By Stacey Kumagai from all eight sides and beyond...
The sun beamed brightly piercing through the window with all
of its power, dancing on the glass vase.
Suddenly, several prisms appeared within the vase itself, and on the
wall appeared a magical display of light reflection. If you turned your head, you would see the
light shine, almost outlining the original shape of the glass, but the reflective
beam disrupted it to create eight different sides of light.
Was this spectacle of light and shadow something out of a
dream, or was this reality in plain sight twisting, turning, contorting and
expanding perception of said story of light into a new light onto itself?
What was the core story?
What was beyond the story? What
was the story so far? If indeed in the
present moment, this sunlight tango with the glass vase had an interesting
beginning, with an unknown ending and yet the present moment was indeed
pristine.
Cut to… eons ago to bring you this present moment.
As a child, I remember listening to Donny Osmond hearing him
belt out…. “Life is just what you make it, life is just what you want it to be.
“ No one could have predicted that
spiraling piece of vinyl would end up being a mantra several decades later to
help my clients manifest greater life outcomes.
Nor could anyone have predicted that this connection was a
destined and fated encounter later in my career that it would be prompting a
blog post with an embedded practical life guidance lesson for all of you in the
collective, right here in the present. Thus,
full-circle infinite purposeful life inspiration for the greater good is alive,
well and delivered. It is a glass vase with the sun beaming through it, often
showing different prisms – depending on where YOU are sitting in your own
evolution as you rise to your own self-awareness.
In 1998 he had released his memoir with the same title “Life
is Just What You Make It,” at the age of 41 with so many multi-hyphenate
accomplishment titles already in said span of time, punctuating that he had
made quite something of his life working non-stop for thirty-six years.
As I write this blog, I now have worked for thirty-six years. Is this fated or an accident or simply
magical light? Simply not a coincidence, rather like an infinity sign (also an 8), that is in perpetual motion, that is light, that is the life and what we make it.
I had the unexpected pleasure of having the impromptu
opportunity as a radio reporter co-interviewer with my colleague for a
nationally syndicated newsfeed. It was
an interesting hat for me to wear, given my previous radio and TV broadcasting
career, only because I had to put that hat on once again when I had already switched
from being a catcher in the newsroom to a pitcher as a publicist.
This was rare back in those days, gear-shifting the polar dualities in media was quite an undertaking in multi-tasking, when establishing credibility from both arenas. However, keeping one’s newshound chops sharp to remember the trenches is always humbling to shlep with greater compassion-building and expansive storytelling.
This was rare back in those days, gear-shifting the polar dualities in media was quite an undertaking in multi-tasking, when establishing credibility from both arenas. However, keeping one’s newshound chops sharp to remember the trenches is always humbling to shlep with greater compassion-building and expansive storytelling.
It was like some sort of duality Twilight Zone moment. But I trusted in the moment, when my real day
job was the ‘flip side’ as an entertainment industry publicist who usually
pitched to said networks to get my client’s stories told. My media colleague had just covered several
of the events I had produced and reported on stories I had pitched in the
recent previous weeks. To make things
even more interesting, like another layer of story chapters, or layers of light
through a vase, I had recently just booked three of my PR clients on the Donny
& Marie talk show for Dick Clark Productions, and that was the hat he had
seen me wear just weeks prior. Thus, a delightfully confusing encounter, once
again, as I too, was a multi-hyphenate.
I had to realize that I was the vase, I could not censor said light
beaming through me, rather embrace what was happening and let it evolve into
eight sides of my own story.
Inside the Virgin Megastore (RIP) on Sunset Blvd. I asked the question,
“So what’s in store for you in the next 41 years?”
On the surface, this may look like just an annoying and
stupid question.
But it was not asked with this intent, rather ‘beyond the
beyond’ – because I knew my subject well as gratitude is the foundation go-to,
thus the thoughtful pondering would always be beyond the actual given answer
sound bite. It would have multiple layers that that would echo to the right
ears, long after said interview lived and died in the airwaves of a feature
news piece, but presently remains archived on an old-school cassette that no longer can be
played on a machine most Millennials cannot identify in a game show contest.
This question wasn’t meant to be just a generic question,
but rather an “all-knowing” because the book had a subtitle, “My story so
far.”
Yes…. Story so far.
Everyone’s life is a ‘story so far.’
Dealing with my mother’s Alzheimer’s battle of a ‘story so
far’ that was constantly changing, I was glad for the endless neuroscience
studies, integrating what a ‘story so far’ can actually mean with cell system
memory recall and how we process what is happening in past, present and
forecasting future.
When you add in the measurement of self-awareness and
limitless being with spiritual grounding and escalated consciousness every side
to every story, even the ones we tell ourselves take on a shape-shifting
reality like a mold-able ball of clay.
