A reminder to stay open…
“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.” Robert M. Pirsig
Something to cheer you up
These last couple of weeks I have been obsessed with watching animal rescue videos…in just 3 short minutes I am reminded of how kind and loving humans and animals can be…and just how much duller life would be without our furry friends 🤗
Give yourself the gift of a life-affirming few minutes…
and One More Thing
On Developing your Inner Compass
I went back to my High School today to do an interview about my journey since leaving school and they asked about advice I would give the older girls transitioning out of school and into the “real world” and this is what came through…
In school you are trained to understand the value of your work based on external indicators. You are doing a good job if you get good grades, if you pass music certificates, if you star in the school play, if you are on the winning sports team, if your art work gets hung in the school hall…you are taught to look outside yourself to see if you have done enough, if you are “passing” at life
In the real world, the structure is far more fluid. Your peer group is no longer a group of 90 all from the same area and similar (ish) backgrounds. Your peer group becomes the multitude of people in your generation living infinitely varying lives from so many different backgrounds and with completely different ways of thinking. There is no grade or pass mark to tell you if you are living a good life. So instead we project it onto other things – the car you drive, your annual salary, where you go on holiday, the clothes you wear, how big the diamond on your finger is – and if we are not careful we end up never developing our own inner metrics on what constitutes a “pass”
We hurt ourselves when we use material objects to signal how well we are doing at life
I have hurt myself by comparing my life to other people’s benchmarks of what comprises a good life
Out here in the world, the thing that keeps us anchored to ourselves and tethered to our truth is nurturing our inner compass. The only thing that can tell us if we are doing a good job in our life is us. Our satisfaction and contentment with the choices we make and actions we take is the only “pass” mark that truly counts in the end