“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” -Paramahansa Yogananda
The other night I had the honor of being in a local “Fashion Affair” here in Grand Forks, ND. My friend asked me to be in it with her. It is a local fashion show where all of the boutiques join forces and put on an epic fashion show and raise funds for a local good cause. Each table costs $425 to attend.
At first I was hesitant.
You see, since Mark’s passing I have been learning to step more and more into who I am, unashamed. But first, and still, I am learning who Shanny is after Mark’s departure.
As I learn more and more who that is with each day that passes, it becomes easier to be confident in letting my “Shanny Light” shine. And so, I said Yes to the fashion show. I went into that night with the intention of bravely being “all things Shanny”.
It is crazy how one can have thoughts of needing to figure out who they are at the age of 40, but after 16 years of being Mark’s everything and he was my everything, once that was taken away physically, moving forward starts off slow. But the more and more I keep taking steps, they turn into a jog and eventually a sprint.
Let’s go back to the Fashion show and these amazing ladies in the picture.
Like I said above, I decided to say yes to the fashion show and to go “all in” as Shanny.
What does “all in” even mean? It means I let my heart lead me.
I put it on my sleeve to lead the way into having a good time and let what make come, come.
And this night was magical in so many ways.
I met 2 new beautiful souls, Noel and Lexy. I believe they are around the age of mid to late 20’s.
Lachen is on the far right, she invited me to the show. When Lachen and I met these 2 souls it was instant connection. I mean Instant, like we were best friends since childhood.
We laughed, we took tequila shots, we modeled, we shared life stories and our
souls were filled.
I like to think of it as we all were lighthouses and we drew each other in. I chose to let my light shine and it brought in those who my soul wanted to sit on my shore to have a soul connection with.
Our cups overflowed.
The more and more I let my light shine, I am finding, especially within the last couple of weeks, more people reach out to me that are fitting into the missing puzzle pieces of this new journey I am stepping into with unashamed confidence.
“Let your light shine bright, you never know who might be looking for your light or who your light is looking for.”
-Shanny
