We as people only require a quick little glimpse in order to form a radical judgment about someone, something or a situation. Yet such judgment can be threatening for ourselves personally, and ultimately culture as a whole. For such judgement is not accurate as it doesn’t tell the entire story. It never does and never will. Notorious for problem solvers, we will attempt to seek a solution with any amount of information we may have. So, the more information the better. The less reaction, the better. It seems we’ve become expect to react grandly to whatever may be occurring; yet that only heightens and exasperates needlessly. More solutions can equal more problems. There are no absolute answers, no be all-end all.
I hate that I would judge people just going about their business. Maybe it’s natural human instinct, or perhaps is some type of self-dissatisfaction deep inside. It’s difficult to know where certain inhibitions become formulated. They’re just another human making their honest effort to get through this life. It’s certainly not easy, we can all do better and judge less. Let it be as it is, bring peace to yourself by doing so. And to not interrupt a process off discovery.
Lately I really simply aim to share my experience, and work on leading by example rather than vocalizing what all that I may perceive to be not right. I catch myself making these mistakes and can only reflect and do better next time. Sure there are certain instances where mistakes are necessary there are always exceptions.
And lastly… I’d rather be judged, than to be the one who is doing the judging.
Growing up, I believed all rules were set, everything I heard was true, and everything just was the way it was. This type of fixed mindset is dangerous for a young person entering a wide world with billions of people, many with more experience and knowledge than you know. Maybe about 5 years ago now, I felt this urge to unlearn so much. My beliefs, tendencies, as well how I viewed myself, and habits that may be detrimental. These days, it’s a top priority to keep an open mind and ingrain the healthiest habits. That is to not hold so much truth to everything I hear, to work hard and strive to improve, knowing that it DOES pay off in way I don’t yet imagine at the time. With habits, that is to do the baseline necessities for my wellbeing and to not overindulge. It’s actually become easier as I’ve been keen on this for several months now, and honestly I thought I’d never get to this point, but somewhere, something changed.
I don’t always know what I’m doing or why I’m doing it, but we as people have an inherent way of making our lifestyle work for this society. For example I used to wander up brooks and take photos of the water with my dogs. It was my favorite thing, yet sometimes I asked myself why I did it; or what was the point. Well I indeed learned a lot, was at peace, saw beauty and became inspired, sold some photographs, got fresh air and exercise, etc.
Whatever it may be, it is not set in stone. Whatever you wish to achieve in this lifetime, you may. Just gotta believe and maintain a solid foundation. You will get there before you realize it, or realize it now.
So, whatever you think you are today… if there are things you wish were different, please understand you will go further, so long as you reach for, and find solace in that reach. Identify what you want your life to look like and what needs to change to make that reality. It can take time, lots of time. But it’s worth every second in becoming a lighter freer version of oneself. And I’m not saying I’ve made it and gotten everything I’ve dreamed of, but I’m much better off than a younger version of myself could have imagined.
Over the past year I’ve come to an improved understanding of what it’s all really about. Not to say my way is better than any other, just one of several billion imperfect perceptions of life. All tuned to a different channel from the very beginning, we grow up and take it all in as it comes at us. Without realizing it, we form our own unique understandings of culture and society based on what is exposed to us day and and day out. Often with this, we don’t give ourselves the chance to take a step back and look at who we actually are and what how we see the world. Instead we often take it all as it is even though it isn’t any which way to begin with. Each individual is tuned to their own channel which presents their view of reality. As people spend sufficient time with another and share their experience, there is a give and take that ever so slightly tunes their channels to be more to comparable frequencies. Being the channels that we are, it’s challenging to look from the outside and see what exactly is making you what you are. As such, we don’t notice the opportunities that arise in order to shift gears in timely moments.
Speaking of time, we are conditioned in such a way of being far too concerned about the future; events that haven’t happened yet. Within this, we’re displaced from our slivers of individual presence. A presence that all are granted with from the dawns of every equal existence. We become concerned with what society tells us we’re supposed to do, rather than the intrinsic gut feeling of what our experience is bringing us to do. Many being afraid to live life because what “would society think of me for pursuing this different path where in my conditioned minds view, society deems to be unacceptable. Our mind creates a story about us based on what we’ve seen, what we’ve done, and what’s happened to us. To separate oneself from that made up story is the beginning of certain freedom.
There have been countless times where I believed there is a set way of life, where these underlying steps need to be followed. For example, upon leaving high school, I thought I was destined to work in a high rise office building in a city. This is what I saw in movies and that’s how What I perceived to be success. Yet, I also had this conflicting notion where I would never be well off in life considering that’s how I grew up as an impressionable child with parents and a family that was not well off. Point being, it can be extremely difficult to escape certain world views; as we grow into them for the first quarter century of life they become engrained into us. We come to believe they are us.
So this past year I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to slow down, look inward, learn, unlearn, reconvene, etc. By no means has it being the greatest year of my life, but it has been different for better for for worse. To wrap this up, I’m better off knowing the highs only go so high and lows only so low. These moments of success and failure, love and hate, light and dark are a constant eternal flow. And for me, creating art is just that; an ongoing practice in creation. A creative output inherently based on an inner experience where I can feel progress being made. Knowing there is no grand finale atop this mountain is solace. There are always more mountains to climb with each their own obstacles to overcome.
Within a society of others telling you they way it is, cut the cord and formulate a more open reality. A reality viewed from all angles where each individual path is acknowledged, for we all are a product of our circumstances.
Life is a continuous path of progression and opening of one’s mind. All furthering ourselves with the importance in knowing there will always be further to go without any set destination. In knowing each individual is incomparable yet equally important from all points on the globe. The grandest understanding is that perceptions are collectively infinite. Each individual is part of the entirety and all stories matter, for all are uniquely intertwined in this vast spectrum we call society.
art.of.a.rock 