permission for you to

What would it feel really good to have permission to do, or to do as much or as often as you wanted to? I mean "feel really good" in an integrated, holistic way, not like a vice that the larger you would regret, but rather feeling into the person you want to be. Can you think of a way in which you hold back from being the person you want to be? Something that you "shouldn't" do or that it's not safe for you to do more because you've internalized the prohibition from something outside you saying it's not okay?

I played an Authentic Relating tonight called "work of art" or something close to that, and enjoyed expressing appreciation for another person. It left me wondering why I don't do that more often, since it feels really good to do. It left me wondering what could be constraining me from doing it more often - and while I'm sure I haven't found everything connected to that string, I think the notion of just "giving myself permission" is a powerful one. Anyone who has felt the freedom of self-authored meaning can do this, and believe it, and therefore have it work. That authority figure in your past who told you how to behave? They're not in charge of you any more: you can make that call now, and decide how much you-ness that you want to express! Maybe giving yourself permission would cause people to react badly to you, you might fear? It might be true... or it might not. You have the power to give yourself permission to try it, and see how it feels.