welcome to the permission slip project!
this project invites you to shine the light of your awareness inward. how do you consciously or subconsciously hold yourself back? can you give yourself permission to be fully yourself, even just by one percent?
The moment we allow ourselves to be who we are, we create a world of freedom inside and out. The more we continue to bring curiosity into our inner world, the more clarity we can bring back with us to the surface of our external world: feeling empowered from the inside out.
We find ourselves THROUGH the process of discovery: the trial and error, the glimpses into clarity, and often we find more potent questions rather than one solid “answer.” This is for the person that believes in the power of showing up even when there is doubt, discomfort and uncertainty. Give yourself permission to be messy, curious and unapologetically YOU.
“Every man has a vocation to be someone: but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he can only be one person: himself.”
-Thomas Merton
the inspiration behind this project has been weaving in and out of my life since I was young. let me paint you a picture…
We were going around in a circle sharing our favorite colors. I really admired Jamie and when she said yellow, it instantly registered that yellow should be my favorite too.
I was so disconnected from myself, I didn’t even know my favorite color. Or maybe I did, but someone else's truth felt more important.
From a young age, I had this implicit belief that other peoples’ opinions meant more than mine- that yellow sounded way cooler than the typical blue.
The dial on my inner vibrancy went down again, and I didnt even notice…
This seemingly insignificant memory is actually quite revealing. I spent most of my life comparing myself to other people, thinking I wasn't good enough, and dimming my light for other people. Why didn’t I value my own opinions? Why was I so disconnected from myself?
If it was something as small as my favorite color, could you imagine how big the disconnect really was in other areas of my life?
It took a long time to even shine the light of awareness into how I was living my life so externally focused. When I found yoga in 2018 by way of a community college class, I cried the first time I experienced savasana (corpse pose- where you lie down at the end of class, held in the warm embrace of the energy of your practice, your own thoughts and full spectrum of experience.) Looking back at that pivotal moment, I think that was one of the first times I truly was able to BE with myself and notice MY unique experience, vibrancy and being.
(and it only took 18 years.not bad, eh?)
Little did I know, the trajectory of that experience would lead me on a spiritual path as an artist and teacher of meditation and yoga, mindfulness and creativity, and such a deep level of self-inquiry. Sometimes you go after your purpose, and other times it finds you in the moments of stillness you allow yourself to dive into. In the moments of surrender, in the little permission slips we give to ourselves (consciously or not), we create space for magic to happen. We create space for clarity. We illuminate the path of curiosity, knowing, love, and courage.
These days, I spend a lot of my time creating little permission slips for myself on purpose, because I now know the power of my inward attention.
When we allow ourselves to dive inward into the depths of who we truly are, we become more of who we truly are. Your purpose can only be lived by you. And the more we know and live this truth, we give permission to others to do the same. Let your dedication to your own heart be what inspires the world around you.
There is no permission slip too small.
You hold the key to your liberation.
