In order to save myself, I must destroy first the me I was told to be.
– The Dreamer
When you were this girls age, you had dreams about who you wanted to be when you grew up. You may already have been singing, or dancing, or wanting to be a doctor or lawyer. Between this age and actually growing up most of us have our dreams dashed in some way. It may be that someone teases us that we can’t carry a tune, or we are doing the dance wrong. Or maybe they tell us that we should choose a less challenging career than a doctor or lawyer, because we really aren’t that smart. Or it could be more subtle where we are being directed by our parents into the career that they want for us.
Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.
– Unknown
Along the way we also learn to hide who we are. We learn that others judge us, so we put on masks to conform to who they want us to dress like, look like, act like. We hide our dreams so that no one can destroy them any further. We learn not to trust our hearts to be in others hands. We give up on what is possible and settle for what is conforming to the needs of others. We forget who we are and what we are here for. We no longer take part in the dance of life, but settle back against the wall and watch those with more courage or talent dance it in front of us.
Ten years from now, make sure you can say that you chose your life, you didn’t settle for it.
– Unknown
There is only one way to truly know who you are deep down inside. You have to get in touch with your own soul. You need to be by yourself, and sit with yourself, and just listen. Looking back at your life, find the places where you were really happy. Find the things that are so easy for you to do, that others find hard or impossible. Trace back all of the threads that have your name engraved upon them. Start picking out and removing all of the threads that are not you. Look for the gold and silver pieces and toss out the dross. Now look for the patterns that are left. The amazing thing is that it usually takes you back to this age. The age when you acted out who you really were, before society broke you like a young colt and told you who to be. The threads of genius that are all you, can now be taken up and made into whatever pattern you want. It is never too late to be who you were meant to be.
To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do this, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.
– Deepak Chopra
Sometimes when you make this journey deep into our soul, we discover that our lives have to be completely shaking up. We are covered in dust and debris that needs to be removed. We need to rearrange almost everything. Change almost everything. We need to go to the place we are supposed to be. A close friend of mine relocated from Los Angels to Italy and she loves it. The best thing to do is to remove what doesn’t belong and then figure out how to rearrange what does. It is an individual journey that defines who we are in a totally new way. We discover our truth by looking for it down deep within and then integrating it into our life. We are on a life adventure. This journey is for you alone. Embrace it and life it fully.
The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.
– Ram Dass
There are some that will say that living your life purpose, is being selfish. That we are ignoring the wishes of others. But actually the reverse is true. Each one of us was given as part of our life journey a divine destiny. We were born into the place and the family that would give us the tools to accomplish this purpose. Some of those life lessons come through adversity, some come as part of the journey of rediscovering who we are really meant to be. But if we don’t take the risks, make the changes and transform our lives, then our destiny will not be fulfilled. And we will not be living the life that God sent us here to live. So it is actually selfish to not live up to our full potential. To not find out who we are supposed to be. To not utilize our power to its full capability. To not live out loud and up front our God given destiny.
. . . it’s a life’s journey of finding ourselves, finding our power, and living for yourself, not for everyone else . . .
– Mariska Hargitay
Thanks a lot, Ms. Sheryl, for this excellent article. It is my personal opinion, it should be made a compulsory reading in all educational institutions, from Elementary to Post-graduate levels. Why, because your words have the power to create an awakening that will, over time, take precedence over ’Rights’ and become a powerful catalyst of change.