Can you somehow relate to this paradigm? How does one move forward when all of a sudden all the roads built ahead of you could potentially lead you in the wrong direction? Take the high road. Take the forest path. Make your own path. Follow the path of those whom you believe are going in the right direction... What direction? Where am I going? And why am I even going there?
All of a sudden I feel like I'm fifteen again - being a teenager once was life-altering enough for me! Now being in my mid-thirties why am I sitting here re-examining my chosen paths? This all started one afternoon while shopping in Chapters with my daughter (she needed a book for school) and I came across a fridge magnet that read:
"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself." - Unknown Source
I had just been through several life-experiences where I believed they were linked to me trying to find "me". And then "poof" here's this random quote hitting me in the face telling me I've got it all wrong! Who is this person Unknown Source - ya that's what I thought, nobody. ...or is it? Could this just be the universe shouting out messages?
What does finding yourself really mean? What's the difference between finding yourself and creating yourself? And why would this "hit" me in this manner? Why would, or should I care?
Well first let's take a look at finding yourself. I googled it (ha! that's actually a verb... love it!!) and click on the top link from my result window: How to Find Yourself. According to this wikiHow's article finding yourself has a description:
"Finding yourself is an enlightening experience. You become self-sufficient and do things for others without expectations of something in return. You are no longer needy and become utterly grateful for all the things people have done for you in the past. Finding yourself is a time of harmony because you develop that philosophy or belief system that will carry you throughout the rest of your life. When you love yourself and who you are, you will savor and enjoy both life's pain and pleasures. How do you know you have found yourself? When you are able to help others find themselves. Finding yourself is not easy. If you have never felt connected to who you are, and you want to find whatever makes you you, being yourself will be hard. The first step is always the hardest, but after that hill, you will be smooth sailing to discovering who you are."
Wow take that and eat it!! Geez-Louise is that all? After all "finding yourself" is described here in one short paragraph so implementing this life-altering way of being should be pretty basic, right? Sure the article goes on to provide some tips and steps... great, let's get a notebook and pen and get-at-her! I can do this!
I don't dismiss this article at all - in fact I promote it's concept and technique. Learning who you are, allows you to be you which indeed creates a life plan, your life plan. And a life plan should take time, and to boot this life plan should get adjusted as you gain life wisdom, living it. Hence where the creating yourself falls into play...
You are the only you. There is no one else out there that can replace who you are. There are ample amount of people that could do things that you do, but they still aren't you - thus they aren't you doing what you do. You have a unique characteristic which can only be filled by you being you. You think a certain way. You act a certain way. You smell a certain way. You talk a certain way. You are a certain way - and that way is your individuality - YOU.
So who are you and what do you need to do with this 'knowledge' of being you? You are here in this lifetime, on this planet, at this moment, right here - right now reading this particular blog at this exact time because that's what you are supposed to be doing. This is what the universe has in store right at this moment for you. This is a step in your path, on your way to 'wherever' your going - and right here, right now -- is life presenting you a learning. Everything in life is a learning - a choice. From your choices come your learnings. What you learn from this blog, at this very moment, what your take is of this - is simple - you learn or take whatever it is you want out of this, whatever this means to you, because you are the only one to gain anything from it.
This article is written, it's done, it's published. Maybe thousands, maybe hundreds, maybe a dozen, maybe just one or maybe just you have read this... but what does it matter... to you? What matters to me, is if you take something from it - whatever it is - be it learning about taking a look at yourself; be it sharing this article with someone else who you believe would benefit from it; be it learning how to read English... whatever the case - if you leave this article thinking (you learned something - or it got you thinking) then my goal is reached.
Every stage in life is about gaining / learning from it. You learned things when you're a baby, toddler, child... you learn a lot while your body transforms in to adulthood (teenage years) and you continue learning in to your adult life. Learning never stops - you just stop noticing.
Creating yourself isn't something you can just Google. This is a life-long learning, and learning encompasses failures and success (because no one can succeed without failing), and never ends. Imagine if you created a piece of art and this was "the masterpiece" of your existence. It's done. ...so now what? Do you just need to crawl in a corner and wait for death? No - you continue life. This was "the masterpiece" of the right-now's existence. It is now in the past and a new one awaits to be created. Continuously creating brings more growth into your life whereas if you simply created and stop - you become that "old school" mentality of "that's just how it is". Your creativeness is gone - you don't believe you've got anything left cause you gave it all already and now it's just there and "that's just how it is". Don't try to change me. Don't tell me what to do. I created that "masterpiece" and so now I'm done. I 'did' my time and now I'm just going to sit here and look at my "masterpiece" while it collects dust. Leave me alone.
Wrong.
"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself." - Unknown Source
Elaborating on the example from above - You found your inner-peace when you created that "masterpiece". Your momentum, your mo-jo, was at it's highest. You were on a roll, you were hot! This is passion, this is you being you. When you can give yourself in to something in your entirety so passionately, time no longer exist. Doing this isn't work - it's a part of you, a part of you that you are giving out to the universe. Sharing with others, sharing with life - a piece of you.
Giving out to the universe. Why is this important? Because what we give we receive.
So just because you've created the lifetime "masterpiece" - this shouldn't stop you from continuing on with your journey, your life path. Yes, you can take a break, breathe, absorb and take-in the gratitude of success but then you move on. Your journey isn't done, it's simply been enlightened with love (and an opportunity for gratitude) to provide you with the strength needed to continue on your path. Now that you 'know' that your capable of this "masterpiece", you've just confirmed to yourself that your capable of more. Your capabilities are limitless - humans are the ones that put limits on things. Your journey now is to continue believing in yourself. And to continue creating - just as you once had started with a goal in mind, you start over again with a new-found goal in mind. Milestone "A" reached. This time you are 'more' equipped because you have with you, your past learnings. Good and Bad. What worked and what didn't. You choose to continue (instead of watching the dust accumulate) because you know that you are worth it, you have value to give.
I leave you with a little story:
One At A Time
A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew closer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up, and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean. As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water. Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said "Good evening, Friend. I was wondering what you are doing."
"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."
"I understand," our friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize it is probably happening on hundreds of other beaches all up and down the coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"
The local native smiled, bent down, and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"
To learn more about the above story, visit: http://www.jnweb.com/life/starfish.html
What is your creation?
How have you created yourself?...
What is your passion?
What difference are you making?
What element of this topic got you thinking?
