First going through a divorce lead me on a journey of self discovery.
I made a commitment to myself to love myself and make myself happy because I always looked for love and happiness on the outside.
During my divorce I had moved my mother to help me raise my son. My son has always been carefree, fun and just a wild child. This was not accepted by my mother and she would discipline my son the way she had done with me and I started to hear those words of comparison and about having to live up to others expectations. It started to make me understand that I was domesticated in this way and was probably one of the reasons I was always looking for happiness and joy in others.
While reading [Dr. Shefali’s] book I realized that my son would help me in my own awakening, I allowed him to be himself and accepted him as he was not as I had wanted him to be. I wanted to know who he truly was and I did not want to take that away from him. I wanted him to know that I love him just the way he is and that he does not need to be anything other than himself.
I know that in acceptance there is the trickle effect. I know that my son is so in tune with himself that he will be a more confident adult, a more kind and compassionate man and he will thrive in a confusing world where people are always trying to impress and be someone other than themselves.