“Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself.
I am large.
I contain multitudes.”
– Walt Whitman

In order to thrive, wholeness has to be the priority – not political correctness, or likeability, or protecting your mother’s feelings. But… What if your preferences and the various parts of yourself are seemingly in conflict? Like the MBA who wants to be a stay-at-home mom, or the eco-friendly yoga teacher who wants to be a millionaire?

It’s good – it’s all good if it’s all real. It is infinitely more empowering, not to mention more interesting, to be full of contradictions than to accommodate the status quo.

THIS WEEK: make a short list of your own contradictions. Leave it out where you can see it for a while. Smile when you read it. Learn to love it.

The basis of authenticity is acceptance of your whole self. Like the MBA who wants to be a stay-at-home mom or, the sexy dresser with old-fashioned morals, or the yoga teacher who wants to be a millionaire…self-expression is not an either- or formula. It is infinitely better to be fully yourself with myriad contradictions than to be an indirect, inauthentic version of yourself.

Wholeness demands that we expand – our perspective, our definition of success, and our belief in what’s possible.