Last year I came across an Emerson quote, that resonated with me so deeply, I cut it out and pinned it to the cork-board in my bedroom.

The quote reads:

“Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

At the time, I was waking up with fight-or-flight anxiety every morning, but it was hard to pin down a single source causing my anxiety.

Yes, I’d gone through a divorce and was still struggling to lay a financial foundation for myself and my daughter. Yes, I’d been having conflict with close friends—and yes, my daughter had behavior challenges that I knew I had reinforced because of my own denial and because discipline was not one of my strengths.

Though it may have seemed to me at the time that there were many sources of my anxiety—one day I realized that its single source was insecurity.

When I wrote the poem below, it was as if I was reminding myself of my own power—my own goodness. I was reminding myself that treating others how we want to be treated is only a benefit when we treat ourselves with love, kindness and self-respect every moment of every day.

As Emerson suggests—I want to start each day unencumbered by worry, fear, anxiety and all other “nonsense.”

Rather than suppress my anxiety, I need to accept it and then alleviate it—with faith in my own goodness and a commitment to rise and shine. Even if my circumstances never change, I can certainly change my attitude and take a solid step towards an improved quality of life.

When we’re at our best, we glow. That’s not because we take on some new trait all of a sudden, but it’s because we let our best selves shine, without blocks of shame, self-consciousness or fear.

We are not our past, our relationships, our bank balance or our accomplishments.

We are each our best self, and starting each day with that acknowledgment is the essence of empowerment.

“Important Tool for the Golden Rule”

Wake to the smile rise of your own glow,
pour your feet in a forward flow,
say often yes, expand what you know,
shed light and spread it wherever you go;
be ignited ignition, focused transmission
may you make you, then reap you
and love what you sow.

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Relephant: 

Welcome to Emerson’s Transcendental Country.

 

Author: Mandy Kalish

Editor: Yoli Ramazzina

Photo: Flickr/Sodanie Chea