30 days of self-love: gratitude for the dragons

This post is dedicated to my dragons.

In the fairytales, the dragons are so often slayed. They are horrible monsters that will destroy the main character unless they kill them. Violently.

And what if we told a different story about the dragons? Maybe they were breathing fire because they had never known love? Maybe fire felt like their only way of being after spending their life rejected, shoved down and told over and over again I wish you would go away.

I read once somewhere (I can’t remember where) that our dragons are not to be shunned or pushed aside, but rather invited to tea. I have always loved that visual. Me and my dragons (whom are ever changing – one day Ms. Unworthiness, Ms. Fear of Being Disliked the next), sitting down for a proper tea, I lovingly listen while recognizing that being unworthy or disliked is no longer my truth I choose to orient from.

So my self-love practice today, and many other days, is to talk to these little dragons I keep on my desk or nearby. I name them as they come up in my day. Sometimes they’re all there, sometimes just one. “Oh, HELLO, Ms. You Never Follow Through With Anything, welcome to the party! Have a seat and a cup of tea, girl!” This may sound silly, and I assure you IT IS. It’s FUN! GASP. Y’ALL. Self-love and shifting our thought patterns can actually be really fun sometimes. This practice makes light of the hurtful things I sometimes say to myself in the moment. It’s good to make light. Humor is why I am here today. Humor can be a way out, and that’s okay sometimes. At one point I needed it to escape, to bail out of the present and out of my feelings. Now it’s a superpower of mine, and I get to figure out how to use it in all kinds of ways that allow me to still be present. To feel. To laugh. LAUGH. LAUGH!