Image by Christine Engelhardt from Pixabay
True and total self-expression has never come easily to me. I have done a lot of reflecting on the last 35 years of my life and cringed at the many times I should have/could have/would have rocked the stage and wooed the crowds (not technically literally speaking, but you know, done cool shit) , but instead recoiled at the thought of “letting my light” shine for various reasons.
The most vivid memories of my light being dimmed stem from my time spent in junior high band class when a handful of the other students around me repeatedly tried to humiliate me for playing my instrument so well. (Kids are jerks)
Somehow, those little jerks got stuck in my brain and left this feeling of overwhelming guilt any time I let my light shine. Because of them, constantly worried that I might possibly make someone around me feel as though I think I am better than they are, or they can’t be as good as me.
Why dim other’s lights?
I could never understand why anyone would want to make others feel bad about being good at something. Why must some feel threatened by others talents and self-expression? I literally could not perform for fear of others thinking I might be too good. That I might dim the lights of those around me. That is exactly how those kids made me feel.
Ugh. Now here I am, 35 years old and still having issues with it. It is high time that I let those issues go. Like, yesterday.
Meditation for Self-Expression
Today, I will focus on setting my voice free and let my light shine as brightly as I darn well choose. And, you know what? You should too. Everyone deserves to feel like they can express themselves fully. I would like to hope that by shining our lights brightly, we might inspire others to do the same.
So, these are the words that I shall focus on for my daily mantra:
I set my voice free, and allow my true Self to be heard.
Allow your true Self to be heard. Loud and clear. Find whatever it is inside of you that you have been hiding from the view of the world, and set it free. It might just be what the world has been missing. In fact, I know it is.
Visualization Exercise

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Do you also feel like you have a hard time fully expressing yourself? In the world of energy and chakras, this is a blockage in the fifth chakra: the Throat Chakra.
Focus
To help you along with releasing this blockage, focus your mind’s eye to your throat region and imagine it radiant blue. Do you feel tension there? Can your mind’s eye imagine the blockages resting around your throat?
Now, imagine pure, white healing light pouring over you like a waterfall, through the top of your crown, then pooling into this chakra of self-expression. Repeat the mantra to yourself:
I set my voice free, and allow my true Self to be heard.
Dissolve Blockages
Imagine that this healing white light is dissolving those blockages until they completely disintegrate. Then imagine it beaming out of you and into the world. This is universal energy pouring down through the universe and beaming through you, to clear the way for you to express your true Self. To help you shine your light.
Sit with it.
Sit with the sensations and emotions that you may feel.
Yes, I know this might feel a bit weird. But, try it. See if you can envision the light and feel the energy flowing through you. For instance, you might feel a warm sensation surrounding your head and throat region. Or, you might not feel much of anything at all.
It is within us and all around us.
Every single one of us has the ability to feel the universal energies that we are made of and that surround us. Sometimes we just need a little practice tuning in.
Write it down.
Get a pen and paper at the ready to write down the flood of creativity and ideas for your own self-expression that may come pouring out of you after this powerful, releasing exercise!
If anything, this is a great form of meditation and intention-setting, as it gets you to focus your mind’s eye specifically on the area that you feel you are having trouble with.
Use this meditation to help you any time you feel like you are not being heard, or are not allowing others to see who you truly are. Remind yourself that you are worth being heard. You have so much to offer the world.