Being
Shaped
“Letting
go means to come to the realization that some people are part of your
history, but not part of your destiny.”
Steve
Maraboli
What if we were to see
our life as a great novel, and our self as a character in the story.
From the moment we were jettisoned, pried, lifted or cut from our
mother's womb, other people have had their hands on us. In our novel,
we would be one character in a cast of hundreds. Each one has left,
and since our lives are on-going, are continuing to leave, an
impression on us like thumbprints in wet clay. Just as a potter
shapes the clay into a vessel using thousands of touches—pressing,
rolling, pounding, squeezing and smoothing—our journey shapes us,
and the people along the way provide the hands. Some of those people
have hurt us, maybe even harmed us, some have supported and
encouraged us, and some have simply been there to accompany us and
witness the journey with us. We are part of their story, too.
What we do with the
imprints we've received from others is up to us. We must acknowledge
that wrongs have been done, and rights have been done, and then ask
ourselves what we have done? Have we taken our hurts and our wounds
and lived from them, let them define us? Have we taken our successes
as accomplishments and made ourselves prideful, as though they are
ours alone? Or, have we mixed all of these together and shaped them
into a life well lived? Some bumps and bruises, to be sure; maybe
even broken bones. Some deficits and assets. Some scars. To the
extent that we keep our scars out front, and our wounds open and
painful, we will serve neither ourselves nor the world.
Letting go is an
essential skill for moving ahead in the journey of life. Letting go
of static versions of ourselves as this or that—as wounded and
fragile, as accomplished and proud, as insignificant or
important—because all of these are passing way-stations in a human
lifetime. We are all of them, defined forever by none of them, and
always in a state of flux. Today, think about all the people who
have shaped you from birth until this very moment, and be grateful
for them. The potter is still at work, and there are all those
colorful glazes yet to come.
In the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment