The story behind ELMs Cover Shot for Issue 07-04

The cover photo is from the Courage to Be You event held in 2016. After a day of stripping away the shame that had its invisible cloak around us, we stepped into more of our truth.

To express our truth, we used warrior paint.

The war paint isn’t about going to battle with the outside world. The paint is to remind us NOT to put ourselves back into the typical skin we present in our daily life.

Then, we went out in public just a block off Michigan Avenue to prove we’re able to get over our fears of showing the unconventional side of ourselves. Initially, when we tried to wave down someone to take our picture, people wanted nothing to do with us. (Who are those weirdos anyway?)

In less than five minutes, we had a taker and then another. The public eyes around us began to recognize that even though we looked very different, we were still safe. The more fun we had, the more curiosity we drew. We heard comments like, “I want to be with them” and “they look like they’re having a blast!” (We were having a blast because we set ourselves free and experienced the power of breaking free!!).

It really got fun for me personally when I met some of our Graduate Leaders from International Institute for Emotional Empowerment for dinner and kept the warrior paint on my face.

Walking alone to meet up with others meant there was no group to share the experience with me. Just crazy ol’ me in war paint. And….I loved it! It was such a symbolic way to demonstrate self-acceptance because the crazy inside me was being shown on the outside. The result was a greater freedom to be playful, bold and free with strangers. While some were wary (and quickly crossed the street when I approached), others were drawn to me.

They also had crazy insides that wanted the freedom to be expressed.

My calling in this new year is to share more abundantly from boldness and playfulness. This is not a new year’s resolution. This is a spiritual directive, which, for me, means there is no other option.

My life has worked out better than I could have imagined because I take the spiritual directive of my emotions over and over again. While following the empowered messages of feelings certainly isn’t logical, the outcomes blow me away.

My invitation is for you to learn to do the same. Rather than fear how you feel when experiencing a negative emotion, embrace the loving guidance coming through you.

I want you to know the end goal of emotional empowerment isn’t getting you to a point where life is boxed up safely and tied with a pretty bow. The end goal is acceptance of the rainbow of feelings we have purposefully been given and learn to utilize those feelings to bring you to such inner fulfillment that your insides cry with joy at times and hurt with pain at times because you’ve lived so freakin’ fully.

For those aching to feel inner (and outer) vibrancy, I’ll be sharing more with you in the upcoming weeks.

While we remain in a period of review (Mercury is in retrograde until Jan 8th), you can gain insight and clarity to the aspects within you that are ready for a re-awakening during this magical, mystical miraculous new year.