Bonjour Royal Friends!
Welcome to my blog, a tongue-in-chic life, style and happiness guide from a funny princess point of view!
Today I’d like to chat with you about your self image and how you can trade up for a better one if yours is lacking. Do you sometimes struggle with negative inner thoughts that you’re “Not enough?” Take your pick of not pretty enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, educated enough, successful enough, lovable enough, or any number of “not enoughs?” If you don’t ever struggle with self-esteem issues, lucky ducky you! If you do, join the party. The garden party.
I thought of a metaphor the other day about self image that lent itself to weeds and flowers. Maybe it’s because I’ve been into gardening this year in a big way and weeds and flowers are on my mind. Let’s have a little fun with my metaphor for a moment. Imagine you’re a garden. If you looked in the mirror, what would you see? Would you see a thicket of greens we call weeds like dandelions, clover, and portulaca, or would you see flowers like roses, irises, and petunias? Would you see a mix of flowers and weeds? Are the weeds trying to take over?
If you’re carrying around an image of yourself as a major cluster of weeds, a pitiful plot of crabgrass…I’m going to give you a way to shift your perspective and start feeling as happy as a daisy. Ha ha….that’s a weed! But it proves a point. We’ve been calling weeds, weeds (booooo!) and flowers, flowers (hoorayay!) for so long we never stopped to think about whether these labels are true.
Here’s the key: I once read that the only difference between a weed and a flower….is a judgment! I know so many so-called-weeds I would take home to meet my mother. Daisies for one. Florists put them in bouquets for gosh sakes! And I wouldn’t turn away a four-leaf clover either! And those little white balls you find in clover are soooo pretty. And violets! Gorgeous, glorious, purple violets. How pretty are thy colorful petals in a sea of green! I’ve even decorated using the color theme of violets in the leaves. How dare they call those a weed! And aren’t dandelions the cat’s meow? Their happy little heads popping up all over like spots of sunshine, turning into dainty blowy-things to make wishes on. Don’t want them to bite the dust, ever! What about those adorable buttercups. Ever put them under your playmate’s chin like a truth serum test? If it casts a yellow shadow it proves they like butter.
The lesson in this garden primer of a post is that we are who we say we are, what we tell ourselves, and that is a power we need to recognize and nurture. If the weed says it’s a weed, then by gosh it’s a weed. But if it wants to judge itself as a flower….it’s a flower. So if you see weeds when you look in the mirror…stop it right now…because the weeds are weeds only if you say so. Don’t say so! You can rightfully see yourself as a flower. Focus on what’s GREAT about you because it’s there! Don’t be thrown by what you see as imperfections. No-one is perfect. Not even a princess! Not even a flower. Some are really finicky. Some are a pain in the arse and require a lot of attention. But they don’t say to themselves, aha! I must be a weed because I have all these crappy attributes. No….a rose is a rose is a rose, no matter how many thorns.
So the next time you’re look in the mirror and talk “ugh” about yourself because of some negative self image you’re harboring, think of yourself as a beautiful garden of flowers. You have the right and the power to do so. Remember that weeds are the flowers are the weeds are the flowers….and it’s all dependent upon your own judgement. Not some essential “truth.” Now go water that thought, you beautiful blooming being! Please don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE which helps boosts the algorithm so people can find me and my happiness tips!
x♥x♥x♥,
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Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.