at the Lihue public library after reading to the kids.
(I’ve been doing this on Monday afternoons since August).
Sj Daisy left, and I returned to the main area in her stead (i.e. sans overalls and hairdo). I was speaking with the young adult librarian when a little girl came up to me and said, “You look like Sj Daisy!”
In yesterday’s paper, the editorial cartoon by Rob Rogers shows Bruce Jenner on a box of Wheaties. The real Bruce Jenner. The Bruce Jenner that he, or rather she, is today.
“If we celebrated the courage it takes to be your true self . . .”
Yes. If we celebrated everyone who chose to be authentic, the faces on the cover of Wheaties would most likely be as varied as the rainbow.
It takes courage to be real, authentic. The word courage comes from Old French, which comes from Latin: cor “heart.“
It takes living from one’s heart to be courageous.
But in our world, we’re actually conditioned to be someone other than ourselves.
Who do you think you are? You can’t be a ____________, you don’t have the brains, education, connections. Your skin’s the wrong color. You’re stupid. Fat. Ugly.
Each one of us has been told that we’re somehow lacking. Whether from our parents, spouses, teachers, or the media, we’ve each gotten the message that we should be someone other than ourself.
And we’ve bought into it. Literally. We buy all the many things we’re told we need to buy to be: _________________ (fill-in-the-blank).
I’m here to tell you that it’s not true. That it’s a lie.
You are already perfect as you are. You alreadyhave within yourself everything you need to be who you came here to be.
Take a breath. A DEEP breath. Connect with your inner-self.
It’s time to be YOUR self. It’s time to be that brand of YOU that no one else can copy. Trademark. Patent.
How do I do that? How do I remember who I’ve come here to be?
First of all, simply BE yourself. That’s who you’ve come here to be – YOU.
Secondly, be still. Be quiet. Unplug.
Make space for yourself everyday to simply sit in the presence of who you are. You may begin to hear little whispers. You may hear the lion’s roar. Or you may simply hear silence. It will be exactly how it needs to be for you.
Today, I challenge you. Be YOUR self. Be brave enough to let the light within you shine forth. I promise you; the world will thank you. : ))))
Also, last week after a 15+ month hiatus, I posted a pep talk. The topic? Be YOUR self. : ) When I saw Rob Rogers’ editorial cartoon yesterday, I thought, “OMG! That would be perfect for the blog glob post for Sj’s Pep Talk: Be YOUR Self!” I wrote to Mr. Rogers last night, and he quickly replied with a YES! Thank you so very, very much Rob!
In closing, Dear Friends, whether I’ve met you in person, in Spirit, or through the internet, please know that I love you and see you for who you truly are.
I found this picture on Wikipedia under the page on Consciousness. When I copied the image in order to include it in this post, I noticed that its title features the word Bewusstsein, the German word for consciousness. Interesting. Germans are thinkers; they’ve long been known as thinkers. Hmm, I can hear some of you non-Germans groaning at that statement while remembering a particular period of the 20th Century when Germans weren’t considered to be thinking but rather reacting. Despite that sad and horrible time, I think it’s true that Germans tend to be deep thinkers. So many intellectual topics have their roots, or at least their fingers, in the German thought process.
“Okay,” you ask, “What’s on your mind today Sj?”
Consciousness. Today I’m poking around in the playground of Consciousness or Bewusstsein. When I pry apart that German word, I find that it has two pieces: an adjective (Bewusst) and a verb (sein). Bewusst can be translated into either “conscious” or “aware.” Sein is that ubiquitous verb “to be.” Literally “to be conscious or aware.”
Okay, to be conscious is to be aware.
Wikipedia’s definition also uses the word aware: “Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself.”
The Apple dictionary in my computer breaks the definition down even further into three parts:
1) the state of being awake and aware of one’s surroundings : she failed to regain consciousness and died two days later.
2) the awareness or perception of something by a person : her acute consciousness of Mike’s presence.
3) the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world : consciousness emerges from the operations of the brain.
