Tag: #Knowthyself

Happy Enough

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized

Let’s talk about relationships. Specifically, wanting to find a partner or companion to be in relationship with.

I love that we are living in a time when there is a tremendous amount of awareness around self-growth, healing past programs and patterns, and becoming fully authentic as individuals, rather than following a collective ideology or belief in who we “should” be.  I teach and promote this in my writing, and help clients to achieve greater levels of happiness and self-satisfaction through various therapeutic approaches.  I believe to “know thyself”  is the most important creed that we can live by.   

More specifically, perhaps that should be a three-part creed – 

  • Know Thyself; know who you are.  
  • Love Thyself; love and accept the beautiful, flawed, growing person that you are. 
  • Be Thyself; be authentic; in integrity with who you are.  

But I’ve noticed that in our desire to grow and evolve, we sometimes have a tendency to take things to an extreme –  we have developed this idea that we need to be “perfect”, especially when it comes to finding and maintaining relationships.   We are being taught that in order to attract the right partner, we have to exemplify all the things that we want to find in our mate – attractiveness, intelligence, kindness, abundance, good health, compassion, and most importantly, our level of happiness. In short, we need to be perfect. 

 I do believe that if we are committed to growth and authenticity, our baseline level of happiness is going to be a whole lot higher than someone who is stuck or stagnant; living a half-life.  But if we are aware, life, hopefully, is evolution rather than perfection. 

If we are in a state of evolution, we are never going to be perfectly healed.  Self awareness is a process of uncovering many, many layers of subconscious mindsets and belief systems.  It’s often when we think we have ourselves figured out that those systems rebel and we may feel like we take a backwards step.  But two steps forward and one back is still forward movement.  

We are never going to be in perfect shape, all the time.  We all have seasons when we might fall off the wagon of good health and exercise for a little while. That’s OK, as long as we eventually get back to caring for our temples as being the incredible vehicles of transportation through this life that they are.  If we don’t have good health, our ability to experience all that life has to offer will be limited. 

We will never be perfectly compassionate, loving, and kind – all of the time.  Like happiness, there can be contributing factors in our ability to be fully present and compassionate with others – Grief over the loss of a loved one, being in a season of necessary introspection, dealing with the myriad challenges and distractions of life, or just because we forgot to eat breakfast and are a little “hangry”. But going back to self-love and healing, if we are in a space of self-acceptance and compassion to ourselves, we are most typically going to be in that space for others, too.  

We are never going to be perfectly happy, all the time.  

There are so many factors that contribute or distract us from our happiness, but when we can come to a place of  loving and accepting ourselves as being beautiful, messy, growing creatures, we can be happy enough to find a partner who is the same.  

We can find someone who will be real with us; who will accept, love, and have grace for who we are at any given moment, knowing that sometimes humans are messy, challenging, and even difficult.  We can be accepted as we are because we are also beautiful, kind, loving, and growing.  We can give our partner the same grace, compassion and understanding, holding space for their own evolutionary process, even when it’s a little messy or uncomfortable.  

When you meet that person – a person – one of your soulmates; let the connection/relationship be what it is.  It may be five minutes, five hours, five days, five months, five years, or a lifetime.  Let it manifest itself the way it was meant to – it has an organic destiny.  This way, if it stays or it leaves, you will be softer.  From having been loved this authentically, souls come into, and return open.  They may sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons.  Let them be who and what they are meant to be. – Nayyirah Waheed

In fact, I believe it is vital for us to have healthy relationships to fully grow and heal. When we are authentic and vulnerable with our partner, we can provide for each other the necessary mirror to better see those blind spots in our personality that we may not be aware of. 

This doesn’t mean we should accept bad treatment in a relationship, of course.  If someone does not match you in treating them with value, respect, and dignity, and is not willing to do the work to heal the core wounds that cause that behavior, we need to take a big step back for our own mental wellness and safety.  It is never our responsibility to heal someone, but in a good relationship that is committed to growth, healing can absolutely happen, together.  It is important for our own self-worth that we have discernment as to what we are attracting and accepting.  

