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Tag: Analogies

Utilizing The Self In Self-Worth

Published on July 11, 2022

Self-worth isn’t something you find in another person.

Self-worth is something you find in your-self.

You might find borrowed validation, temporary belonging, and fleeting feelings of encouragement from others.

But, once that fades or situations change, you’ll be left feeling unworthy and craving those external sources all over again—they become a crutch.

This isn’t to say that external sources of validation, encouragement, and belonging aren’t useful. They most certainly are—especially at the earliest stages of our development when we’re trying to figure out who we are and how to act.

But, there needs to be a point where we move from being dependent on them, to being independent and able to create our own feelings of validation, encouragement, and belonging.

And everlasting, self-sustaining sources of self-worth come from a careful, deliberate, internal watering of the seeds of our identity. It comes from the inner work where we confront the question of who we are (or who we are not) and all of the associated questions that piggyback with it.

And with the help of others, inner work, and enough time—our roots will eventually entrench themselves deep enough into our mind’s soil so that the trunk and branches of our identity will be able to reach freely towards the heavens without any need of crutches or support from anything else.

But, without the inner work—without the work we do our-self—we will be forever tied to the crutches that were only there for temporary support and those external sources of strength will become one of our biggest sources of inner weakness.

The Goldilocks Task

Published on July 2, 2022

The things you do daily shouldn’t be misery inducing.

They also shouldn’t be challenge-free and mind-numbing.

The things you do daily should be somewhere in the goldilocks middle.

Easy enough to show up for (even when you don’t want to); hard enough to keep you from atrophy or regression.

Get this balance wrong and you’ll either burn-out (and yo-yo) or blow out the flame of your potential.

Two consequences that are happening far too often in our society.

It’s time to level up your Goldilocks game, eh?

The Immortality Of Kindness

Published on July 1, 2022

Have you ever been the target of a random act of kindness?

Have you ever wondered how far back the inspiration for that act goes?

Maybe not far at all.

Maybe that stranger just spontaneously acted.

Or maybe it goes back centuries… back to a medieval time when a farmer gave a homeless fellow some crops for free—just because. And they paid it forward and so did the next fellow and so on.

Maybe kindness ripples through time like waves in a pond—temporarily elevating each water particle touched by the wave until gracefully returning them back to where they started.

Maybe it’s that temporary elevation that gives us the perspective we need to carry on with a lighter heart; a more caring heart; a more kind heart.

For it is only when we are elevated that we can more clearly see what was holding us back down below. And we gain an understanding that becomes a new guiding light for when we find ourselves back down—as we inevitably will in life.

But, we are not lowered to where we started—no.

We are lowered with new eyes. Eyes that have seen and felt an existence at a higher plane. And once we see what is up above, we can’t unsee it; once we feel what is up above, we can’t unfeel it.

And maybe this is the cause of perpetual kindness. People infectiously sharing what elevated them, onward and outward to the outer banks of society and for the duration of all time.

And maybe all we need to do to activate that sometimes seemingly dormant desire is remember that beautiful perspective we each once had.

The Cloud That Never Rained

Published on June 29, 2022

Imagine the cloud that always held on to its rain.

Imagine the weight; the effort; the burden.

Imagine the hardened soil, dehydrated plants, and barren landscape.

Now, image the person who always held on to their pain.

Imagine the weight; the effort; the burden.

Imagine the hardened interactions, dehydrated relationships, and barren lifestyle.

Maybe holding on to the pain isn’t the most beneficial thing to do (so that others don’t experience the pain you’re holding).

Maybe releasing the pain is the most beneficial thing you can do.

Maybe it’s the vulnerable release that’s needed for your gray clouds to clear away.

Maybe it’s the feeling of a more authentic human experience that the barren landscape of our lives are craving more of each day.

And maybe the best way to do this isn’t to release above the umbrella walkers who are seemingly allergic to getting wet—but to share the experience of feeling the rain with the people who jump in puddles and know that clothes dry.

P.s. Thank you to Belinda for the coffee. This post was fueled by your generosity. :)

Evenly and Mindfully

Published on June 27, 2022

Filling our cups is hard enough.

  • Proper sleep
  • Firm boundaries
  • Self-care practices

Don’t let what liquid you’ve carefully filled go to waste.

As you would carefully and delicately place each step while walking with a brim-filled cup of blazing hot tea—so, too, should you walk throughout your day with a brim-filled cup of blazing hot human energy and potential.

…Evenly and mindfully.

Inner Roadway [Poem]

Published on June 23, 2022 
Understand who you are
By writing down
Everything you are not
And never want to be

Let each list item
Act as a guardrail
That turns vast landscape
Into paved and pointed roadway

Seed Planter [Poem]

Published on June 19, 2022 
I am forever
A seed planter
Burying potential
in the endless mud
Of our collective mind

Some will grow
Many will die
What comes to be
Isn’t for me
to judge or define

I am not sun
I am not nutrients
I am not water
I am forever
a seed planter

What’s planted
In the mud
Of your mind
Is for the elements
Of your life

To nurture or decline