How any people do you know who are really comfortable with who they are? How many of them think there’s something wrong with them—that they are broken in some way, or damaged at some level, or just plain unworthy? Are they right?

There’s an old song from the 1960s that was a hit sung by Peggy Lee: “Is That All There Is, My Friend?” It talks about a sadness of the spirit. Not everyone asks this question, but it matters when you do, for that means you are ready for something to change. You’re ready to see things another way.

There is always a trigger, a catalyst that signals this change—a point of no return when we just know that our best self has to emerge, and we can’t stay stuck where we are.

But a lot of our sadness comes from confusion. Who are we, really? Why isn’t it working, this life we have—or why isn’t it working some of the time? What’s wrong with us that we can’t make it better?

What is interesting is that this train of thought is a false trail most of the time. We make assumptions about ourselves based on beliefs we hold and trust are true. Yet usually, they aren’t.

Origin of the False Trail

As children, we accepted everything people said about us and themselves and life, especially our parents. They were all powerful back then. All adults were. These people stay powerful in our psyche even when we have gone on with our own lives, and even when they have passed away. If their influence was an unhappy one, this gets reflected in how and what we believe as adults.

Yet they never claimed that power. They were just trying to live in a way that made sense to them. Sometimes they made terrible mistakes, and sometimes they gave us beautiful gifts—and sometimes they did both.

The thing is—we can find ourselves holding on to patterns that aren’t suitable for us. Everything they said and did belongs to them, not us. We were born with a path specifically intended for us. Ours. Not theirs.

Another Way

So here’s a different question. What if there is nothing wrong with us? What if all these beliefs are just us giving permission to those seemingly all-powerful people or situations from long, long ago to keep their power even now? What if we take our power back? What do you think might happen to you if you did that? What would you lose, do you think? Or is it possible you will feel as open to life as the day you were born, to all it throws at you, shows you, reveals to you—from the inexpressible beauty of the earth itself, to the power of a smile, to the gift of cooperation instead of fear? What then?

Finding Your Own Power

What if we are born exactly right?

What if we have all the power we need, because there is nothing wrong with us at all? Could you live with that?