The third definition is the one that I’m tossing around in my sandbox today, “the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.”
The mind is conscious or aware of itself. It’s a “fact.” Is it?
“Hello Sj, how are you today?”
“Fine thank you. And you?”
“I’m well. Have you noticed that we’re not alone?”
The mind’s also aware or conscious of the world.
“Hello world!”
“The fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.”
Is it possible for a person to be aware that they’re NOT aware?
I love that question.
Is it possible for a person to be aware that they’re NOT aware?
Here it is again with a slight tweak.
Is it possible for a person to become aware that they’re NOT aware?
I’d love to hear from you! Feedback. Comments. What do YOU think?
The following YouTube video also addresses this topic, albeit in a completely different way: BUT it’s no longer available when I took a look-see a few years later.
Take a short break from your daily routine, pretty please with a cherry on top : ), and give it a look-see.
And then, I would love to HEAR from you. What are Your thoughts? Your ideas? Your ponderings and bemusements?
You can comment here on my blog glob post OR at my YouTube channel below this video clip.
Let’s start a dialogue to see what you and others think. This isn’t a pop quiz, and there are no wrong answers. If it’s what you think, it’s what you think.
Let’s all keep an OPEN mind and see where this takes us.
It starts simply by taking a moment, a breath, to stop, look, and listen.
What do YOU do when you’re a Grump? After it’s landed on your head and oozed down into your heart making a mess of the joy that was there just moments before?
Five-years ago, a case of the Grumps landed on my Dad. Sitting in a wheelchair unable to walk (just a few weeks after he’d won a 3-hour match in a national tennis tournament), my Dad was thinking, “What the?”
Slumped over in his chair, he brewed.
And stewed.
A Grump.
Feeling sorry for himself.
Seeing no way out.
And then, something c h a n g e d.
I saw it with my own four-eyes.
Somewhere within himself he found the strength to sit-up.
To cast out one kind word.
And then another.
And another.
Soon a fountain of encouragement sprang forth from his personal spring of goodness.
“You can do it!”
“Try again!”
“That’s it!”
Encouraging words flew across the rec hall landing first on a middle-aged woman who’d been paralyzed in a car accident.
Next, they found root in a young man who’d broken his neck in a fall.
One-by-one, I saw the change.
One-by-one, I saw the effects of my father’s words.
“Way to go!”
“That was a solid hit!”
“Good job!”
As this group of spinal cord injured people played volleyball, magic began to happen.
M A G I C.
Sj with her father, November 2008
And it started with my Dad.
The Grump.
Somehow he’d found something to grab onto.
A something that he could stand on.
A something that took him to the other side.
A bridge of sorts manifested itself when he looked within.
When he thought of others.
When he took his eyes off his own sorrow and reached out a helping hand,
in the form of encouraging words.
“You can do it!”
“Try again!”
“That’s it!”
From the depths of despair and self-pity, my Dad found a bridge to the other side.
How fitting that a man, who built bridges during World War II to replace those that the Germans blew up, would find a bridge WITHIN himself. A man who served his nation as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In his final days, my Dad built a bridge to the other side. A bridge that enabled him to help others even as he helped himself.
A different sort of mettle appeared right when he needed it most.
Patricia Neal visited her eponymous rehabilitation center Fall 2008
It’s me talking candidly on a topic I’ve chosen. Unscripted. Off-the-cuff, and from the heart.
Deep inside of me (and not always so DEEP inside : ) is a natural cheerleader. A natural encourager. A voice which loves to yell, “Go for it!”
Go for it! Go for your dream, whatever it is!
And I mean it; I really, really do.
Go for your dream. It’s time. NOW. : )
And so, after talking to two new friends–one in Hawaii and one in Cambodia–I realized it was time. It was time to launch this particular ship in my personal voyage.
My hubby kindly assisted me in getting started in a way that I can easily continue on my own, with a good work flow, a good system. Thanks Tones!
Without further ado, I bid you welcome to Sj’s first Pep Talk: Nice to Meet You!.
