If you take time for yourself, the rest will follow...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

This is not a new discovery for me, but one that keeps coming up and reiterating itself to me. In our fast paced world it is easy to becomed bogged down in all of the data that is constantly thrown at us in this age of information. You are on myspace right now... we constantly check the internet, have access to information from other countries, cultures... we watch television programs about other people's lives-- both reality-based and fiction... we listen to radio broadcasts... overhear converstations as we pump our gas, eat at a restaurant shop at a grocery store... we are constantly accumulating the essences of other people as we interact with them on a daily basis. Most of this happens on a subconscious level. Then there are the close encounters... the informational exchanges between loved ones, friends, family and teachers... we share our opinions, voice our beliefs and exchange ideas. We make each other happy and think about it. We hurt each other and then feel bad about it and we try to look at it from the other person's point of view. Thus, we are taken outside of ourselves, in order to have compassion and respect for others and in order to be openminded so we might not to make the same mistakes again. This happens at a conscious level. But there are times when we need to be selfish... the good kind of selfish... the kind that hurts no one (or shouldn't, provided people are secure enough within themselves to realize that alone time does not mean 'i-hate-you time')...the time that one withdraws from the company of others and spends come oh-so-crucial time with the all-mighty self. I think this concept is scary to a lot of people in modernity... because we're always surrounded by something. I pose a challenge. I dare you to wake up early in the morning and do things with yourself while everybody else is sleeping. Look through a magazine for images or photos that inspire you. Create a vision/ inspiration board. Play a musical instrument. Start reading that book that's been sitting on your bookshelf since the 90s. Jot down the thoughts that plague you. Write a letter to your high school sweetheart and then burn it (but don't set the house on fire). I don't know, just do things, anything. But alone. And afterwards, you will be happy... or at the very least, you will be content. The person you love will not go away because you take a morning or an afternoon or an evening off from them. Actually, they will respect you more. And appreciate you more. And you will appreciate them more. And love them more, because you are showing yourself more love. And if you do not have anyone you love or if you have unrequited love or are heartbroken I promise you that alone time will bring you back to yourself-- the person who will always be with you, regardless of who comes in and out of your life-- and perhaps you will realize that the person whom you are crying or pining over is in fact completely wrong for you. In times of pain though family and friend time are equally as important as alone time. But back to my point... when you spend time with yourself you realize that the only thing you can ever truely know is yourself. You can never see inside of another person the way that you can of yourself. You can never feel another person's heart beating the way you can, with yourself. You can never a person's spirit or soul the way you know yours lives every day. If you are good to yourself and respect yourself... and take time for yourself... you soon realize that the things that haunt you are trivial. The fights with loved ones seem petty. Getting angry over spilled milk seems stupid. War seems stupid too, but sometimes we can't help that. But maybe if we focus on ourselves and respect ourselves more, people will start to do the same... we may accidentally lead by example and people will accidentally start respecting themselves more and then so respecting others more and then accidentally the world will be a better place. Good morning! :)