Welcome

Welcome home, cojourners. I'm glad you're here for another episode. I'm Dr. Tama, licensed

psychologist, ordained minister and sacred artists, here to facilitate your journey back home to

yourself. And today we will talk on the topic, building self-worth.

Building self-worth. I want to start with a reading, a poem I wrote many years ago, and it is

entitled Mirror. I'm on a journey for my face, looking for a mirror

that reflects my name in stereo sounding whispers. I lay these shattered pieces at the altar

and use memory for thread and vision as needle,

binding myself together, whole wheat. I seek out the tide that will bring back what was lost,

restore my crown and my voice, make me believe again that there is wind beneath my wings i travel inward up mountains of regret through valleys of yesterday i reach the pinnacle when i recognize my own eyes, reflected back at me, peering from my

grandmother's gaze, looking through my mother's glass.

I focus on the me that is both blurry and clear, and discover the possibility of turning the page,

this day is fresh, rooted in ancient learned lessons, but standing in new skin.

Oh, my goodness, I haven't read that one for many, many years. It's from a poetry book I wrote entitled Mangoes and Manna, Poetry for the Body and Soul. So we go through our growth periods and learn to see ourselves,

to see the truth of ourselves, the healing, and the reclamation of ourselves, not just the broken

pieces, not just the hurts, the pains, the disappointments,

but the essence of who we are. And so I want to talk with you today on building your self-worth.

And it is so important that we come to recognize our own

worthiness, our own value, that we not negate ourselves, diminish ourselves, demote ourselves, stand on our own wings, but instead to come

to recognize the truth of who we are and to operate from the vantage point of that truth.

And so this is the essence of homecoming, being at home with

yourself. And everything shifts when we see ourselves with new eyes, when we can release the

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