You're amazing just the way you are.

A trainee arrives at the training room. She feels "broken." "If I came to you, it's because something isn't working for me. I'm different. I'm other. Fat. Ugly. Stupid. Weak. I can't manage to do anything right. I'm afraid to talk to others so I won't blurt out something foolish or be tactless by mistake."

How much pain she carries with her. She doesn't see what I see. What I see, she left somewhere in the dark, and all the failures, the limiting beliefs, the labels attached to her over the years, she brings with her into the light. That's what she sees when she looks in the mirror. It affects every area of her life. She withdraws, doesn't connect. She doesn't believe she deserves more. And I see her struggle to believe me when I look her in the eyes and see through them the light she hides there. I see the kindness and the soul.

It takes time to peel back the layers. The childhood experiences. The harsh and negative interpretations that accompany every event in her life. The difficulty in seeing the good. Bringing the good into the light.

My role is to strengthen what was forgotten. To bring into the light what was left somewhere in the dark. To teach her anew how amazing she is and what a gift she is to her world.