There are about a million things I want to share with you about this word “permission” but for the sake of brevity, I’ll try to keep it succinct.
We are living in a culture that favors non-stop, chronic “doing.”
So many people are so stuck on auto-pilot, and entrenched in old ways of being –– old behavioral patterns, and repetitive thought patterns ––that we forget to give ourselves permission to relax, to breathe, or to slow down.
Many people have been raised to believe that giving to ourselves, especially through practices of self-nourishment is selfish. Or, we believe we need to wait for other people’s permission or culturally accepted “special occasions” to “treat” ourselves.
It’s also much more common to find that people treat themselves with harsh criticism much more often than with loving-kindness or self-compassion.
I think this kind of mindset is incredibly destructive for our entire culture and directly contributes to our collective “dis-ease.”
We don’t need to wait for permission to do what’s best for ourselves. And I strongly believe that we can’t show up and do our best work or be in service unless our own cups are overflowing.
We need to be well resourced to hold space for our own healing process. And if you’re in a care-giving role, then you need to be especially well resourced to hold space for other people’s healing and growth.
Intentionally adopting this word “permission” becomes a specific cognitive tool that signals you to break an old habit and reach for a new choice.
Whenever I’m starting a new session with a client or a group, I always start my sessions by inviting everyone to give themselves permission to simply arrive in this moment, aligning mind and body together in the here and now.
Reaching for and using this word permission allows us to put down and stop carrying excess energetic weight and let go of these self-inflicted pressures that no longer serve us.