photo Credits: by Vincent Boiteau on Flickr}