Sometimes I hear a really old song on the radio.

And I sing along automatically.
And I realise I know every word,
without thinking.

And it occurs to me that singing those words to myself all those years ago means that my brain can
remember them, recall them, and feel them at any given moment.

Because it has internalised those words without me even realising so that it takes no effort to bring them to the forefront of my mind.

That’s how powerful our brains are.

And it makes me think about the way we speak to ourselves.

See, maybe if we’d learned to internalise not just song lyrics
but words that told us we were
beautiful enough worthy
when we were younger,
we’d be able to recall those words
those thoughts, those feelings
at any given moment too.

And maybe we’d have learned to believe them.

Believe that we are beautiful enough worthy.

But it’s not too late.

We learn the words to new songs all the time.

Maybe it’s time to start singing from a new song sheet.

One that reminds us how absolutely incredible and worthy we really are.

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Becky Hemsley 2023.
Artwork by rawpixel.com.

From ‘Letters from Life’