There are billions of people here…
but there has never been another YOU.
Perhaps one of life’s greatest adventures is not discovering the world.
It is discovering WHO has been traveling through it.
I am talking about figuring YOURSELF out.
Who are you?
What do you like?
What don’t you like?
What are you naturally good at?
What makes you come alive?
What brings you peace?
And perhaps the biggest question of all…
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
It bears repeating that there is not another YOU in the Universe.
Think about that.
Billions have come.
Billions are here.
Billions may follow.
Yet this particular arrangement called YOU gets one appearance.
That makes knowing yourself worthy of some serious attention.
WE GREW UP TOO FAST
Many of us grew up too fast for different reasons.
Some good.
Some not so good.
Responsibilities arrived.
School.
Work.
Marriage.
Children.
Bills.
Expectations.
Making a living.
Before long, the little person who once wandered around asking questions, exploring things and discovering what interested them became an ADULT.
Everybody congratulated us.
But somewhere along the way, we may have stopped asking:
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY ENJOY?
THE CAPTAIN MUST EVENTUALLY REPORT FOR DUTY
Whatever happened growing up happened.
Some of it helped us.
Some of it hurt us.
Some of it we still don’t understand.
But eventually we must assume the Captain’s position aboard our own ship.
Take the rudder.
Look at the horizon.
And decide:
WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
No more endless winds of blame.
No permanent anchoring in yesterday’s sorrow.
Learn what happened.
Take whatever wisdom can be salvaged.
Then…
SET SAIL.
WHAT A PRIZE YOU ARE
Spend some quality time with yourself and you may discover somebody rather interesting.
You have preferences you never really examined.
Abilities you haven’t fully used.
Things you tolerated that you never actually liked.
Things you abandoned that once gave you enormous pleasure.
Maybe you became very good at playing a role that never fit you particularly well.
People do that.
We enter a career because somebody suggested it.
We stay somewhere because leaving feels risky.
We become what others expect because it seems easier than discovering who we actually are.
Then complacency moves in.
Something inside starts tapping on the window.
IS THIS REALLY ME?
That’s a worthwhile question.
Not:
What will everybody think?
Not:
What am I SUPPOSED to want?
Not:
What does someone my age normally do?
But…
IS THIS REALLY ME?
There are times when life itself seems to bring this question forward.
We reach certain stages and begin taking inventory.
Where have I been?
What have I done?
What still matters?
What doesn’t anymore?
What have I been postponing?
This isn’t necessarily a crisis.
It may be an AWAKENING.
THE SEED HAS TO BREAK OPEN
Growth has an interesting requirement.
Something usually has to move.
The seed cannot become what it contains while remaining permanently sealed.
It breaks through the ground.
The little chick pecks through the shell.
The butterfly eventually leaves what once protected it.
And human beings?
Sometimes we have to break through an old identity that has become too small.
Not because yesterday was necessarily wrong.
Because TODAY may be asking something different from us.
PEACE, CONTENTMENT AND PURPOSE
What are we really seeking?
I call it WELL-BEING.
Not constant excitement.
Not endless possessions.
Not everybody applauding.
Not some artificial state where nothing ever goes wrong.
Well-being.
That quiet inner sense that your life and the person living it are reasonably traveling together.
You recognize yourself.
Your conscience isn’t constantly arguing with you.
Your work has meaning.
Your relationships have substance.
You can give.
You can receive.
You can sit quietly without immediately needing to escape yourself.
That is wealth.
MEET THE KID AGAIN
For those of us who grew up too fast, I have some good news.
The kid didn’t necessarily disappear.
You just stopped inviting him out.
Revisit something you loved when you were young.
Walk somewhere for absolutely no reason.
Throw a ball.
Fly a kite.
Watch an old cartoon.
Buy yourself an ice cream cone.
Have a lollipop.
MMM?
Something interesting can happen.
A feeling appears that hasn’t visited in years.
For just a moment there is no résumé.
