Red

So I heard about a book that is similar to ‘Emerald’s Big Discovery’. ‘Red’ is a book about a blue crayon that thinks it’s red, and its journey to finding out that it is, indeed, blue. A book about self-discovery. What?

The news made my heart constrict. I felt a tingle of fear. I googled it, wondering if someone had stolen my idea. Nope. It turns out that not only was this book published before I had even given my book a title, but it was written by an award winning American children’s author and published by Harper Collins.

 And that, my friends, is when my fear took the wheel and I was just along for the ride.

I felt sick. Will he think I had stolen his idea? Will he sue me? Will people I know think that I had stolen his idea? Will this taint my message? Will I have to stop?

I got on the computer and googled ‘plagiarism’. I googled ‘copyright infringement’. I watched his book being read on YouTube, noting the similarities and differences. I searched my computer files, praying I’d find Emerald’s name on a document saved before his publication date.

And finally, while sitting motionless, stunned, staring at the screen, my brain started working again.

Thank God.

I started to remember all that I have learned.

I am a woman who knows her truth. A woman who believes in a loving Source that inspires us and connects us and continuously showers us with gifts. I am a woman with something to offer this world.

I remembered that I am not my fear. I am what is past the fear. And I took the wheel back.

Sometimes we can get lost in the smallness of our humanity. When fears and doubts fill our minds, we neglect to ‘take it to the end of the story’ as a friend of mine says. We stay swirling in the mire. But if we were to take that one step further, maybe we’d see a happy ending. A new beginning. A sunrise on the horizon. Maybe we’d see the truth of how far we have already come.

The universe is an abundant place, my friends. There is room for endless books that teach lessons of self-love and self-acceptance. There is room for endless lessons of love, period. And definitely room for one more lesson-learning crayon named Emerald.