First I have to ask - do you ever go back & see if comments have been posted on the most recent blogs? Today I posted 2 interesting comments to Thursday's blog. One is from someone in my soul family who sent me an email in response to the blog & gave me permission to post his comments. He has some interesting & slightly (to not slightly) differing views on the subjects. Then I also posted my reply to his response. If you have any interest in the topics of soul mates, soul families, & twin flames, it's worth going back to read what he had to say.
And that last paragraph mirrors what this blog is about. I know some of you read & enjoy these blogs, find them of value, at least enough to take your time sometimes & read them. That's more than I do with the blogs of most others. The only one I regularly read is my daughter's. I take myself seriously enough to know that I'm given some things to value to pass on & teach & usually a good way to say the things. I take myself seriously enough to dedicate the hour a day it takes to write them, 5 days a week (except for holidays). I don't take myself so seriously that I believe they're vital for any of you, that I don't feel I can take weekends or holidays off. My work ethic & training is that consistency matters. God took over this blog (most days) close to a year ago & my job is to show up & listen & do it. I take all that seriously. But sometimes the topics are way less serious, & those are way more me than Him. But you know what, He has a sense of humor about Himself & us too. God has a hugely great sense of humor. Where do you think we got it?
We need to take ourselves seriously enough to believe in ourselves, our talents & gifts, our abilities & our work. To not believe in ourselves is to hold back & usually fail from lack of trying or wholehearted effort. What about those who try to tell you that you're not good enough? That can be the worst or best thing to happen to you, depending on what you do with it. If you get mad & decide to get good enough, that's great. Maybe that's just what you needed to get there. If you could have been & gave up because someone pronounced judgment on you, how very sad. Unless you went on to be something else more needed & more fulfilling to you. The real red flags are those who tell you that you're not good enough along with a boastful message of "look at me, I'm the real deal." Some self promotion is one thing, & needed in this society unless you have someone to do it for you. (Think of all those political ads on TV. Some involve the politician telling what's so great about him/her. Others have someone else saying it. Most candidates have both kinds of ads out there.) But if self promotion is included in a negative message about you, please understand that the whole message has been invalidated. Where there's self promotion with a negative message, there's ego driving it, & jealousy.
The best way not to get into ego & jealousy is to not take yourself too seriously. There are very few Mother Teresas (or fill in the name of an all-time great you most admire) here on earth. And who knows what she was like as a child. She might have gone through "the terrible two's" too. We're human. Chances are you're not Monet. Doesn't mean you shouldn't paint. Does mean you shouldn't expect perfection or think you're the be all, end all. One effect of taking yourself too seriously is negatively judging others. Another is negatively judging yourself. Another is getting stuck in fear & therefore not trying. I only painted 1 painting from the time I was 14 until I was about 50 despite the fact that I wanted to paint so badly that I took hundreds of photos of things I wanted to paint. But I was afraid I wouldn't be able to paint the way I envisioned things & so didn't try. When I finally did try, I was right. I wasn't able to paint what I was envisioning. I took group lessons for about 2 years & mostly only painted in class. I took private lessons for about a year with the same teacher, during that time. I seriously went about learning & developing. But I learned to have fun with it after awhile, rather than take it too seriously. As soon as I did that, my style began to emerge! And I was finally just really having fun with it. When I get too locked into the outcome (take myself too seriously in it) I don't paint & when I decide to just let it flow & accept what comes I have a great time & enjoy the results.
These lessons apply to all of us in all situations. There's nothing that can't benefit from some perspective & humor. Even arguments benefit. I can remember arguments with my kids & with at least one former spouse that ended in laughter. Usually it was me who suddenly saw the humor in arguing over whatever it was, & burst out laughing. That stops an argument on the spot. At first the other person is stunned but not angry any more, because genuine laughter (vs. ridicule) is unmistakable, & contagious. Once you tell him or her why you're laughing, see the humor, he or she does too & the argument is over. Usually you find that it was nothing that mattered, making something out of nothing, or that you're both basically saying the same thing in a different way. Conversely, we must take ourselves seriously enough to have the confidence we need to make big things happen. You wouldn't be reading this if Thomas Edison hadn't invented the light bulb & Al Gore hadn't invented the internet. Wait! If Thomas Edison hadn't invented the light bulb, someone else would have. No one person is essential, including me & you. And Al Gore is an example of someone who seems to take himself way too seriously. We know he didn't invent the internet! So take yourself seriously enough to do the best you can, be the best you that you can be. But not so seriously that you lose perspective. There's someone else out there who's better than you & if you're putting yourself out there as THE authority or putting someone else down, that's the real truth about who you are - not so great after all, in any way. So toughen up when you need to, & let your light shine. But don't look at the sunlight or moonlight & think that's from you. Oh, & laugh at your mistakes, & over spilled milk. Laughter diffuses those situations just the same as arguments.
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