Permission

PERMISSION.

The use of this word has increased significantly over the last century.

Google it. There’s a graph. It’s a noun and it’s winning popularity contests all over the place.

For a long time, I thought permission had to come from somewhere other than myself.

Remember in grade school? You had to be given a permission slip by someone who was ‘in charge’. Permission was given to you and could be just as easily taken away without warning or explanation.

Apparently, I let that idea solidify in my brain because permission has been something I’ve waited to be given to me. Truth is, I’ve been able to give it to myself this whole time.

The way I had been thinking about permission had been holding me back in so many ways.

I can now see how waiting for permission has shown up in my life and as I feel the weight of that realization, it opens my eyes to more places where I thought (until recently) that I needed to get permission from someone other than myself to speak up, do (or not do) something I want (or don’t want) to do.

The thought that permission comes from someone ‘superior’ or more in charge, from somewhere or someone outside of ourselves is one I’m now much more skeptical of - I believed that thought for far too long.

I have spent too much time waiting for someone to give me something I could have given myself all along... All because of how I had that thought set up in my mind.

So it makes me wonder: where else is permission needed and has not yet been "granted"?

What other thoughts have I been believing that aren’t serving me?

With Love, and permission ;)

Whitney