But  if you are in the  space of “I have to be perfect”… to attract the perfect partner… maybe give yourself – and your future mate – a little more wiggle room.  Perfection doesn’t exist.  Hold a little more lightness and space around the idea of who you are, and who you need to be to be in a relationship.  Bring some fun and some joy into the many possibilities that are out there.  You will find that when you create the energetic space of ease, of lightness and of joy around any idea, you also create space for what it is that you need and desire to rush in.✨

Big love💖

– Terah

Safari of the self – finding authenticity and empowerment through integration

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized
The journey to the Self is through the Self.

Know Thyself.   –  Maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo, Delphi.

Plato interpreted this philosophic maxim to mean “Know your soul.”  

Do you feel that you know your Self with a captital S – your soul?  Do you feel solid and whole in who you are, at your core?   We are meant to be complex, multi-dimensional beings.  When we are whole, we are our most authentic Self; in touch with our highest Self, we are in touch with our child-like nature – our curiosity, sense of fun, possibility, and adventure.  We are able to enjoy pleasure like an embodied, divine being, but also to take radical responsibility for the creation of our lives; to sit down and get sh#t done when it is necessary, like a grown-ass man or woman.  But being integrated isn’t always natural or easy.

Recently, I enjoyed an evening out with one of my oldest friends.  You know those friends that you love on first sight, and know that regardless of time or distance, you just know that you will be friends for life?  She’s one of those.  🥰  We were discussing who we were as kids compared to now.  Once upon a time, she was a badass gangsta with a gorgeous, wicked temper and a propensity to put the hurt on anyone who so much as looked at her beautiful self the wrong way, but now, as an adult working mom she felt she had to become “tame” and as a result, boring. She said she occasionally felt a stirring of that girl inside her, but suppressed that aspect of her Self because she felt that part of her personality would have a negative impact on her personal and professional life.

She had made her career and children her priority, and had stopped living fully or authentically.  She had a wonderful relationship with her kids, but felt limited socially.   She lost her ability to have fun.  She became anxious and disempowered, and badly wanted to reclaim those parts of herself that allowed her to feel a deep sense of joy and satisfaction of life.

I have many friends who feel this way.  One dimensional.  They have no concept of being in touch with their “inner child”, their vulnerability, or their sensuality, because growing up means you have to be a responsible, reliable adult, right?  

As women, we especially need to hold a piece of ourselves as that badass gangsta warrior woman.  Not an imbalance – she needs to be tempered with compassion, empathy, love and nurturing, but this part of ourselves is where we gain our strength, our power, and when necessary, that momma bear that could tear someone apart with a flick of a wrist if her cubs or loved ones were threatened.  This part of ourselves is also often associated with our sensuality, another piece of our Self that is often either suppressed or overindulged.  We are meant to be sensual creatures – it is an aspect of our biology, after all, but that does not mean we have to overly sexualize ourselves to gain value from men, just as repressing the beauty and sexuality of who we are to be “taken seriously” is an imbalance of our authenticity and this imbalance can result in creating a life of loneliness or feeling less-than.  

I did not lose myself all at once.  I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.  – Amy Tan

Most of us are taught to suppress our “fullness” from a young age.  We begin to rub parts ourselves away because we want to feel accepted or loved.  We want to “fit in”.  This is perfectly natural, of course.  It is a vital aspect of our DNA to seek connection, companionship and even acceptance of those around us.  We are at our best when we have meaningful connection with others.  When we have loving, supportive partners, family, friends and community.   

The problem is, like my friend, in seeking that approval and acceptance, it can be too easy to go too far to one end of the spectrum of our personalities, closing the door to our complexity, to our ability to express ourselves, or even feel deeply. We become disempowered when we allow others to dictate who we are, though this often happens by degrees, without really even knowing that it is happening.  Has happened. 

We become one-dimensional when we are meant to be multi-dimensional beings.  When we suppress parts of who we are, those parts are like children who are lacking love and attention.  They want to be acknowledged and integrated, and will do whatever it takes to receive the acknowledgment they need, but often in ways that impact us negatively.  Those subconscious parts of ourselves will act out in the form of regression, depression, isolation, dysregulation/overly emotional or angry responses, self-sabotage, or even unexpected violence.   We end up feeling overwhelmed or imbalanced.

