Princess Sassy Pants & Co.™

I was more than a little shocked at one point when I realized that I was afraid to let my inner light shine. I really wasn’t even aware that I had this fear, but once I became aware of it, I also began to see how upside-down our thinking often is regarding this.

It can seem like playing small is humility, but it’s actually the exact opposite; humility allows the immeasurable light within to shine forth. This light isn’t something we made; it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done or not done. We have nothing to do with it because it’s not anything we created. To take personal credit for it would be like a computer designed to compute taking credit for its computer skills. Kinda silly. That same computer can’t really be or do anything different than what it was created to do. The best it might do is attempt to deny what it is, but even this can’t change what it actually is.

Very soon after I began having mind-blowing spiritual experiences, I discovered I could paint just about anything. I would sit with a brush in hand and could feeeel what to do with each stroke. I did not know how to paint. I had never painted in oils before. I was in grad school thinking that I might become a professor. Well, apparently, there were plans I hadn’t considered. 

Each time I sat in front of a blank canvas, fear would bubble up as I had no idea what to do. The beautiful painting I had finished stared at me off to the side, taunting me. “You painted me, so what are you waiting for?” 

The quiet Voice I had come to know would then gently tap me on the shoulder, “You don’t have to know how to paint this because you didn’t paint the other paintings, either.”

I needed to be constantly reminded that my job was to allow the light to shine that was already there– that I didn’t have to make it shine.

After practicing this over and over again, I became so keenly aware that Jane wasn’t the one painting that I had to be careful around others because I would often find myself marveling at the work out loud. To others, this could look very arrogant, but for me, it was like looking at paintings someone else painted. It wasn’t a sense of patting myself on the back but a feeling of appreciation for what was in me (and all) but not of my doing.  

The beautiful thing is that when we open the way for this light to shine forth, we stand as a beaming testament to others as well, for the light that resides within me is your light too. When you see my light, you see your own; when I see yours, I see mine.

It became clear that this journey we call life isn’t about making ourselves into anything; That has already been established and is beautiful beyond comprehension. Instead, it’s being willing to let all we never were fall away so that what we have always been can shine!

We are like the Sun–no matter how dark the clouds or how long they’ve been there, our light has never dimmed.