I just finished reading the memoirs of Maya Angelou and was deeply moved by the story of her life.  Here is a woman considered to be great, a great person who has done great things and yet what strikes me most is the fact that her life was shaped by the choices she made (as we all are) and the courage involved in making those choices, to go after what she wanted, what she believed in.  Even when there was uncertainty in the direction she was going, she made a move and took responsibility for wherever that move took her.  Her life did not start out extraordinary, she came from humble beginnings. She was fortunate enough to have the love and support of a family, strong women who taught her to stand up for herself, to take responsibility for her life and the choices that shaped that life, and to never see herself as a victim.  Her life was extraordinary in that she followed her path with conviction, took risks and put herself out there.  There were several events in her life which could have caused her to retreat from the world, throw in the towel and call it quits but she chose to come away from those events stronger and wiser.  To this day, she stands by her choices and lives a life of courage and to me, that is what makes her great.

Have you ever noticed how attached we are to our stories?  We may describe our so-called character flaws by referencing our past histories.  "I come from a broken home - my parents divorced when I was 10, so I don't know what a healthy relationship feels like."  "I am an ACA - Adult Child of an Alcoholic, therefore I have trust issues."  "My father left when my parents divorced so I have abandonment issues."  "That disease/medical condition runs in my family so it's just a matter of time before it hits me."  The stories go on and on.  From these stories, we create labels for ourselves, ranging from defining who we are to our quirky personality traits.  Some are basic and true - woman, mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, tall, short.  Others are tied to the stories - single parent, divorcee, co-dependent, enabler.  Then there are the ones that we may use to identify what we do - accountant, sales rep, stay-at-home mom, manager, engineer, etc.  Last but not least are the ones we use to describe ourselves - fat, thin, pretty, ugly, controlling, perfectionist, athletic, lazy, smart, funny, and when we feel like beating ourselves up, stupid, unworthy, and unloveable. We accomulate labels and more labels, we tell our stories over and over again, making sure we have an identity or several identities that we can grab hold of. 

Can you feel the weight of these labels, how heavy we feel having to keep ourselves attached to so many roles?  Who would we be if not a mother, wife, perfectionist, control freak, accountant?  What freedom could we experience if we let go of the labels and the stories, if we allowed ourselves to float unattached in the quiet solitude?  Maybe we find that who we are needs no labels, who we are is nameless.

I need to be naked, to become bare.  I have always associated being naked with being vulnerable, unprotected, not safe and now, in order to be able to fly, I need to become naked.  I need to lay with the Mother Earth and feel the elements lovingly reassure my body.  I need the dirt to hold me in it's softness, the air to breathe it's life upon me, the sun to reveal my glory, the grass to gently caress me.  I need the animals to nestle around me, to include me in their tribe.

Being naked does not mean being vulnerable or not safe.  Being naked means you have come to the understanding that there is nothing that can harm you, nothing you need to be protected from.  In nakedness is strength, trust in all that surrounds you.  I need to become naked because my layers are starting to suffocate me.  I need to be naked because there is nothing to hide from anymore and it is time for my beauty to be seen.  I need to be naked because in my nakedness, there is God.