You're Worthy of Love

Pride Month is when we come together to celebrate the strength, grace, and greatness of the LGBTQ plus community, and to celebrate love. To honor and celebrate our LGBTQ plus Shine members, we're passing the Daily Shine mic today to Jamila Reddy, one of our favorite meditation hosts in the Shine app. Jamila's reminder for you today is you are worthy of love and it's not dependent on you to be or do anything. All you have to do is show up just as you are. I'll let Jamila take it from here. (gentle music) It's Jamila here. Thanks for taking time for this moment with me. I wanna talk about those moments when we feel othered. As a kid, I grew up feeling like I was different. I didn't look, speak, dress, or behave like many of the other children around me. I felt like an alien from an unknown planet and often wondered if I was even meant to be here. This feeling of otherness led me to doubt my ability and my worthiness to be loved. I knew that I was loved but I also believed that I had to earn it. I thought that I had to be smart or funny, easy to be around, accommodating, pleasant. As one of the few black children in mostly white social spaces, like ballet classes, the swim team, theater, I felt hyper-visible. I spent years feeling like I was in the spotlight whether or not I wanted to be. It kept me stuck in patterns of shrinking or performing. Sometimes I tried to disappear, to be just like everyone else so I could fit in, and sometimes I tried to be the shining star. If everyone was gonna be looking at me anyway, I wanted to put on a good show. I wanted to be excellent to prove myself worthy of being there. This was exhausting and unsustainable and it kept me from getting to know my true self. I was so busy trying to hide my truth or pretend to be someone I wasn't that I I blocked my own connection with the brilliant, creative, unique being that I am. If this resonates with you, I invite you to take a long, deep breath and another, and another. Wanting to be liked and adored isn't just a silly childhood craving. It's part of our design. As humans, we are wired for connection. As infants, we come into the world with the knowing that we are reliant on our parents and caregivers for survival. We know before we even have the language to express it or understand it, that our safety is dependent on our connections to other people. In our early days, we learn that certain behaviors are acceptable and that others are not. We learn that when we do certain things or behave in a certain way, our parents praise us and are proud of us. And when we do some other things we are scolded, shamed,...