A few years back I had an amazing dream and in the dream, I climbed to the top of a mountain, looking down, I could see a sprawling city spread out in front of me.

Then without warning, my solar plexus opened up and a huge beam of vibrant blue light, as wide as my hips shot out and radiated onto the city below, bathing everything in the beautiful blue light.

My interpretation of this dream is that in this life, I’m meant to shine my light into the world.

But this is not a task reserved only for me, it’s yours too; It’s all of ours. Every one of us is meant to shine our inner light into the world.

What exactly do I mean by this? 

Well, I define shining our inner light, as simply allowing ourselves to be fully who we truly are, without hiding away or diminishing our power, but rather, permitting our brilliance and inner light to radiate outwards. 

Thus bringing our creativity, positivity, joy, love and our constructive contribution to the world.

All of us are unique individuals who have come into this life with many different gifts to share with the world. 

Some of us are wonderful speakers, others writers, peace advocates, bakers, singers, inspirational speakers, teachers, yogis, musicians, actors, skateboarder’s healers, etc.…etc.

We shine our light through embracing our truth, our talents, gifts, beauty, intelligence, wealth, spirituality, happiness or whatever else it may be.

Living in the light of who we are means not being afraid to fully express ourselves in all the myriad ways available to us, even if this expression puts others in the shadows.

Although I know overshadowing others is what we’re most araid of isn’t it?

Aren’t we afraid of living in our full glory because we’re afraid of putting others in the shadows?

And even more importantly, aren’t we also afraid of their disapproval, negative comments and judgments?

You know, for as long as I can remember, I’ve loved dancing. Those who know me will tell you how I come alive when I’m on the dance floor, doing my thing. 

The dance floor is the place where I can really shine—it’s a space where I feel free, unshackled and limitless.

I feel this way when dancing because I don’t care whose watching me, nor do I care what they’re thinking about me. 

I simply let myself go and can allow myself to be who I am—to do my thing.

Consequently, over the years I’ve made many friends while dancing.

However, it could have been quite a different story for me.

When I was a child, I would often jump up and start dancing at family parties. A ring would form around me and everyone would clap their hands to the beat, encouraging me to show off my best moves, which I loved.

But then I was called a precocious child.

Although the word itself isn’t negative, the context in which it was used was and this somewhat negative label could have prematurely ended my enjoyment of dancing.

But because I loved dancing so much, I was able to disregard this comment and keep on dancing anyway.

However, comments such as these made during our childhoods when we’re the most impressionable, can lead us to suppress our innate ability to shine later in adulthood.

This is why it’s so important to encourage our children to be who they are, without limiting or stifling their brilliance.

On this same note, living in Sweden as I now do is quite interesting. The Swedes have a word called “Lagom” This word doesn’t have a direct English translation, but it roughly means moderate or moderation.

For Swedes lagom is about the maintaining the group dynamic, so in this context lagom means not sticking out from the group. 

And on a deeper level, to be lagom is not to think you’re better or strive to be more than anyone else in the group.

Lagom is ingrained in Swedish culture and is something I discovered while at learning the language at school.

When I was applying for my job at Ikea and needed to write my CV in Swedish, I went to one of the teachers for help with this. 

Growing up in a culture where individualism is encouraged, I was quite shocked when this teacher told me to change a sentence I had written, promoting my skills, experience and talent as a sales person. 

She said, “You can’t write that—in Sweden you have to be lagom, it’s better that you tone it down.”

Oj oj oj oj oj!

Of course I didn’t change the sentence—but isn’t it interesting that we’re not just individually programmed to dim our light, but even culturally?

And why should someone else care so much about how much we shine?

Well, we care because when we see someone else living their light and fulfilling their dreams, it’s a stark reminder to us that we’re not doing what we want, or are we where we want to be. 

In short, seeing someone else shine brings up feelings of jealousy and envy in us; so we do everything we can to make them feel bad about themselves.

In doing this, we stop ourselves being confronted with, or having to face our own feelings of inadequacy.

But the question we need to ask ourselves is why don’t WE have the courage to live in our true light?

Here are 5 good reasons why we should be courageous enough to do just that!

1. You have a talent; share it with the world.

What’s your talent, or should I say what’s the thing that makes your heart sing when you’re doing it?

All of us have something unique to offer the world; the secret is to discover what that is and then develop it. 

My talent was dancing, now it’s sharing the insights I’ve gained through living my light, writing and speaking with others.

But some of you may think you don’t have a talent or you may not know what that talent is.

That’s ok—start with thinking about the things you enjoy or which bring you the most joy and happiness when you’re doing them.

If you keep doing and enjoying whatever these things are, they will soon develop into a passion, which will naturally lead to them becoming your talent. 

It doesn’t matter what your talent is in the end, as long as you enjoy doing it and it gives you a sense of purpose, it can also be shared with the world.

2. You were made to shine.

You know what? We were all made to shine and that’s what we’re meant to be doing. 

But like I said earlier, many of us are afraid to let our inner light shine too brightly, because it could mean pushing others into the shadows. 

Well, the truth is, we’re not responsible for how others perceive us, nor how they perceive themselves. We cannot hold ourselves accountable for why someone else isn’t living in the light of his or her full potential. 

We must let others take responsibility for their own vision and light.

Our sole responsibility is to see to it that we are doing and being the best we can possibly be. 

And by being our best, we can only hope that the courage we show, inspires others to also dare to let their inner light shine, encouraging them to also live in their light.

3. There is no comparison 

One of the wonders of life, which I love and find fascinating, is that we are all unique. There is no one else out there like me, like you or like any of us for that matter, which makes us very special.

Therefore, there’s no need for us to compete with one another.

Getting out of the habit of constantly comparing ourselves with others is the aim, because comparison only makes us feel inadequate, powerless and worthless.

And who want’s to feel like that?

In the end, what’s there to compare—when all of us are individual and blessed with different talents and gifts? 

And although we may feel that our light isn’t shining as brightly as someone else’s, that doesn’t matter.  

What empowers us and does matter, is simply shinning anyway. 

Whatever light and however much do we shine into the world is enough. Lighting our own path is all we have to do.

4. Be your own perfect

Being perfect is something we all strive to be isn’t it? We want to be seen as being perfect in everything we do, but the need for perfection can also cause us to feel seriously stressed out and anxious, which takes the focus away from our purpose.

Our need to be perfect is partly due to wanting the world to see us in a more positive light isn’t it? Which again comes back to comparison.

But the notion of perfection is totally in our hands to control. So what I say to you all is; live according to your own perfection, be you your own perfect! 

Don’t let others dim your light or set the parameters for how you should live your life. Don’t let others’ limitations determine your aspirations.

Imperfection is also perfect isn’t it? It’s up to each one of us to decide what that looks like.

5. Have no regrets

One of the personal mottos I endeavour to live by is; “Have no regrets” 

I want to live life as fully and authentically myself as I possibly can. Because when I get to 70, 80 and beyond, I want to feel grateful, inspired and satisfied with the life I’ve lived, not feel disappointed or dissatisfied because I didn’t live the life I wanted.

I want to live then die without regrets.

Can any of you guess what number 5 on the top ten lists of regrets older people have is? It’s wishing they had lived their own lives.

Isn’t it sad that so many of us live our lives according to someone else’s standards instead of living it according to our own?

So, if like me living a life of no regrets is important to you, then allow yourself to live the life you truly want and develop the courage to truly live in the full light of who you are.

Because life is just too short to live it any other way!

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