Have you ever felt an inner spark, an urge to express yourself more fully?
The Scottish poet David White once asked a remarkable question:
“What if the world is holding its breath –
waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill?”
When I first came across these words, I was literally holding my breath. In my youth, I often wondered about my place.
Like many of us, I was taught to follow expectations, security, what is needed and approved. Values like financial stability, identity through profession, and happiness through recognition.
But what if our soul has a different plan?
Dimming My Light
I grew up in a farming household with five children, surrounded by many wonderful animals and beautiful nature. I was the second child.
When I was five years old, something happened that changed everything from one day to the next.
My mother gave birth to triplets.
Three beautiful babies at once. One of them would live his whole life with special needs – until he passed at the age of 33.
My natural response to the many needs around me was to support, to help, and often to sacrifice – putting my own needs last.
“I can do it.”
“I’ll wait.”
There was a lot of goodness, kindness, and joy in my family. But also we were dimming our inner light.
Dimming our light doesn’t feel dramatic and from the outside, everything looks fine.
It feels reasonable.
Polite.
Responsible.
But something within us knows. When we dim our light, we lose energy. We may look successful – but we don’t feel whole.
From Personal Dimming to a Shared Human Pattern
Dimming our light is larger than my personal story.
For generations, many women learned to dim their voice, their authority, their visibility – simply to belong or to stay safe.
And many men learned to dim something equally essential – their vulnerability, their tenderness, their emotional truth.
In different ways, we all have learned to hide parts of our light.
Remembering Wholeness
When I began to speak up more, or to say no, even when it disappointed someone – something shifted.
I became clearer and began to understand that what I once thought was weakness –
my sensitivity, my longing for harmony, my desire to understand both sides –
was actually my strength.
And I realized:
I am here to help us remember our wholeness –
our essence that was never broken.
Do You Follow Your Light?
Life is like a weaving. Each of us carries threads: our gifts, our wounds, our history, our hopes.
And every day, we are weaving – through our choices, our conversations, our courage or our hesitation.
My questions are:
What are you weaving?
What is your thread?
Are you weaving from your light—or from your fear?
With whom do you want to weave with?
What do you want to bring into the world?
Our inner light does not argue. It waits until we are ready. And often, it’s calling only for small steps:
- Begin what you have postponed
- Join with people who nourish your light
- Leave spaces that ask you to shrink
- Set your boundaries
Perhaps you are noticing the beliefs that hold you back:
“I am not ready.”
“It’s too late.”
“Someone else can do it better.”
What would it mean for you to fully follow your light and take the place that only you can fill?
Because when you do,
you and the world
become more whole.
