If you see the words “unique, never-before, once in a lifetime, new, cutting-edge, original, experimental, latest, hip, popular, trendy, hot, big, now, ‘In’ “ describing an event, I urge you to be cautious. Well, personally, I would run the other way! OK, I don’t actually mean ANYTIME you see the words, but within a context of promoting something thats supposed to make you think you will become cool or part of the “in” crowd if you attend this event.
This all feeds into our collective addiction to feeling special, or feeling like we are doing something that is totally trend setting, or that we are all visionaries with our finger on the pulse of the latest fashion. The thing is, all of this is ALREADY TRUE. You ARE special, You ARE a visionary, You ARE relevant. …without the pomp & circumstance. Without the need to shout it from the rooftops in neon flashing lights or post it all over social media. Without the need to dress it up in stand out clothing and place a spotlight on it.
I wonder why, over and over again, we insist on making everything into a spectacle of some sort or another? The cult of the ‘spectacle’. Its something I consider a lot. What is it that causes us to want to do the things that make us seem really funky or brave or radical in some way? This is a juicy territory. Lots to think about, lots to sort through with no one way through it all. I just know that something in my eternal being cringes every time I see another example of this. Not because I’m triggered, but because I’m being pinged…from a collective sadness place .
“really? again?” my soul whispers.
The only truly NEW thing would be to ditch the emphasis on the new. To choose humble, simple, deep, meaningful, living instead. To not have to compete for attention or success through being more, bolder, bigger, brighter, better. To truly honor the quiet, the intimate. Which, in this day and age, might look like: getting off social media, not taking any more selfies, reading a book on the bus instead of being on a device….. In other words, truly connecting IN to your self, fully, wholly without adding anything. YOU ARE ENOUGH. Which, in truth, is a quiet private act of intimacy. of relationship. of the most important relationship of your life: the one with you. Its not necessary for it to be a public display. We don’t need to share these moment of privacy publicly to prove they exist.
I know you sometimes dress up outrageously, mess around with your hair, dance like a wild woman, act silly and goofy in front of a mirror, get naked in the moonlight, paint your body, sing with abandonment, jump on the bed, go barefoot in the snow, play in the rain… or whatever version of this free spirited essential you comes out in private. And thats a beautiful thing. A gift. To you, for you, from you. The important thing is that it fills YOU. You don’t need to turn it into an inspiration for others. Let others find there own inspiration from within. If we keep looking outside ourself to be inspired, we will miss the beauty and truth of our deepest selves. We can be the inspiration we so long to be by simply, quietly, being ourselves.
Live your Truth. Without the publicity. Now thats radical.
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