To be free, get naked. Walk out underneath the stars, the ones that have known you by every name, even the ones you’ve forgotten. Shed all that you’ve been, each small, insignificant story. And invite the immensity of this world in. Let the boundlessness of the sky press in and expand this “you”. Feel yourself filled by what’s to come. Let the night, let the mystery of winter woosh in  to fill your emptying spaces. There is only one way to move into the future. And that is naked, clinging to as little as possible. The lighter your load, the more joyful the journey.

We change our clothes often. But we keep old beliefs, old stories clinging to our bones well after they have turned to rags. A necktie to symbolize how we have been heard (or not heard) in the past. A deteriorated blouse with only half its white buttons still in place is the story of how we have never been able REALLY love. And we have worn so many holes through the soles of our shoes, one for every time we lost faith in ourselves, in our ability to keep going.

This is our clothing. And it is just that. It feels so very real sometimes, like we could wrap ourselves in these truths forever. But everything fades. What were once rubies adorning our necks turn to nooses if they stay too long. And sooner or later we find ourselves limping along under ever-darkening myths, under ancient rags of stories we’ve told ourselves too many times.

What is heavy for you? I don’t know about you, but lately, I’ve grown tired of hearing myself repeat the same old stories to myself. Ones about how small the world is, or what I’m capable of, or that miracles don’t actually happen, daily. Lately, I’ve been so excruciatingly aware of these old tapes. I am literally sick of my own negative feedback loop. It’s making me nauseous.

Nothing is so real as our barest self, against an infinite sky. Something has shifted. A doorway is opened. We have a chance to make leaps and bounds into our future. We have a choice. One way lets us hobble along under the weight of what has been, what stories we have created about the world. And the other way sets us free.

We could get naked. We could drop what’s heavy. We could strip down. We could make a mountain at our feet of all the clothes, all the old stories, all the thoughts and silly little beliefs. We could throw them all into a pile at our feet. We could call it The Mountain of Perceived Reality. And we could climb on top of it, now weightless. We could use it to reach up towards the sky – vast, expansive, bright.

This is the choice. Do you want the heaviness upon your shoulders? Or under your feet. One way, the world looks small. You can peek out from under your heavy mass every so often, gathering tiny glimpses of this vast universe. The other puts heaviness beneath you, as solid ground to stand on. Make use of what has been. Keep growing, keep reaching out into yourself. You are as big as the Universe, bigger. Don’t trick yourself into thinking you are your clothes. Get naked.