Giving Voice to My Astonishment

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”  

This quote by Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorites. It always reminds me of the fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling.” The duckling claims his true power and beauty only when he realizes that he is, in fact, not a duck, but a swan. This realization occurs one day when he comes upon his real tribe, a group of swans on the pond where he is gliding alone. He thinks they, too, will reject and ridicule him as his duckling “friends” have. But, it was the opposite: they gather around him, welcome him into their fold, and naturally take him in as part of their swan family. He did not have to improve or transform himself. He just had to become who he truly was all along. He was…