To hold together and to split apart

at one and the same time,

like the shock of being born,

breathing in this world

while lamenting for the one we’ve left.

No one needs to tell us

we are already on our onward way,

no one has to remind us

of our everyday and intimate

embrace

with disappearance.

We were born saying goodbye

to what we love,

we were born

in a beautiful reluctance,

not quite ready

to breathe in this new world,

we are here and we are not,

we are present while still not

wanting to admit we have arrived.

Not quite arrived in our minds

yet always arriving in the body,

always growing older

while trying to grow younger,

always in the act

of catching up,

of saying hello

or saying goodbye

finding strangely,

in each new and imagined future

the still-lived memory

of a previous,

precious life.

~David Whyte

Brave One,

You are entitled to be the center of your life. Not an accessory, not an appendage, not an afterthought, but the axis upon which your decisions are made.

You are entitled to take up all of your space, to unfurl in your body and your opinions and your rhythm without accommodating someone else’s comfort.

You are entitled to take your time, to not be hurried in lines or traffic or around decisions.

You are entitled to say no when you want and yes when it feels good.

You are entitled to trust yourself without justification or explanation.

You are entitled to be centered IN yourself without fear or guilt because you didn’t put someone else first.

Do not wait for someone to give you what you’re entitled to.

Own it.

It is your birthright.
It is your responsibility.
It is your inheritance for being alive.

Take it by the reigns and trust that you already know what to do.

~L’Erin Alta