Soulshine

Higher Power, I very much want to open up my heart-petals. But all of my life I have feared rejection. It’s devastating to have someone walk out of my life and abandon me. Being vulnerable before others means that I must face my fears of rejection and loss. It also means that I must let go of my need for approval from others. Throughout my life, I have relied heavily on the approval of others to make me feel OK about myself. For the most part, I have felt good about me when others gave me their approval, and I have loathed myself when others disapproved of me. Please help me, Higher Love, to gain my self-worth through your approval alone. And help me to be satisfied with the approval I provide for myself through cultivating my self-love. Believing that I need no one’s approval to be a worthwhile person will help me to be more open and vulnerable before the people who really matter in my life. It will give my heart-petals wings to open and to embrace true intimacy ...

Everyone desires intimacy and yet most everyone is afraid to be vulnerable before others. We want intimacy, but we don’t want into-me-see. Trouble is, you can’t authentically have one without the other. We have to be willing to open our heart-petals if we want people to see our true inner-beauty, and vice-versa. Building a good relationship with ourselves is the necessary foundation for building a good relationship with others. Once we are willing to honestly look inside ourselves we begin the process of into-me-see; and once we become comfortable with our “perfectly imperfect” true selves, we will gradually become more comfortable with opening up and allowing others to see inside of us. No one can become intimate with us unless we invite them in to know us. We have to allow them to see into the true us. This means we have to be secure enough in ourselves to open up our heart-petals and to be vulnerable before those persons who are important to our lives. In complete nake...