I love to write, especially early in the morning.
My mind is clear, and my heart is full.
As the day goes on, my mind starts to ping between all of the different puzzles that I am trying to solve.
I become less focused, less patient, less clear as I make my way through the day, and the “noise” of life fills my soul… until sleep restores my clarity.
I wrote about “I struggle… a lot” a few weeks ago, and heard back from many of you.
“Struggle”, I am convinced, is a universal language that we all speak.
At least those of us honest enough to acknowledge it.
It is a topic for which I have a tremendous amount of passion and curiosity.
It is a topic that I know intimately well –
because I dance with it, fight with it, navigate it, empathize with it…
daily…
“Struggle” is absolutely fundamental feeling to understand in our search for a life of joy
because it fits in what I am now calling, “the critical path of the human journey” 😉
I believe at our core we seek to feel “worthy” of the space we take up in the universe.
In order to feel “worthy”, we need to be “seen” / appreciated / acknowledged.
(Ultimately, we need to appreciate and acknowledge ourselves, but for most of our journey, we rely on other people to give us that sense of acknowledgement.)
In order to be “seen”, or to see ourselves, we must allow ourselves to “connect”.
(Because, even when people attempt to acknowledge us, if we do not accept a connection from them, we don’t register the praise… we don’t internalize being “seen”).
AND, in order to truly and deliberately “connect” we must overcome our “struggle”, if only for a moment.
Did you get all that?
I’m feeding you pearls here 😉 (One of my favorite lines from Scent of a Woman)…
Seriously… understanding the “critical path to the human journey”… the path to the heart is SO very important. Let me say it another way…
We must overcome and make sense of our own struggle,
So that we may authentically and meaningfully connect with other human beings,
So that we can accept and own being “seen” by those we love and respect,
So that we can someday “see” ourselves…
And make peace with the fact that we are so very “worthy” of every moment we live…
By the mere fact that we are born, we are worthy of life.
And yet, we spend most of our lives trying to confirm that which was given to us by the universe by the very nature of our birth.
But, you don’t think it’s that easy.
You need others to tell you, to “see” you,
So that you can breathe deep
In joy…
I was going to write today about the “language of struggle”…
I was going to write about the delicate, subtle awareness that is required to speak it…
And, I will write about that tomorrow.
For now,
Let’s just let the critical path sink in…
Do you agree?
The ultimate bliss… nirvana… is to be certain of our worthiness and to share ourselves freely and effortlessly with the world…
STRUGGLE – CONNECT – BE SEEN – FEEL WORTHY…
It is a critical path that happens through a lifetime,
Through relationships,
Through careers, roles, challenges…
AND, in each and every moment…
It’s crazy I know…
But, in any moment you can travel all the way through,
And I would argue in every moment that is exactly what we seek…
We can achieve it and lose it in seconds…
At the whim of a funky tone, a misspoken word, a funny look, an extended pause, an inner voice…
We lose our footing and want it back again…
Do you speak the language?
Let’s have a conversation…
In harmony,
Nestor