Honor Yourself: The Inner art of Giving and Receiving

I would like to share this amazing book with you,

Sara

Honor Your Own Style

by Patricia Spadaro,
author of Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving

Patricia Spadaro Practical Spirituality website

Honor Yourself

Life is never a one-size-fits-all formula. If you are to develop and give your gifts, you must honor who you are and celebrate your own voice. Depending solely on others is like taking a long walk in borrowed shoes. If the shoes are even a bit too big or small, they can be very uncomfortable. If you walk long enough under those conditions, you’ll get blisters. Eventually the pain becomes so bad that you can’t go on. That’s what happens to you when you force yourself into a mold that isn’t your own. The remedy: walk at your own pace and in your own shoes.

Admittedly, I’ve been somewhat recalcitrant on this point, and therefore life has generously given me many lessons to teach me to trust myself and to be myself. One dramatic lesson came when I was hiking in the beautiful Teton Rangenear Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with two friends. Both walked briskly, covering more ground more quickly than I could. At the time, I didn’t think about the fact that nature had endowed these women with long, strapping legs that could scramble up the steep path like mountain goats. Instead, I blamed myself for not being able to match their pace. “Something is wrong with me,” I thought to myself. “I must really be out of shape. If I just push a little harder, I can keep up.”

So that’s what I did. I pushed, and then pushed some more. My strategy worked, but halfway through the hike, the consequences set in. I pulled a muscle in my hip without realizing it. The ache I felt at the time was tolerable until we started the long descent down the mountain. At that point, every step I took was painful. It hurt so much that I couldn’t even bear to carry my small backpack.

I don’t remember much about the sights, smells, or sounds of that day. I don’t remember much of anything except the pain. I forfeited my ability to enjoy the trek by struggling to keep up with someone else. But I did learn an invaluable lesson: if you don’t walk at your own pace, you will only end up hurting yourself. Over the years, when I’ve been tempted to take an action that doesn’t honor my own style, speed, or destination, I’ve thought back to that experience. In a few cases, I wish I had recalled that episode sooner. It might have saved me the anguish of another long practice session in self-reliance.

Excerpt taken from the new book Honor Yourself: The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving by Patricia Spadaro. For more tips and inspiration, visithttp://www.practicalspirituality.info/About-Honor-Yourself-by-Patricia-Spadaro.html.