A Nurturing Space

Authentic. Genuine. Real. Loyal. Faithful. Honest.

This is what ”TRUE” means to me.

This word is also a constant reminder to ring my inner doorbell; to operate my life in accordance with my higher self. What do I think of as “my higher self”? To me, it is God within. It’s my spirit. It’s my TRUE self. It’s unconditional LOVE. As beautiful as it sounds, connecting with my higher self can be tricky work. It continually takes me to the depths of my fears and challenges almost every action and thought. It is work that will never cease. But to know my deeper self is to know God. This is my journey, and it is worth every ounce of pain, confusion, depression, and times of loneliness that I can dig up in order to get to the joy I am meant to live.

E.E. Cummings wrote, “To be nobody but yourself –- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else –- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” It takes courage to face yourself and be vulnerable enough to feel your TRUE feelings and honest enough to look at your real thoughts. Let’s question everything.

You could say that my day job is a graphic designer/art director, a creative-type, but really I’m a teacher. Actually, we all are. I teach people everyday about who I am and who they are. So, who am I and who are you? We are already whole and we are love. This is ultimately what I want to teach the girls of TRUE Initiative.

Author Sera Beak wrote, “I may not be able to control my life, but I can choose how I want to act in response to it, and it’s these reactions that create and determine my experience. The responsibility is mine, and no one else’s.” For the girls of TRUE, I want to help provide these tools, so their responses to life will come from their own authentic places. In TRUE Initiative, they will not be judged. They will be seen, heard and in a place of pure self expression. My goal is they will learn to not accept the identities projected onto them, but will begin instead to step outside of any boundaries that falsely hold their potential and creativity in. I want them to let their freak flags fly!

Sue Monk Kidd talks about the importance of women having a place to go for support and encouragement: “She needs an embracing, open-armed space where she can dissolve, go to seed, and regerminate. A place to be still and tend new roots. She needs a place away from every man-made thing where she can cry, even shout if she wants. In a place like that she can begin to heal what is wounded, recover what is lost. She can remember herself.” I see TRUE Initiative offering this type of space for girls; a nurturing space where creativity and wellness will open doors so that they can hear their own truths.

TRUE love,
Holly Thorpe

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