Being big is not to be confused with height, weight or being arrogantly full of yourself, so large that there’s barely enough space in the room for your ego and you. We all know people who puff themselves up, manipulate the spotlight for their own gain and monopolize the conversation at the expense of others. That’s not what I’m talking about.

Last November while attending training in Toronto I experienced being big firsthand.
My lunch hour assignment was to amplify my experience of each moment, to allow myself to sense and feel 100% of my response to what was happening around me. I literally felt myself grow bigger in my body, my senses were heightened and I was in the moment - 100% alive. No restrictions, no holding back, no need to conform to rules or social expectation, a total sense of freedom to be who you are and fully experience life. What an incredible feeling! Now in a city with 2.48 million people, none of whom I know or who could care less about what I’m doing, it’s quite easy to be big. So it got me thinking about being big all the time, being all of who we are, all of the time. How much of our real selves do we project out into the world? How much of who we really are do others see?

Then it struck me, while being big grants you freedom of expression, it also leaves you open to be exposed and vulnerable. People will “see” you and then what will happen? Hmmm… maybe we don’t want to be quite SO big, just tone it down a little so we don’t stick out too much. While it may feel safer to live that way, in the long run what does it cost you? Marianne Williamson’s poem, Our Deepest Fear paraphrased here reminds me of the cost. We are more fearful of being who we really are than not being good enough. We doubt and question our abilities and talents and often choose to shrink ourselves down. Marianne asks us:

 “Who are you not to be? There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

What we can’t allow in our lives becomes the master that rules us. It slowly cuts us off and there is less and less room to live. If we’re lucky we wake up, challenge our deepest fear and become big.

You are uniquely beautiful, one of a kind, like no other. Be big - follow the beat of your own drum. You’ll experience satisfaction that beats hiding out in a small life any day. My lunch hour assignment was proof enough to me that it’s worth the risk to be big. Grow into yourself and let your light shine.

Now, how big are you letting yourself be today?

Cindy Maki
True Vision Coaching
(807)629-0009