Seek not outside of yourself; Heaven is within.  – Mary Lou Cook 

You are a gorgeous, multi-faceted individual who deserves to love every piece of who you are; mind, body and soul.  One of the most important aspects of feeling whole; of good mental health and happiness is acknowledging, embracing, and integrating every aspect of our Self.  We should have access to a sense of our inner child at various stages, our moody or mouthy teen, even the bright-eyed and curious college-age “kid” who we may have thought we grew out of decades ago.  

The following exercises can help you to access lost parts of yourself.  Many,  if not all will likely feel strange, uncomfortable, or emotional for a bit.  Stay with it.  I promise you will experience a shift that can be profound, if you do.  Most of us do not feel truly worthy of love, and part of this is because we spend so much of our lives rejecting those lost parts of ourselves. 

Inner Child Exercise: Find a photo of you as a child.  Hold that photo in your left hand and place your right hand on your heart.  Gaze at the photo, feel the connection between who you are now and who you were then.  Tell that child that you love her.  Do this daily, preferably when you wake and right before bed, when your mind is in a relaxed state.  (Theta brain wave)

Physical touch Exercise:  Give yourself a hug.  Say “Thank you, I love you.”  Stay in this position until you feel a sense of love and appreciation.  Alternatively, place one hand on your heart, one on your navel just below your belly button.  Close your eyes and repeat “Thank you, I love you.’  

Mirror Exercise:  Look at yourself in the mirror.  Really look.  Find three things that you like and admire about your face.  Say it aloud, then follow with –  “I love you.”  

Visual Affirmation Exercise: Write love notes to yourself such as “I love you.”  “You are beautiful/intelligent/worthy/capable, etc.” “I love the way we play.” Or I appreciate our curiosity/sensuality/childlike nature, etc.”  

Deep Inner Work Exercise:  Find a place to get quiet.  Come into your breath, spend some time just observing the slow inflow and outflow of breath from your lungs and nose.   When you feel quiet, ask yourself the question – what aspects of You have you repressed?  Who wants to be heard and have a conversation?  When you have a sense of what part(s) of your Self need to have some attention, whether it is your inner child, your powerful warrior,  your sensual being, or any other aspect of personality that you may have ignored or suppressed, it is time to have a conversation.  Don’t be surprised if you feel some negative energy.  You may feel a little queasy, frightened, frustrated, angry – or a host of other emotions that we tend to keep under wraps, afraid to show who we really are.  Observe and allow whatever you are feeling to be, but hold that part of you as the calm in the storm.   

What you may need to say or experience to those lost parts of yourself is entirely personal, but once you begin to feel centered, a conversation might look something like this:  “Hello, my Love.  It has been too long.”  I have missed you.” “I am so very sorry that I ignored you for so long.”  “I love you.”   “I will never neglect you again.”  “Can we find a way to be fully integrated/together?”  Stay with that part of yourself until you do feel a sense of integration.  Be prepared to come back to this aspect of self regularly for a while – it takes time to heal a rift that may have been years in the making.  Plus, loving and accepting ourselves should be daily practice. 

When you have come to the place where you feel those previously suppressed and forgotten parts of who you were once again as who you are, you will not only feel a deeper sense of wholeness and empowerment, but you will fall in love with yourself in a way that you may not have even known was possible.  And that is a beautiful thing. 

Today, I hope that you will find time to pull the lid off of those parts of yourself that you have suppressed and repressed for too long.  Give them some love and attention, and gratitude for being vital aspects of yourself; of what has gotten you to where you are today, and begin working towards full integration.  Feel that beautiful complexity from your toes to your fingertips, and into the fullest expression of who you truly are.  You deserve it.

Big love. ❤️ 

  • Terah

Self-love, Unbecoming to Become

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized

“The pinnacle of self-love is not ecstasy, it is the heartbreaking process of undoing the life that our unloved self built when we didn’t know better. “

Becoming who we really are begins with learning to love every aspect of our lives – but most importantly, it is learning to love ourselves.  It is an unbecoming of who we were when we didn’t know how to love ourselves.  

