She sees what's special in everybody.

A beautiful intention

When I heard someone describe another person with this phrase, it stopped me in my tracks. I immediately thought, I want to be her. I want to be the person that brings that into all her interactions with others.

I am a complete dreamer and those who know me well would say I am a total romantic. I am. I have enjoyed a lot more of my life seeing things with romantic eyes which also shows up as being in the spirit of possibility and believing in warmth, beauty, connection, and of course, LOVE.

It is possible part of that tendency came as a way to self-soothe myself as a little girl.

I don’t recall all the finite details, and I do remember wanting family and community. I was primarily raised by a single mother as my father was a musician and travelled most of the year.

When they separated and divorced, I was eleven years old and by that time, there had been so many goodbyes due to his career, I didn’t feel emotionally connected to him. My mother was a strong independent woman and took care of me and my brother, yet my memory is very much steeped in the experience of her unhappiness.

Knowing what I know now about human behavior and how we evolve into who we become, our experience and what we took it all to mean in our little heads, significantly impacts what we believe, especially about ourselves.

I don’t recall having romanticized dreams about my mom and dad; I just know I was very much drawn to kids that had two parents in the home, and one friend in particular had a large family with their faith at the center of their lives. This experience offered me the opportunity to be a part of a big, loving, and joyful family, and also their church community.

This brief window into my early life allows me to be illustrative of my greater point and the message of this post. That is, although we go through many things and our origin story isn’t always what we would have wished for ourselves, it does inspire the person we become.

It influences parts of ourselves that require attention and healing, let’s call it our shadow. It also influences our light, our beauty, and our unique offering - our service to the world.

I don’t believe I would be described by others as, “she see’s what is special in everybody.” I am a virgo and if don’t know much about virgos, they are apparently the most perfectionist sign in the zodiac, according to my very wise, momma. They can be quite hard on themselves and that can transfer on to others - especially those close.

Nonetheless, I am that person that in a very short time, and in most conversations, will find the bright spot, the “opportunity” rather than the problem. I am the person that will ask you many questions because I am deliciously curious about you, who you are, where you came from, and in time - often in that conversation, sometimes the first one, I will reflect to you the beauty, light, and the many gifts you possess.

I am easily inspired by people and their particular journey taken until the moment in which we meet.

I started to see this about myself over a decade ago. This part of me that finds great joy in seeing you, and in shining a light on your gorgeous heart.

I am so committed, I changed my license plate to ENCOURG, to be a reminder of the choice we have everyday to do so with one another. Around the same time, I put a stake in the ground and clarified part of my personal mission is to be a “devoted encourager of the soul.”

What that means to me is my unrelenting devotion to draw forward, reflect, and encourage a connection with and loyalty to your Soul.

I want to encourage you to get to know yourself on every level. Through that experience, we become more and more aware of our divine nature, and the Love, not just that we feel, rather, the Love that we are.

When we are living and relating to ourselves from this understanding, everything shifts. When we cultivate that connection many of the questions we have are answered or quelled. Much of our pain and suffering can be transcended. I describe it as becoming fully integrated, loving, and accepting ourselves completely, and living from a place of wholeness.

Now that I realized I have just shared a sneak peek into my first book, I will take us back to the beginning. The place that inspired this entire post.

When we hear, see, or learn something that inspires and speaks to us, it is merely reflecting something back to us which is already within us.

In a way, I am her, in my own way. Hearing that phrase, “she sees what’s special in everybody,” was a reminder of that part of me and also the joy I experience when I choose to embody it. It uplifts and inspires me unlike anything else.

This part of me, I believe, came about because of my beginnings. Perhaps it was a way to self-soothe or something I wished to receive. Either way, it’s informed part of me and I am so grateful. Because, I love that about myself.

So, please ask yourself:

• What part(s) of my origin story has most inspired who I have become?

• How has it informed my gifts or the light I bring to the world?

• What is that unique, wonderful part of me that I sometimes forget exists?

• How might I bring it more forward and present in my life - with myself, and others?

There are so many ways we honor our life. We are so busy with it all, we often miss it. You are a miracle, really. Your beauty, presence, and one of a kind way of seeing the world is a blessing.

In case no one has told you that lately.