When you were a child playing outside and told to get in the
house –in your heart did you rebel even though you knew you had to get inside
or you would be punished?
When you were in high school, told by your brothers or
father to try out for the football team because they did, but your heart really
wanted to play basketball – did you choose baseball or do what they wanted you
to do to carry on the tradition?
At work, when you are in a group meeting where your
co-workers are looking at going a certain direction with ideas, but you know in
your gut there is a better solution – do you speak up?
Every single day whether you are a child, or a teen or an
adult, we have choices in honoring our LINK to our INDEPENDENT SELF.
Most of the time, we look at consequences for honoring that
LINK or shelving.
Sometimes shelving it is good in that we are respectful of
others, we try to create peace to avoid conflict, and sometimes we shelve it to
be a team player or to honor traditions.
However…. Sometimes shelving our independent LINK is bad
when it becomes a detriment to our soul and who we are, what we desire and who
we wish to become, because conformity is not always a healthy thing, if we are
living our life anything other than our authentic selves. When this happens, we are not being true to
who we are and if it goes on long enough, we end up living a lie in order to
make everyone else happy except ourselves.
Although very small samples of this can be considered noble,
in the end when we do not honor our INDEPENDENT SELF, we lose our identity and
believe that in order to be accepted, we must be something we are not based on
someone else’s ideal or measurement of what is acceptable.
The more we do this, we are creating examples of saying that
this is ‘okay’ and then we only create a place where others fall into the same
pit.
What we can do is embrace our own uniqueness – and in the
same breath lovingly accept everyone’s differences…. Even celebrate them for
being unique to all the other souls struggling to find acceptance both within themselves
and with one another.
It all begins with us.
For those who are brave enough to do it, they will learn to be
comfortable as they are – but they need YOUR support just as much as you need
support for who YOU ARE.
Speaking up to say “Hey, that’s not me” or “I prefer this
XYZ kind of movie” or “I like this kind of food better” or “I don’t agree with
your hardcore opinion, however I respect where you are coming from and can see
your point” may not be the easy choice for your voice. Sometimes due to cultural, political,
generational, or social class differences, there are things you may not fully
understand. It is best not to be
judgmental – but rather find freedom in your own being so that you can allow
others to be free with theirs.
In the end, your honesty within yourself to your own truth
and independent thoughts, feelings, actions and viewpoints can create peace
within you if it is true to who you really are, rather than following the
masses in trying to be accepted for your inauthentic thoughts, ideas or feelings
that truly do not resonate with your soul.
Namaste.
