The gift of being seen

🦒

Perhaps the greatest gift we can give another human being is to truly see them.

To describe the light we genuinely see so clearly that, one day, they begin to see it too.

I believe the main task in life is to give birth to ourselves. To become what we already are.

Looking back, I don't think my life has been about finding myself.

It has been shaped by a handful of beautiful moments of being truly seen.

Moments where someone looked beyond my fear, my uncertainty or my own self-doubt...

...and saw something I hadn't fully trusted yet.

London, 2002

I was eighteen years old and had moved to London to work as an au pair.

It was just me and my diary.

No one knew me there.

I still remember standing by the window of my little room and thinking,

"I can be anyone I want here."

The thought excited me for a moment.

I imagined dressing in the boldest clothes.

Perhaps dyeing my hair red.

No one would know me.

I could invent an entirely new version of myself.

I played with the idea for a while.

And then, completely out of the blue, another thought arrived.

"That's funny..."

"I actually don't want to become anyone else."

I remember writing those words in my diary.

They surprised me.

Because I had travelled out into the world believing I was supposed to find myself.

But perhaps I had always known who I was.

Looking back, I don't think I was searching for a new identity.

I was searching for people who could truly see me.

I remember listening to Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls over and over again.

"I just want you to know who I am."

That sentence pierced my heart.

Already then, I think I was looking for my Soulmates.

People with whom I could simply be myself.

Canary Wharf, 2017

Sixteen years later, I found myself in another part of London.

This time with my husband.

I had discovered reflexology.

Or perhaps...

Reflexology had discovered me.

I had no logical explanation for why I suddenly wanted to leave my branding career behind.

I only knew one thing.

Something inside me had come alive, and I knew I needed to share it with my husband.

Yet the thought of telling him filled me with unexpected fear.

I worried that even a small, careless comment might shake this fragile new courage I had found to imagine a different path for myself.

That morning, we went out for breakfast in Canary Wharf.

Business people hurried past us.

Suits.

Coffee cups.

Busy conversations.

It felt like the very world I was quietly preparing to leave behind.

I watched my husband order his favourite sandwich with avocado and egg.

Good.

He was relaxed.

His happiest self.

I have no idea what I ordered.

Something.

Anything.

My stomach was turning.

Finally, I took a deep breath.

"What if I became a reflexologist?"

Time stood still.

I was ready to laugh with him.

Part of me expected him to laugh too.

Instead...

He turned towards me, looked me straight in the eyes and simply said,

"Well... that I know would make you truly happy."

Wow.

I still believe there was an angel sitting on his shoulder that morning.

He didn't even know what reflexology really was.

All he knew was that I'd been going to treatments for years.

Looking back, I realise I wasn't asking him for permission.

My heart had already decided.

I simply needed someone I loved to see what my heart had already seen.

The way he saw me in that moment changed something inside me forever.

Rauha 2018

"Discover your dream client," my business coach said.

The funny thing is...

I didn't have to.

I recognised her the moment she walked through the door of Rauha.

She sat down opposite me.

I asked why she had come.

"I don't really know," she smiled.

"My friend just told me I needed to come and see you."

Something about her stayed with me.

She carried such a gentle, open presence.

She was ready to be supported.

She came back again and again.

One day, she stood in the doorway before even entering and suddenly burst into tears.

"See..." she said.

"This is the effect this place has on me."

Although she had a little boy, just like I did, and was trying to find her place in the corporate world, I don't think she came into my life by accident.

She came to teach me.

About vulnerability.

About sensitivity.

About what it really means to be an empath in this world.

Our conversations shaped me just as much as my treatments shaped her.

Christine is the name my own name, Tiina, originates from.

I often smile at that.

Because she didn't only come to receive healing.

She came to call something forward in me.

A woman who trusted her sensitivity a little more every time we met.

Today, eight years later, she is still my client.

But above all...

She is a dear friend.

One of my Soulmates.

Looking back, I realise these moments have one thing in common.

None of these people tried to tell me who to become.

They simply saw me.

Looking back, I realise that many of the most difficult relationships in my life had very little to do with love.

They were about not truly seeing one another.

Or perhaps not taking the time to look beyond our assumptions.

Again and again, these moments showed me how often I had held back from being the most authentic version of myself...

...while secretly hoping someone would still notice the inner fire flickering beneath my shell.

Perhaps that's why I love coaching so much.

Not because I get to tell women who they are.

But because I get to witness the beautiful moment when they finally begin to see themselves.

One of the greatest gifts we can give another human being is to truly see them.

To describe the light we genuinely see so clearly that, one day, they begin to see it too.

And perhaps that's impossible...

...without letting our own light shine too.

Lots of love,

Tiina ❤️

 

 

About Tiina

I help women entrepreneurs find success and fulfilment by being themselves.

Through Human Design, mindset coaching and practical self-discovery tools, I help women reconnect with their inner compass and trust who they are.

If you'd like to explore your own path together, you're welcome to book a 1:1 session.