It is chaos before order; a difficult and messy unspooling of the heavily bound threads of dysfunction and neglect that we have wound around ourselves, all too often in a cocoon several sizes too small to contain our vast spirit.  But unwind we must before we can step into the fullness of our purpose and truest self; before we can learn to spread our wings and soar. 

Before self-love becomes freedom, it must first be a burden that we carry with minds and hearts just beginning to open to new possibilities.  

We must carry the weight of the anger that we feel towards others for not being treated with the care, love, and respect that we should have asked for all along.  We must carry the weight of anger towards ourselves for what we allowed, often not realizing that there was ever a choice. 

There is the anger for not asking; for not insisting that we were worthy of care and respect. 

For those of us who experienced childhood trauma, this unraveling of emotions is an especially perilous journey, for dragons often lurk in those murky places of our subconscious minds that we fear to tread.  But the journey is a worthy one and the reward of integration with those lost parts of ourselves can not be understated.  

 When we have processed the anger, then comes the heavy grief of time lost – sometimes many years’ worth. 

Eventually, we feel lighter.  We learn to set boundaries and say “No” to those things that are not right for us.  We become deepy accountable to our own self-care and growth; a process that is not an easy one.

At some point, we begin to recognize the truth of the saying that we become the amalgamation of those that we spend the most time with.  And so we learn the painful necessity of cutting away or holding at at careful distance those people and things that have hurt us in the past, or don’t currently serve our highest good.  Sometimes those closest to us decide to grow with us, even if their pace does not match our own.  Sometimes they don’t, and we must make the  difficult decision to allow them to continue their journey on their own, in their own way.  

In the beginning, this can create isolation.  Loneliness.  But as we remove those things in our lives that were creating darkness, light can begin to enter those empty spaces.  Our tribe begins to find us.  We begin to fall in love with not only ourselves, our lives and those souls around us, but we draw in and create close friendships and partnerships that are fulfilling rather than stagnant.  That lift us and allow us to better lift others, in turn. 

We begin to create, or rather, I believe that we learn to consciously collaborate with Source to become the architect of our lives, shaping the fabric of our reality with intention. We learn to see the infinite possibilities within and before us. We find our wings, and begin to soar.

Today and all days, beloved, I want to see you soar. I wish for you the feeling of freedom as you create a life of abundance and beauty. A life of light, and of love.

You deserve it.💖

Much love and big hugs

– Terah

Nosce te ipsum – Know Thyself

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized

The most important relationship you will ever have is with yourself. Get to know yourself – who you truly are; what makes you – you and become comfortable in that being-ness. There are a thousand ways to gain an understanding of who you are, from self-speed dating (“Hi, Me, nice to meet you. Name ten things that make you happy”) to traveling to someplace fabulous for a ten-day retreat intended to sink deeper into the Self. Whatever means you have at your disposal to begin a relationship – a love relationship – with yourself, there is no better time than the present to do just that.

The key word here is Love. It is vital not just to know who you are, but to love who you are. All too often we love our kids, our partners, our families, and even our neighbors and communities better than we love ourselves. We nurture those around us but neglect our own needs. We snuggle and provide physical love but neglect to meet our own basic needs for nurturing and support. We prepare meals based upon what our families will enjoy but lose touch with what our own bodies are craving for optimal health – and wonder why we find ourselves in front of the refrigerator at 2 am with a pint of ice cream or a tub of cold spaghetti, crying into our Haagen Daz with no idea of where the tears are coming from, or we eat out of resentment because our families never learned to care for and nurture us in the same we do for them.

But how can those around us learn if we don’t teach them? We teach others through our own actions, and the soul is a garden that requires care-full cultivation and love. What is your soul mirroring into your external reality? If you find yourself feeling depleted and disconnected right now, take some time to nurture the soul and care for your self. Slow down, get quiet, and listen. What do you need today? Whether it is green smoothies and exercise or Haagen-Daz and a hot bath, give yourself some love, care, and grace, and don’t forget the gratitude. You are an amazing being! Care for yourself as you would a precious, loved child. Gaze at yourself in the mirror and marvel at those things that make you uniquely, beautifully you. Feed your body and spirit with what it needs – and watch your inner garden blossom. You deserve it. Much love, beautiful!

-Terah