What Must be Said (Message 2)

What Must be Said (Message 2)

In one of the most empowering and exhilarating experiences of my life I was invited to choose a word (or a sequence of them strung together) that I felt desperate to get off my chest. Or in this case, to put on my chest.

The generous and amazing Katherine Center offered her mad body painting skills to anyone in our collective group that felt they had something to state to the Universe. A word, a phrase, prose or poetry. Whatever had to be said.

The above images is me, sharing my truth. If I could say, feel, embrace nothing else of myself in my life’s journey, this would be it. And as I quickly approach my 42nd birthday I am delighted that I can make this statement with conviction. It’s been a long time coming. Can I get an amen?

A special thanks to a very sweet and strong Superhero for capturing this shot in such a way that it could be any one of us claiming this for ourselves. Right now. As we are. Period.

I hope you hold these words close to your heart today and most of all that you believe them.

35 Comments
  • Irene
    Posted at 08:17h, 23 August Reply

    amen my friend.

    ps: I remember seeing this photo and writing down these words on my journal 🙂

  • Lee
    Posted at 08:32h, 23 August Reply

    Indeed.

  • Melissa
    Posted at 08:47h, 23 August Reply

    Amen

  • Chris
    Posted at 09:10h, 23 August Reply

    Oh yeah, AMEN sister! I tell myself these words everyday. Some days I believe it, some days I don’t and that’s okay…because deep down, we’re ALL enough. You rock, girlfriend. Truly.

  • lifeineden
    Posted at 12:16h, 23 August Reply

    Amen to you.

    I’m still trying to embrace this for myself. I’m getting closer.

  • Mariah
    Posted at 13:14h, 23 August Reply

    Thank you for being you and sharing who you are…

  • Gayle
    Posted at 13:35h, 23 August Reply

    Amen, Tracey.

  • camerashymomma
    Posted at 13:39h, 23 August Reply

    beautiful.
    powerful.

  • Jena
    Posted at 14:06h, 23 August Reply

    Amen, and back atcha.

  • Chookooloonks
    Posted at 14:20h, 23 August Reply

    amen!

  • karen
    Posted at 14:51h, 23 August Reply

    amen. here’s me, too, trying to get there. maybe someday.

  • gem
    Posted at 15:20h, 23 August Reply

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnn!
    cheers,
    gem

  • CarrieJ
    Posted at 15:39h, 23 August Reply

    AMEN!
    It is a message we should all have on our hearts, at all times.

  • Jeanette
    Posted at 16:11h, 23 August Reply

    I am enough. I read those words not yet at the place where I can totally accept and trust in them, but with the eager hope of someone who is working on getting close.

    Thank you
    j.

  • Melissa G
    Posted at 16:25h, 23 August Reply

    Amen!

    I just wanted to tell you that it is amazing how many times I have come here only to read exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks Tracey.

  • Amie aka MammaLoves
    Posted at 16:48h, 23 August Reply

    I wish we were all born with this tattooed on our chests.

  • Jennifer New
    Posted at 18:39h, 23 August Reply

    Absolutely beautiful and brilliant. I may need to do this tonight – though in scribbly marker, nothing so lovely. But just as true!

    THANKS!

  • Heather Plett
    Posted at 19:09h, 23 August Reply

    And all the people say… AMEN!

  • Wanda
    Posted at 23:15h, 23 August Reply

    Amen and amen.

  • Debi
    Posted at 01:02h, 24 August Reply

    Earlier this year, a commenter on my blog said these very words to me as I agonized over yet another something. It quickly became my daily affirmation, my mantra. I AM enough.

  • megan
    Posted at 01:16h, 24 August Reply

    truly lovely. and words to remember always.

  • Donna
    Posted at 02:46h, 24 August Reply

    i am enough! thank you Tracey!

  • Michelle
    Posted at 02:46h, 24 August Reply

    Amen!

    I am having a serendipitous moment I feel the need to share with you. This morning I sat and reread a few chapters in Taking Flight, only to come home and read Ali Edwards’ blog to see that she had written about an artistic gathering she had with Kelly Rae. Now I am figuring out that you were a part of that very magical group. I didn’t come to your blog, which I love BTW, by way of either of theirs (at least I don’t think I did), and I am in awe yet again of the vast smallness of this artistic blogging world.

    And I am so happy that you are "enough"!

  • cmv
    Posted at 03:02h, 24 August Reply

    absolutely beautiful post. thank you for sharing!

  • June
    Posted at 10:39h, 24 August Reply

    Thank you. I needed that.

  • carrie
    Posted at 15:00h, 24 August Reply

    You are indeed enough. Amen!

  • LilSis
    Posted at 17:03h, 24 August Reply

    And, yes, here’s another AMEN!!! I love this!!! That is an awesome project!

  • kaytee
    Posted at 01:35h, 29 August Reply

    i love this! the photo and the phrase. perfection =)

  • katherine center
    Posted at 02:59h, 29 August Reply

    This photo totally makes my heart sing! xoxoxoxoxo!

  • Marianne
    Posted at 04:41h, 01 September Reply

    Stunning.

    Just a week before you all met in Manzanita I was sitting with Andrea in a cafe in Berkley talking about the yoga retreat I was about to go on in Big Sur and the retreat she was about to go on with you.

    At my retreat we were offered the opportunity to say out loud the words that we most needed to hear. Actually – it was more terrifying than that. We were invited to SING the words that we most needed to hear. I was standing in a circle almost shaking with fear and yet crying from the need to hear these words so I summoned up all the courage that yoga has given me and stepped into the circle. I opened my mouth and sang with all my heart "I am enough". As I sang others in the group picked up the phrase and started singing it with me. I shook my whole body with the joy of finally answering my own fearful question. Am I enough? I am enough.

    Over the course of the day and the remaining days on the retreat five different women came to me in quiet moments and told me that the words I sang were the exact same words that she had been saying to herself – the very words she knew she also needed to hear. We are enough.

    When I saw your photo on Andrea’s blog I thought it was her and I was struck that we had both chosen the same words for ourselves – in different parts of the country but soon after sitting together in a cafe in Berkely. Now I know it was you. But really it is all of us. Thank you so much for sharing.

  • littlepurplecow
    Posted at 12:12h, 01 September Reply

    Amen, sister.

  • Swirly
    Posted at 14:52h, 03 September Reply

    Amen a million times over, written in stars across the sky.

  • Liz//Tipping Point Photo
    Posted at 01:12h, 23 October Reply

    Hells yeah you are enough! AAAAAAAAH-MEN! :o)

  • KarinaSTANTON31
    Posted at 14:55h, 25 June Reply

    freelance writer

  • HaydenESTELLE33
    Posted at 14:56h, 25 June Reply

    freelance writer

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