Gentle reminder: You are loveable, and you are loved.
You are trying your best and I see you.
Even when...
Even when you make mistakes. Even when you try your best and don’t succeed. Even when you snap because you are angry and frustrated with the world. Even when you’re annoyed at yourself and others. Even when you’re caught up in an anxious loop. Even when you fall asleep with tears in your eyes. Even when you feel like a burden to everyone. Even when you are caught up in the past. Even when you feel stuck in your head and feel like you’re making everything about you. Even when you doubt yourself. Even when you have a critical self-voice that says otherwise. It can be easy to forget and this is why this reminder exists 🥹
An excerpt from my book 📖 The Great Unlearning by Phi Dang
Maybe it’s the mishaps, mistakes and melancholy that lead to the most beautiful and unexpected spiritual breakthroughs.
Growth isn’t always about the gains.
It’s also about the losses.
The Great Unlearning
Like losing the weight of others’ opinions, your appetite for ego, your old self, the past and your mistakes, pleasing others, relationships that have run their course, self-criticism, self-sabotage, and your fixed mindset.
As you work on yourself and reach the next level in your growth, don’t be surprised if you feel joy and sadness at the same time.
As we evolve and let go of our past self, we mourn who we were.
It’s normal to grieve over the past you, yet still grow into who you are now.
You are allowed to change.
Your identity isn't fixed
The past you that put up with bad behaviour, that gave so much without return, that always needed something or someone to feel complete, that was blind to what was unfolding before your eyes, that self- sabotaged and the past you that deserved better not only from yourself but those around you.
It’s normal to grieve over the past you and to love the past you, yet still grow into who you are now. You are allowed to change; your identity isn’t fixed.
Tell me, beautiful soul, are you exhausted from carrying all those labels and stories that have defined who you are?
You are not your trauma.
You are not your illness.
What you’ve been through is valid.
No matter how bad someone else has it, no matter what anyone else says, no matter what anyone else thinks, no matter who believes you, you are resilience beaming through.
You are the bravery that roars.
You are the wisdom books can’t contain.
You are the light that continues to shine.
You are the power beyond measure.
Shine on
People may be jealous of your light, but they won’t be jealous of your journey through darkness.
Never let another’s darkness impact your light.
Some people will not see you not because you don’t shine, but because they do not want to acknowledge your light.
For some your light will be too bright and that’s okay.
In this lifetime, we will mourn and hold funerals for all the versions of ourselves that we’ve been.
You aren’t who you were in the past anymore.
You are who you are now, here, in this present moment.
Thank your past self for helping you survive.
Thank your past self for being strong and enduring pain.
Thank your past self for doing their best and fighting hard.
Thank your past self for being brave.
Thank your past self for getting back up and continuing to try.
Thank your past self for making you who you are today.
Thank your past self for making mistakes which you’ve learned from.
Thank your past self for letting you move forward.
Thank your past self because even if they no longer resonate or align with who you are today… you couldn’t have done it without them.
Let go in order to be you are now
It’s understandable if you’re mourning for who you used to be and feeling all of the feels that come with change: sadness, joy, fear, excitement, anxiety and elation.
You’re allowed to mourn for who you used to be whether you were proud of past you or not.
And when you’re ready, truly let go… in order to be who you are now 💐
Who you are becoming.
Who you choose to be.
Whilst remembering with great gratitude to the past you, who has enabled you to be who you are today and where you are today.
How you show up today, will result in who you become in this moment, in tomorrow, in the future.
An excerpt from my book — The Great Unlearning: Awakening to Living an Aligned and Authentic Life.