You’re AWESOME!
I met a friend in downtown San Luis Obispo last week for tea. We found parking next to each other and walked to the pay station. As my friend paid, I was hobbling over to her, still wearing my post-surgery boot. A nice man came around the corner and said with great jubilation and conviction, “You’re AWESOME! You’re AWESOME!” Smiling big, I said, “Thank you! You’re AWESOME, too”
At Awakening Ways Spiritual Community, we consciously offer the namasté greeting to one another before our service begins. Namasté is a Sanskrit word that invokes the essence of Oneness. Loosely translated, namasté means I bow to you. The deeper meaning is: My soul honors your soul. I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the light, love, Truth, beauty, and peace within you because it is also within me. In sharing these things, we are united; we are the same; we are one.
It occurred to me that when the man said, “You’re awesome,” it was like offering the namasté greeting to me: the awesome in me recognizes and honors the awesome in you.
Joy bubbled up from my toes, and I giggled in recognition of my awesomeness, his awesomeness, and how we are one. I flashed back to my experience at Vashistha’s Cave in India, where a Yogi grabbed my hands and said, “You are God in form! You are God in form!” The same giddy bliss bubbled up from my toes, illuminating my mind and body.
As I approached the pay station, the man said, “Your boot is awesome! Happy healing. You’ll get it removed soon.” Then he looked at my friend and said, “You’re AWESOME! Your dog is awesome too!”
I thought, wow, this is a holy man, like Jesus himself, walking the streets of downtown San Luis Obispo, reminding people of their awesomeness.
Can you accept our own awesomeness? How quick are you to judge and criticize yourself negatively? The Truth is that you are pretty darned awesome.
Try saying it aloud now: You’re AWESOME! Walk over to a mirror and declare it to yourself. Feel the joy bubble up in recognition and agreement with this Truth! Are you not feeling it yet? Keep saying it with great jubilation and conviction until you do!
What if you met everyone you encountered today with this joyful affirmation: “You’re awesome!”? Either spoken aloud or whispered silently in your mind. It feels good to recognize the awesome in all.
The Sufi poet Hafiz wrote, “Be the One that changes everyone’s luck when you walk in the room.” How you move through the world affects you, your partner/significant other, your children, your friends, the communities you belong to, their communities, and the world. You are like a pebble tossed in the ocean of the Infinite. The waves of your being ripple out to all. So be bright, be brilliant, be who you came here to be. It’s AWESOME!
You’re AWESOME!
And so it is.
