Monday 1 September 2014

Scary Stuff

I love trying new things. 

Especially if it's creative. Right now I am writing, drawing, painting, learning how to do breakdancing, and trying to sell my stuff on eBay (failing miserably and being irresistibly drawn to second hand guitars. I am also into guitar these days : D )

So that's quite a lot to be going on with. But there was a point where I wouldn't have done any of these things - well, may be one or two - and now I am stepping out into the adventure zone. 

It's a little scary. But then I have done quite a lot of scary things in the last few years. And along the way I have discovered that it's the scary things that make the deal. If you never take a risk, never step outside the box, never try throwing together things that aren't "supposed" to be together, you'll never learn.



It takes nerve to break boundaries, to go somewhere nobody else has been, to explore the corners of the world - and more importantly the corners of your own mind and soul - without resistance or judgement, without going back to the safe harbour, without falling into the same old pattern of acceptability.



Sometimes people will blame you, hurt you, misunderstand you, ignore you, bring you down and stomp on your head a few times and then turn everything you said upside down and claim all the goods for themselves. But don't let this discourage you. 

Let them be angry. Let them ridicule. Let them do whatever but for goodness sakes don't let it discourage you.

You're not just a cog in a system. You're an essential particle of the universe that is infinite, timeless, and unlimited, and tying that to some physical manifestation or idol of normality is almost funny.

People say "look at the big picture", but when I say look at the big picture, I mean, look at the REALLY big one. Like the beyond time, space and object one. It puts things into perspective. 

Knowing this, what have you to fear? Experiment. Escape. Step out of the small minded daily grind and find the joy. Appreciate small things, tiny things - from the perfect balance of bacteria on your skin to the intricate workings of distant galaxies, the miraculous transformation of a butterfly to the forming of an apple on a tree.



Fear creates boundaries, and boundaries create fear. 

Yes, you will make mistakes. Yes, you will upset people. Yes, you will get it WRONG sometimes. It's natural. Nothing on the whole planet is perfect, however it may appear, and if something really IS perfect, it's unnatural, and that is unlikely to stick around for very long in a world that is governed by the laws of nature. 

So don't strive to be perfect, strive to be free, to be accepting, to be open to opportunity and willing to seek out the true, imperfect excellence of living in the raw. 

As Mark Twain famously said,

      

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”



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