Be yourself, and if you don’t know yourself then go find yourself. How do you find yourself? Do you chase yourself like a dog chases its tail? Do you wait for other people to tell you who you are? Or do you latch on to your parents’ identity and hope that if they were great artists then somehow their hard work and talent through life experiences have rubbed off on you?
Children rarely care what the world thinks of them. They know they are here just like anyone else and believe that they deserve everything their hearts desire. Teenagers strive to be normal. Even when non-conforming we can find the loneliest of loners conforming to a non-conformist group. Most adults either know themselves or think they do. The latter is both extremely common and dangerous.
You cannot know something fully without loving it first. I never truly knew myself because there was always a part of me that I did not accept. Acceptance is the foundation of love.That is until recently. Last week I had a housewarming/birthday party. It was then, while looking around, that I realized I was an adult. Everyone in my apartment was there because I wanted them to be there. Everyone had a blast. Not because anything interesting in particular happened, but because they were amazed by how relaxed and open the atmosphere was. The atmosphere was created by the people in it.
There were some people who tried to invite themselves and I took their hints and threw them out. It is not my job to make my life even slightly uncomfortable to ease the insecurity of others, and no one can bully me into doing or thinking otherwise. My heart and mind are open, but they are also experienced. We mustn’t take our experiences with the world and others to heart, but conversely we must never disregard them.
The words guilt and enemy are no longer part of my vocabulary.Yes, there are those who try to hurt, but they are not enemies unless I make them out to be. What they are is insecure. The only way to fight back against insecurity is with confidence. Rather than make them my enemies I went back to the drawing board and came up with something different. Rather than thinking in terms of good or bad, smart or dumb, I am now able to see people in terms of aware and unaware. I am able to see past how things and people make me feel and find the truth of what and who they are.
The best thing in the world is to be able to look at yourself and know that you are not a secret, that the person you are and the person others see you as are the same. There is nothing to hide from the world, no issues left unresolved, and no dirty secrets hidden under the rug or skeletons in the closet. After growing up thinking I wasn’t good enough, seeing evil before I got the chance to know anything else and not knowing where I belonged, I have finally reached that place in life and it feels like a gift from god. I belong wherever I go. Evil’s greatest weapon is insecurity and good’s greatest weapon is confidence. When you know how to decipher where insecurities lie and equip yourself with confidence the world becomes a different place to live in. A better place full of all the things they told you were there as a child, but became cliches instead. A world where rich people can be miserable and poor people can live a life of bliss. Where likes and beauty will never make you envy the other person. Where your mind that was once a cage is now your escape, because it is the only place that holds the truth.
The world is inconsistent and most times people act out of insecurity, but the one place you can control is your mind. Aim to be indestructible,make integrity the most important human trait, confidence the most powerful and insecurity the most dangerous and one day you will be.
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If we could just keep the mind of a child into adulthood we would be much happier in this world. Children do not judge. Very good post, so true. I am glad you are living a happier life as each day passes.
Thank you Liz! This is very true. That person is in all of us. It is up to us to give it the attention it deserves so that it does not throw tantrums, rather helps us thrive.
Great post and pictures too!
Thank you Valorie!
Once you are understood, you are no longer to be secret. Once people are understood, they are no longer to be secret. Love your post. 😉
Thank you Jade!
As Chuang Tzu would say, this is fucking amazing. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. Or, to quote him more directly:
“The pivot of Tao passes through the center where all affirmations and denials converge. He who grasps the pivot is at the still-point from which all movements and oppositions can be seen in their right relationship. Hence he sees the limitless possibilities of both ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ Abandoning all thought of imposing a limit or taking sides, he rests in direct intuition. Therefore I said: ‘Better to abandon disputation and seek the true light!’ ”
The Way of Chuang Tzu
I think of that pivot, that still-point, as acceptance. The view from their sounds wonderful.
WOW, Thank you, thank you!!
Nice post! I’m taking an adolescent psychology in literature course for my major, and every class I just think…if we could all live a little more like children live, we’d all be a lot happier. Conformity starts way too young.
Exactly! It really does and we are all acting for others who are acting for us. It’s a cycle of unhappiness.
Let’s change that 🙂
This was wonderful. I know that we’re all working towards this state of being, whether we realize it or not. Thank you for reminding me what I’m striving for. 🙂
Thank you! Its also a way to remind myself daily.
Lovely thought!
Thank you for writing this article “Just for me!” Yo made my day, better yet MY WORLD!
This means the world to me as well. Thank you!!!
Helol I like your quotes and pictures. Are you the artist of the free your mind picture?