Last night I saw Richard III—the Shakespearian play—performed by a crew of high school students, one of whom was a martial arts student of mine.
I was blown away.
Not only by the memorization of their lines, the acting, the setup, etc—but by the raw passion and confident expression that these 16 and 17 year olds were able to cultivate and showcase.
What really brought this home for me were the final moments after the play concluded when the organizer came on stage and gave the audience and performers an opportunity to interact.
“What words come to mind when you think about what you saw tonight?” she asked the audience.
“Confidence!” “Passionate!” “Moving!” Were some of the things the audience shouted.
“What words help define what you tried to bring to this performance tonight?” she asked the performers.
“Self Belief!” “Commitment!” “Going all in!” Were some of the things the performers responded with.
And what the organizer said was that those were called, “New Reference Points.”
Points that, once lived, become evidence-based aspects of their identity that they can reference and call back upon at any point of their life from there forward.
Because having confidence or being passionate or going all in on self-expression, for those students, were no longer abstract thoughts that linger in the back of their minds as they self-consciously worry and wonder about what other people will think of them.
…They’re real parts of their identity that were awakened, allowed to emerge from the depths, and will forever hold a space in (their) reality.
Inner work prompt: What type of experience(s) would you try that would give you new reference points?