Self-Expression vs. Self-Indulgence

“When we habitually silence and distort ourselves, we begin to lose our lust for life and look towards other things to fulfill us. We forget that we are here on this earth to self-express in a way no one else has or ever could. We can feel this urge within us wanting to bubble up and say to the world: I’m here! Our self- expression can find its way into the world in many forms, but when the process of self-expression is imposed on for whatever reason, we can easily turn to self-indulgence. Most often this imposition comes in the form of shoulds or should nots, either from our own self messages or from others’ messages to us. The result is always a misdirection of energy. There is a settling for less than we hoped for, a kind of resolution to things as they are.”

-The Yamas and Niyamas by Deborah Adele