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Today's
Meditation:
I've
always been someone who doesn't go all out when I do
things. I know that part of this trend comes from my
youth and the way I grew up, but part of it is just the
way I am, I believe. I've spent quite a few years
trying to change this aspect of myself, though--by holding
back in the way I express myself, I definitely am not
showing a strong trust that life will take care of me.
As
we grow, we face a lot of criticism for things that we
do. If we dance or sing, there always will be
someone who makes fun of us or what we do. It
doesn't matter that those people are generally coming from
a place of envy or jealousy or low self-confidence--what
they say and how they say it still affects us, still makes
us feel pretty awful. And it makes us much more
reserved when we dance or sing the next time. I've
seen plenty of young people simply give up when others
have criticized them or made fun of them--especially when
it's their parents who do the criticizing.
So
we learn to do things well, but without putting everything
we have into them. After all, if we only put a part
of ourselves into something, then it's only a part of
ourselves that someone is making fun of. And the
rest of ourselves is safe from criticism or mocking; in
that way we feel that we're preserving ourselves,
protecting ourselves.
But
in never giving all that we have to something, we're
keeping ourselves from reaching our true potential, and
we're not giving ourselves the chance to express ourselves
as truly as we're capable of. And we're also robbing
others of the chance to see us as we truly can be.
What a shame that is, especially for the young people who
could use a good role model or two.
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