No age.
No title.
No responsibility.
No performance.
Just…
YOU.
WHAT DID THAT CHILD KNOW?
Children naturally move toward what interests them.
They investigate.
Touch.
Ask.
Play.
Laugh.
Get absorbed.
Then adulthood arrives and we replace much of that natural curiosity with schedules and obligations.
Of course we have responsibilities.
I’m not suggesting abandoning them.
I’m suggesting remembering something the child knew naturally:
LIFE IS ALSO TO BE EXPERIENCED.
THE SONG OF THE SIREN
The world is noisy.
It constantly tells you what you should want.
More money.
More possessions.
More status.
More recognition.
More productivity.
More of whatever somebody happens to be selling.
Making a living pulls on us relentlessly.
Raising a family requires attention.
Responsibilities are real.
But be careful.
You can become so busy constructing a life that you never spend any time with the person who has to LIVE inside it.
PAUSE AND TAKE NOTE
Why the rush?
We spend years saying:
When I finish this…
When I get there…
When the kids grow up…
When the mortgage is paid…
When I retire…
THEN I’ll…
Then what?
Your journey was happening while you were waiting for your journey to begin.
That deserves another reading.
YOUR JOURNEY WAS HAPPENING WHILE YOU WERE WAITING FOR YOUR JOURNEY TO BEGIN.
THE MYSTERY DOESN’T REQUIRE AN INSTANT ANSWER
Knowing yourself isn’t filling out a questionnaire once.
We reveal ourselves as we travel.
Something happens and you discover courage.
Someone needs you and you discover compassion.
You attempt something and discover talent.
You fail and discover resilience.
You sit quietly and discover something you no longer want.
You encounter beauty and discover what moves you.
Life keeps introducing YOU…
to YOU.
LET GO OF WHAT DOESN’T FIT
Part of self-discovery is addition.
Part of it is subtraction.
You discover what you love.
You also discover what you have outgrown.
You learn what deserves your YES.
And equally important…
what deserves your NO.
There is tremendous liberty in being able to choose without unnecessary guilt.
Not selfishly.
Not recklessly.
But truthfully.
YOU ARE BOTH OBSERVER AND RECEIVER
This connects with something I return to often.
We are here to observe and receive life.
Look.
Listen.
Investigate.
Participate.
Wonder.
Ask.
Seek.
Sample.
Contribute.
And while you are observing the world…
observe yourself observing it.
What catches your attention?
What moves your heart?
Where do you naturally gravitate?
What gives something back to you after you give yourself to it?
There are clues everywhere.
DON’T COPY SOMEBODY ELSE’S PORTION
Admire other people.
Learn from them.
Celebrate their success.
But don’t mistake their journey for yours.
Another person’s portion may look wonderful from the outside and be completely wrong for you.
Your life has its own measurements.
Your own talents.
Your own timing.
Your own lessons.
Your own discoveries.
Your own mysteries.
You are not here to become a second-rate version of somebody else.
You have enough work discovering the first-rate version of YOU.
WHAT AWAITS
Once you begin discovering your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, gifts and limitations, something settles.
You stop requiring the world to constantly define you.
You can receive advice without surrendering yourself to it.
You can change without believing you failed.
You can let go without believing everything must be preserved forever.
You can pursue something because it genuinely calls you rather than because somebody told you that you should want it.
And slowly…
the mystery becomes less mysterious.
FINAL THOUGHT
Perhaps you will never completely figure yourself out.
GOOD.
What fun would that be?
Leave a little mystery.
Keep discovering.
Keep asking.
Keep changing.
Keep revisiting that kid.
Keep exploring the person behind the name, age, occupation and responsibilities.
There is only one YOU.
You have never traveled this exact way before.
And you will never pass through this particular moment again.
So become acquainted with your traveling companion.
You might discover that the greatest mystery you were searching for…
HAS BEEN TRAVELING WITH YOU ALL ALONG.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you