We don’t often think about the ‘story so far’ as we are living
present-day story. However, we do look at the long road ahead of wishes and
dreams as our mojo fuel amplified in order to ‘keep going.’
When we are nostalgic, we look back. We see our past, we cherish memories and as we get older we honor those moments as a part of our life tapestry. Sometimes we see how said stories shape us, our path/journey, our life outlook and our very own, ‘story so far.’
When we are anxious about our future we miss the present and
we don’t honor what is happening in present moment when we are too focused on
distant road outcomes, which are not entirely in our ‘control’ – rather a
co-creation with the Universe, and sometimes destined or fated roads that we
couldn’t have so brilliantly produced on our own anyway.
It is only in 20/20 hindsight we see and sometimes it is
only in multidimensional higher elevations of perspective we see, and sometimes
it is only going down into the deep abyss of our soul, do we see.
So my question to YOU
is, from what vantage point DO YOU SEE your present-day life journey, and
through what perspective, and through what internal honoring, with what
external mirror?
For those facing mortality and/or in crossroads fires of
indecision, forgetting their childlike wonder, the ‘story so far’ becomes
daunting and often a variable in analysis paralysis, to where creating said
story gets stuck on some unnamed road.
While all the other media outlets were focused on the
content of the past, I was standing there in the present pondering the possible
insight into the future, looking for the perceived vision and dream vs. goal
and plan. That’s hefty, I know… but
multi-hyphenates get this.
If we look into our own insightful glance at our pathway,
all of our lives are “My story so far…”
However, it is because we look with only one lens do we ever
only see one story.
Life itself is a million stories intertwined, with many
lives interconnected and intertwined.
Our own life has EIGHT sides to every story:
- · Our own perception.
- · The other people’s perception who were involved.
- · The outsiders looking in and their perception of the story they think they know.
- · Our own evolution/higher consciousness perspective of what we see in 20/20 hindsight.
- · The reality and the truth of what actually happened.
- · What we co-created with the Universe/God/Higher Power.
- · The side that ends up being the outcome of the stories we tell and the domino effect.
·
What the story was designed to do so we learn
from lessons of said story to become better versions of ourselves from the time
we lived it.
Yeah… I know, most human’s “don’t go there” – but my brain
does and I can’t help but always wonder from “which side” each story is told
from the past to be what it is in the present and ultimately see how indeed
this crafts our future.
Yes, excavation-heavy… but this will help you see things
differently.
Thus the question I ask YOU….
- · How do you live your story?
- · What do you believe is your truth/reality?
- · How has your perception of your own story changed you?
- · What would you have done differently about your story?
- · Where will you create your next life adventure story having greater awareness?
- · Who have you become as a result of said stories?
- · Who do you want to become having learned from said stories?
- · When do you think you’ll have the ‘total picture’ of WHY you have lived your story the way that you have?
As I ask you these questions, I dare you to ponder your own
answers.
- · Once you see them, how will you look at your life, now that you can see what you didn’t see before?
- · Have you and your perception changed from how you first experienced it to now in hindsight or overview looking at it from a learning curve?
Why is this important?
If we humans are interested in relating (for real) and
connecting to continue building upon a foundation stronger than normal concept
of how we perceive our story, others and their story, and remain committed to
grow as the works in progress as we are - we need to be awakened to the idea
that there are more sides to what we see, hear, read, know and learn or put on
a loop as perceived ‘absolute truth.’
Because chances are there is much more than what meets your current eye.
In fact, you can count on it. You can even bet on it and go all-in on
it. Though you have to be mindful that
not everyone’s own personal footwork is yet at the place to access all eight
places in a nanosecond. I mean come
on…sometimes without enough Zzzzs… comprehending even a few is as challenging
as solving the O.G. Rubik’s Cube. This
is here where we exercise compassion, patience and out-of-body vision in order
to simply accept to live and let live said “story so far.”
If you are in your head a lot, I ask you to get into your
heart.
This is my constant plea to humanity… and I have been on
repeat like a broken record for some time now… going in five years asking for
you to give yourself the greatest gift to do just that.
Not only will it make your world and your story so far
BETTER, but it makes the world a better place if we all do it
collectively.
Try improving your life’s journey by getting yourself
unstuck through this above exercise answering the questions I proposed. Then ask yourself HOW the questions I asked
changed how you see your life now and how many layers of light do you see in
your own life …. And how does your own view of your own vase look after doing
said excavation?
Think about your life from a new side. You’ll be amazed that your very own ‘story so
far’ is still an amazing work in progress.
And for all you know, Lovely Souls --- You may find more
than eight sides to your own story and find more angles of light taking on more
reflections than you have ever thought possible.
Namaste.
