At the moment there are quite a few things in me that I would love to celebrate. And with some of these things, I notice that I have some discomfort coming up, in sharing them with others.

I don’t want to show-off like the peacock…

Well actually… I would LOVE to be this peacock that so shamelessly shows his beauty.

I was born in The Netherlands and part of the culture I grew up in encouraged me to ‘be good and tell it’. After arriving in New Zealand in 1995 I became aware of the term Tall Poppy – which by the way doesn’t exist in Dutch. And people weren’t just referring to my 6 foot stature. I imagine that a few times, I have been labelled as ‘arrogant’ or a ‘show-off’. Sigh…

Until I became aware more recently, through the consciousness of Nonviolent Communication, that there is a different way to look at this. One of the universal human needs is ‘celebration’. And this doesn’t just refer to having a cake with candles on your birthday. 🎂 It also doesn’t refer to a comparison of me with someone else. What it means (for me) is that I can celebrate me, in all my Irma-ness without this being a threat to anyone else. It is not coming from a place of win/lose or right/wrong. It is seeing me for who I am. And I long for you to celebrate you for who you are.

Is there anything today that you would like to celebrate out loud – without any sense of shame – because you can trust that those around you want to join in and celebrate you? And in the same way, you would love to join them in celebrating them.

And oh, in case you’re wanting to know what I wanted to celebrate… flick me a message and I’ll tell you all about it!