Grace is within you. If it were external, it would be useless.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

There’s more relevance to self-celebration than simply recharging your soul’s batteries so that you can radiate your unique power to loved ones as well as yourself.

There’s a great majesty in the very act of taking quiet moments for yourself. Every time you to turn inward without fear and honor the life-long companion that you are, you connect directly to source. It’s your big thank you to creation. That’s because by being fully you, you are living up to what creation had in mind.

Each being in existence is here to live its own path, at its own pace, learning the lessons set before it in this lifetime. Stop rushing around. Stop comparing yourself to others. Can you imagine a rose spending its brief life trying to be a sunflower? What a waste!

A tree has no responsibility but to live its treeness. It has only to be the tree-est tree it can be. A rock’s responsibility is its pure rockness, being the rockest rock it can be. Celebrate your –ness.

Be the you-est you.

If you spend your life struggling to be other than what you are right now—yes, right this very moment—you are doing a disservice to yourself and to the great mystery that created you. Be the best you you can be. No one worth paying attention to wants anything less or more of you. And the best part is, only you know what that best you is.

This is the core of solitude practice—getting to learn all the colors and textures and loves and aversions and darknesses and radiance that make you unique. And for the love of figgy pudding, have fun with the process! Dance in your temple. When you do, creation will feel you shaking the ground with your own miraculous feet. There’s no better way to give thanks for your life than that.

Over time, you’ll find that your holy self is with you wherever you go.

Imagine: no more frustrating waits in line at the grocery store. You have you to play with. As you stand behind the man with three dozen frozen dinners inching their way toward the checkout scanner like Arctic icebergs, think about your next solitude session and what projects you might work on.

If your soul’s battery is sufficiently juiced, you can devote the time in line to your loved ones or colleagues and their needs. If none of that appeals, fantasize about what you’d name a planet if you discovered one. Or solve the world hunger crisis. Or just imagine a bright light of healing warming your lower back that now aches from (still!) standing behind the guy with the truckload of frozen dinners. (While you’re at it, send some healing light to his gastrointestinal system.)

When you have connected with your holy self, your time is always yours—and blessed with the backing of the universe—even when you’re in the company of others.

The You-est You:

Make a commitment right now to honor yourself with a regular solitude practice. Think of your own first name. Let it be a symbol, as all names are, for your unique being. Even though thousands or even millions of people might share that name, only you will invest it with the singularity of your divine personality.

Then:

>>> Take a 3 x 5 card and write the following on it: I celebrate my [First Name]-ness. I will be the [First Name]-est [First Name] I can be. Thank you, Universe! (For example: I celebrate my Davidness. I will be the Davidest David I can be. Thank you, Universe!)

>>> Read the card out loud. You may even wish to begin and end each alone time with these words to set the intention of your practice as well as your return to outward life.

By all means, add your own affirmations to the card. Whatever inspiring, loving words give you joy, write them down and declare them with pride.

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Imgur, Barbara Martin/Pixoto