Tag: acceptance

‘You be You’ or ‘Me be Me’?

Jennifred Jones

They sound about the same, but are they?

This morning, trying to ‘arrange’ my very curly hair (to utilize its naturalness more fully and wondering how it would turn out, because it’s a ‘never the same twice’ hairdo), I thought, ‘I’m just going to be me. Let the locks fall where they may’!

That’s really what we all want…acceptance of who we are, where we are, as we are!

LET ME BE ME! 

But why do we need permission from somebody else to be who we are?

That’s where the ‘you be you‘ phrase got involved.

Many times, I think, when people tell us, ‘you be you’, there is another motive involved. They want you to be who they want you to be. And if you look around, all the ‘you be you-ers‘ look alike in many ways.

Not saying we have to become an oddball and do something crazy or hurtful to us or others to be ‘unique’. That’s not ‘me being me’. That’s trying to force your place when you already have a place.

Why is it so hard to get past what other people think? Because we all seek approval. But the good approval we need isn’t going to pull us down to a lesser version of ourselves. True approval will help/encourage us to be better, stronger, wiser, more reliant on our own judgement – not seeking wrong approvals.

This is where you will find your self-confidence. As you begin to launch out into the new and improved ‘let me be me‘ person, you will develop and grow into the better, stronger, wiser individual you always wanted to be!

Truly, let’s move forward together as ‘let me be me-ers‘ and become, each of us, who we really are.

There is so much good we can do once we allow ourselves to be and do what we are made to be and do.

People

Jennifred Jones

The more I interact with others…shopping, standing in line, passing by in the hallway somewhere…department stores, elevators, bus-stops, restaurants, gas stations, or just walking up and down the sidewalk, the more I notice people want, need recognition, acceptance. They desire to be noticed for who they are, even if they don’t look like it, even if they have their face bent towards their phone or head down reading a book, they want to be noticed, acknowledged and appreciated.

‘Well that’s a mouthful for you to say’, you might say. ‘He looks angry, she appears stuck-up, they look busy, I’m not going to interrupt and bother them’. I don’t mean strike up a lengthy conversation…just a pleasant, ‘Hi’, or ‘Hello, how are you today?’ Or ‘Isn’t this a beautiful day?’ (even if it’s not, it still is, because we’re alive:) Or we might surprise them by telling them we like their hair style, or their outfit, or what a wonderful family they have….something, anything positive to break the silence in so many lives, yearning for contact with another human being that even though they may appear busy—hiding behind their phone or book they still yearn for attention.

God has made us to need other people.

Catch people off guard with something positive, kind or helpful to say to them and watch it brighten their day. Whether you see the result of not, even the most grouchy person will feel the warmth of care when someone speaks kindly to them.

Yes, you can, we can, change the temperature, so to speak, in another person’s life just by loving them.

I have on purpose, ‘butted into people’s lives’ as they were all engrossed in their phone while they walked down the sidewalk to tell them, ‘Hi! Nice day out isn’t it?’ with the express purpose of sharing a bit of unasked for human kindness to brighten their day.  They look up surprised and then, when they realize, I am talking to them, they respond with a smile and a ‘Hi’ back. Not all have, but they still heard me and knew someone was thinking about them.

It would surprise us if we knew how much alike we all are, wanting acceptance from another person. We have become experts at hiding ourselves from others, and it is injuring us on the inside.

Give acceptance and loving care to other people. They need to receive it and we need to give it so we both can be made whole.

Begin today and reach out more to others.