I like you when you’re naked, when you strip yourself of what you’re so accustomed to hiding behind.

The clothes you wear don’t do your soul justice.

There’s a certain type of mystical inspiration behind that skin that we like to ignore. We like to label it something not worth looking into—but can I see that.

I see you. 

I see the discomfort when a piece of you accidentally slips out in those split seconds of you not paying close attention to keeping up with the facade. Then behind the shield of torment that comes after, when your mind reminds you that it’s not okay to be you.

What if we told everyone that beauty can come from our imperfections being conspicuous? That we can and will delight in those moments when our smiles do not ask for permission to illuminate the corners of the earth? We don’t understand what lies behind the lies we tell ourselves in order to fit in.

We yearn to find a place where we belong, but really we belong everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.

Our beings are breathtaking—let us not take that away from this world.

We all need each other.

Let us get lost in the wilderness trapped behind each other’s lips. Let the truth about us slip through and spill over the wounds we encounter in this life. We have the power to heal those who do not allow the light to shine through themselves. There is a force in the tongue that society so often makes us either bite or use in ways that are not edifying to the souls around us.

We must pour out what they have taught us to consume, and pour out what we didn’t realize we adapted to keeping in.

We were born to live with no labels. To live as if we were never given a name to attach to. Please, let us not rob ourselves of joy. There is no victory in allowing ourselves to be tied down by the weight of the world—the world that’s plastered on billboards, TV commercials and the magazines plaguing our checkout lines.

It’s constantly around us.

We are not this exterior world. Do not be afraid of being free of the superficial. I know at times we may fear not having anything else to hold on to, but how else can we fly?

Let’s live as if our hearts have never been broken. As if fear never existed in our minds.

Do you know what lies at the end of your fingertips? They weren’t just made for memorizing the goosebumps that you create on the skin of others who may never love you the way you are meant to be loved. They weren’t just made for wiping tears, or for impatient tapping caused by anxious thoughts.

Your fingertips hold every dream we ever chased but weren’t able to grab more than just a fragment of before they got away.

Reignite that flame. Stop fearing the darkness for the moon illuminates the night and highlights every beautiful curve of our faces with no care for the flaws. Let it create those waves again. Let’s let our true nature run its course the way it did before this world told us it was too peculiar, before the world told us it was not good enough.

So let’s quit hiding behind clothes that are deemed acceptable by blind souls. Let’s quit hiding behind the way society tells us to live, behind relationships that no longer serve us. Let’s quit hiding behind our addictions to people and things that only bring us pain and suffering. They do not suit us. And if they tell us that they do, let us remember to take a hard look in the mirror at ourselves, really see into ourselves and remember who we are.

Here, we can ask ourselves: Are we truly at peace with our lives? Does our being manifest the true definition of love?

An apple tree simply cannot bear oranges. Fear cannot dwell in the same place as love for perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)

People think that in order to make these changes we need to focus on putting in a massive amount of work—but it’s more about unveiling and letting go of what constantly holds us back. It’s about being the Spirit that we were always called to be—the Spirit that the world has taught us to cover up and numb.

Facing ourselves is not the easiest or the most pleasant task—it will be painful, but I promise it will be worth it.

Know that when I write to you all I am also writing to myself. We teach as we learn and we learn as we teach.

Let our actions speak for us—and let us live by example.

You have just as much to offer the world as the next person, as much as the enlightened beings that we think are light years away from us when it comes down to the spiritual realm.

We just need to unlock that door.

There is a reason why their words strike a match in our hearts.

I like you when you’re naked. When you strip yourself of what you never were. The masks you wear don’t do this world justice.

You are magnificent.

You already are.

So do not be afraid. It will flow from you as it should: perfectly imperfect.

 

 

 

Author: Elisha Ivelisse

Image: Mia Isara/Flickr 

Editor: Renée Picard