Do you look back and celebrate?
How often do you look back, take stock, see where you’ve come from, and celebrate it?
For many of us, our default is to look back and judge or look ahead and see how far we have to go or stand where we are and consider it not enough.
If you’ve grown up, or spent any amount of time, in a fundamentalist faith community and/or tradition, celebrating yourself may have been taught all the way out of you.
“All glory to God.”
“It wasn’t me, but Christ in me.”
“All by the grace of God.”
“Jesus made the difference.”
To have the ability to stand in your own power and celebrate a milestone, an accomplishment, how far you’ve come and the strength you’ve gained and how much you’ve changed… is something many of us have to relearn in recovery.
Fundamentalism, whether it be in Christianity or elsewhere, does not want you to have autonomous power. It wants you to rely on the (often self-appointed) authority figure for approval, permission, and belonging. In this way, you can be kept small, and your behavior can be controlled.
Self-empowerment is a threat to communities that exist in exclusivity, that want you reliant on them for your emotional, spiritual, and, in some cases, physical needs. A sign that you’re in a fundamentalist environment is that the Self will be dismissed and even demonized.
Eckhart Tolle once said,
"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."
Imagine if you could look back at your journey, not with the critical eye of what's left to achieve, but with the gracious gaze of appreciation for how far you've come?
Psychologist Carl Rogers observed:
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."
The resistance often stems from the belief that self-acceptance equates to stagnation. That self-acknowledgment equates to a denial of divinity. That Self-praise equates to the dismissal of outside factors involved in your growth. But in truth, acknowledging your progress opens the door to further transformation.
Let's unravel the threads of resistance, inviting a compassionate exploration of your achievements. It's not about boasting or resting on laurels; it's about understanding that your journey is worthy of acknowledgment.
This week, here in The Practice Co App, we are going to celebrate it all. The milestones, the growth, the learnings, even the failures and missteps. Why? Because when you resist joy, when you deny progress, you keep the door to abundance closed; when you resist generosity, you keep scarcity in the driver's seat; when you dismiss reality - that you are the author of your life and you are responsible for yourself - you deny your own power to create, heal, and become all that you have in you to be.
And haven’t we had enough of that?
You can celebrate yourself and be grateful for grace; you can acknowledge your own hard work and thank those who have helped you; you can praise yourself and Divinity all at the same time. Come on the journey with me. I think you’ll like it.
Join me in the App?
Liz Milani xo
Instagram: @thepracticeco
From this week’s series titled "Milestone Moments," with a subscription in the App. Hope to see you there.
