Our communities and human connections are so incredibly influential in our lives and they offer us valuable forms of support that help shape our life experiences and perspectives.

But what happens when we feel isolated or are separated from them? Often this scenario can reveal how reliant we’ve become on things outside ourselves to keep us going and expose a lack of inner support.

You can be your greatest ally. You should be your greatest ally. You are the only one who’s with you through every moment of your life – the longest and most influential relationship you’ll ever have. How cool would it be to know that you always have an ally on board – to know that even when you’re alone, you’re supported?

Every other relationship in your life depends on your ability to do just that. Your ability to truly accept and receive support from others depends on your ability to feel worthy of your own. Your ability to sustainably support others in your community depends on your ability to appropriately support yourself.

We were meant to have rich and meaningful connections with others in our communities. But in order to create and sustain those connections while living out our own unique vision and purpose, we all must tend to this inner relationship and learn to be on our own team.

It’s being able to hold the truth that you are an individual along side the truth that you belong as part of a community — it doesn’t have to be one or the other. And recognizing that your contributions to your community, and to those you love, actually depend on your ability to support yourself first, to love yourself first, to be your own ally.

Today’s podcast episode is designed to help you explore how do to do that — how to build a kind and supportive relationship with yourself through simple reflection and contemplation. Learning to ask yourself one simple question at just the right time can completely restructure how you view the challenges you face and put the power to overcome them back into your hands.

Check out Episode 24 of my GRIT + grace Podcast.

And if you’re loving the podcast, it would mean the world to me if you’d share it on social media (and tag me) or consider showing your support with a monthly donation of $1, $5, or $10 to help me cover the costs of keeping this thing going without having insert ads in the middle of the meditations (awkward!). To support the podcast, go here and click on the “Support” tab.