02 - The First Permission: Allowing Yourself To Be Who You Already Are
Journal Entry: December 24, 2025
The First Permission: Allowing Yourself To Be Who You Already Are
Journal Entry: December 24, 2025
Most creative lives begin with a subtle misunderstanding. We imagine we must become something before we can begin, as if art waits for a better version of us to arrive. Yet every authentic path, whether artistic or spiritual, begins not with achievement but with permission. The first permission is inward. Quiet. Often overlooked. It is the moment we accept that who we are right now is enough to begin.
This permission is not arrogance. It is humility. It is the recognition that the soul already contains its seed-pattern, the inner melody entrusted to it by the divine. Perfection, in the mystical sense, is not a sculpture polished to flawlessness. It is the unfolding of this inner pattern. The rose does not apologize for the cadence of its blooming. It does not delay until its petals resemble another flower. It unfolds according to its own nature. But you must choose to permit yourself to begin.
For artists and creatives, this means giving up the fantasy of waiting. Waiting to feel ready. Waiting to feel worthy. Waiting for external validation. The true work begins when you take a quiet breath, turn inward, and say, I allow myself to be myself in this moment, with these hands, with this imperfect skill, with this honest desire to create.
This is the permission that unlocks the studio door, that starts the conversation.
The Weight of Comparison and the Lightness of Authenticity
Comparison is a subtle form of self-betrayal. It pulls attention outward and fractures the inner rhythm that creativity depends on. When we compare, we abandon the peculiar radiance that only we can express. Everyone carries a unique expression of divine beauty that no one else can manifest. To seek another person’s voice is to obscure your own.
Permission is light. It restores breath. It allows the body to relax into its natural posture. This is why the first permission is a spiritual act: it returns us to alignment with the soul’s intention. It is in every way an initiation. It is to initiate, to begin.
Practices for Granting the First Permission
These are simple, gentle practices, meant to be lived rather than mastered.
1. The Five-Breath Entrance
Before beginning your creative work, sit quietly for five slow, natural breaths. With each inhalation, welcome yourself. With each exhalation, release comparison. By the fifth breath, you will feel the mind loosening its grasp.
2. The Hand-to-Heart Invocation
Place your hand over your heart and say inwardly, “I begin as I am.” This aligns the emotional center with the creative intention. A small gesture, yet a powerful reorientation.
3. The Permission Sentence
Write this at the top of your journal or sketchbook at the start of the day:
I grant myself permission to create from the truth I find in this moment.
Do not evaluate the moment. Do not judge its worthiness. Simply allow it.
The Grace of the Beginner
When you allow yourself to begin exactly where you are, you join the company of every mystic, every poet, every musician who ever trusted the first trembling notes of their own voice. The beginner’s state is holy. It is unguarded. It is sincere. It is the threshold at which the soul steps forward.
Being perfectly yourself begins here: not in mastery, but in permission. And once the first permission is given, the rest of the path reveals itself more easily, because you are finally walking in your own direction.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. (Chap. 64 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu)
I wish I read this essay 6 yrs ago when I retired and wanted to begin creating my art again after many years of not having done so. I didn't trust myself to jump in and do art. I made hundreds of necklaces, then one day started making small assemblages which I've mentioned here before. When I finally felt brave enough to work bigger it was like jumping full bodied into icy waters. But I had to trust the process, myself, to just do, make, create. It was scary for sure but I had to do it. The need to create was stronger than the fear. And no one was around to criticize, give me permission, tell me how to do it. Only me and that was all I needed.