What do you see when you look under your hood? Have you had the courage to do this or have you been too busy checking everyone's else's oil?
It is natural as a healer, healthcare worker, teacher, mother, friend, human to want to help everyone. We can easily identify what others need and make suggestions to others. To spend an unhealthy amount of energy on every one but yourself.
The real challenge is finding the courage to look within. Making the time to pull over
before you run out of gas and refill your own tank.
When you look under your own hood, you not only acknowledge and learn from your own shortcomings, it allows you to see yourself in the person you despise the most. This then allows you to extend grace more easily to yourself and to others.
As you are navigating your inner world and looking under your hood noticing the clogged air filter or the trash in your carburetor don't forget to notice the powerful engine that lies underneath the build up of the grime.
Celebrate how easily you can replace that air filter, just like you can throw out old limiting beliefs and replace them with new beliefs. Also, don't forget to see your own beauty and power that you see in the ones you admire the most.
When you look under your own hood, you begin to realize how alike we all are. The way a car engine might accumulate dust, oil, and grit, yet when polished, appears as good as new, is very similar to human emotions such as shame, guilt, or any form of emotional distress.
Although these feelings may originate from varied sources and diverse experiences, they share a fundamental essence, just as different-looking car engines ultimately serve the same function.
Looking beneath the hood of your car reveals a reality strikingly similar to that of someone else's; despite our differences on the surface, we are fundamentally the same.
Our exteriors may bear different colors and forms, but it is the engine, our heart, that keeps us alive, whether fueled by gasoline or electricity, propelling us towards the future.
We all accumulate layers of metaphorical oil, dust, and grime as we go through life, but beneath it all, we each have a pristine engine.
Just as our emotions might differ in appearance and stem from distinct experiences, they all serve a shared purpose. They are the same. We are the same. We are one.