I've had some interesting, enlightening and amusing conversations this past week, with reference to the last "I really liked your blog post, by the way."
"Oh really? Thank you. Which post?"
"Um...the one that said you don't always do the Monday posts on Mondays."
"You mean the love one?"
"Um...I'm not sure."
Okay, I have to admit that beside and beyond the fact that my friend amused me by having no idea the subject of the post she enjoyed so much, it brought to mind an interesting thought. Everyone sees the experience of life differently, even when we all look at the same experience.
After all, the questions I've been facing as I've "turned the pages" of Christine Morgan's book (I happened to have the electronic edition), have an entirely different perspective for me, than they would for you, or anyone else. We each face the world with different experience, and different personalities, which give us different perspectives. The way you see the world is just as valid as the way I see it, because they both come from interpretations based on different things. It's really only when we forget it, that serious conflicts occur, I think.
Unlike certain other Monday posts, I've not started this one avoiding answering. ;) Actually, my point so far happens to sit quite easily beside Christine's book entry for this week on my journey. Week 8 provides, in addition to the rest of her insights:
"You are here to enrich the world,
and you impoverish yourself if you
forget the errand."
~ Woodrow Wilson
"...you have something rich to share with the world.
When we forget to share our gifts with others, we all lose."
And her question:
What can you do to enrich the world in some small way this week?
What? Why are you looking at me like that? Isn't it obvious?
It isn't? *scratches head*
Hmm...
Well, I think what I meant, is that one thing that keeps us from sharing our gifts, is the fear that our perspective, and interpretation, of the world around us won't be accepted. And another fear, that not only will our view of the world be rejected, and the gifts we might offer as well, but so will we. Humans are social creatures for a reason: we need to be loved, accepted and of course assisted from time to time. To risk losing that, especially from those we love/respect/trust/admire, can be more than sometimes we are willing to face. It can frighten us to be vulnerable, especially if we have had that rewarded with any form of actual or perceived rejection, and whatever we might give, be it tangible or otherwise, must open us to some level of vulnerability in order to be offered.
So far, my answer to this week's challenge might seem a bit backward, perhaps? All I've said is the reason we might not share. Of course, we must all face the idea that we actually *have* something to give, of which many of us have grown up with serious doubt. I could go on about it being pointless and holding us back, but that isn't the point of this post, and goodness knows there are enough sources of uplifting and encouraging messages out there! In fact, this really isn't about how we can share our own gifts, at all, which sounds even more backward, but since when have I taken the traditional way around? ;)
So what can I do to enrich the world, this week? What can any of us do?
I think that even if we don't feel like we have anything else of value to offer the world, we can at least do one thing, and it can be as valuable as anything else we might have in our grasp: we can uplift and encourage others around us to share *their* gifts. After all, it is a beautiful thing that we each have something different to give; and various, valuable perspectives! It is a great and tender gift, to feel that someone else values what we have to offer.
Believe me, I know this to be one of the greatest truths in the world! In fact, another conversation I've had this week came in the form of another, sweet compliment I received from another, dear friend. I had admitted to her how I've been feeling really intimidated by the Project, as it grows, changes and develops. My life experience has taught me to be rather timid and afraid of accomplishment, for various reasons, so my "natural" response to such incredible support - not just by close friends and/or family, but by so many people I don't even know - is fear. Make that something just short of terror, at times!
This beautiful friend let me tell her my fears - lately, my feelings of inadequacy in relation to many of those whose posts I've shared through PB on Facebook. These are phenomenal thinkers, professional artists, authors, poets... so many people with such well-established credentials - advanced degrees, longstanding careers, skills and so many other things that have me feeling like the little kid trying to play at the Big Kid Table!
I can accept that I am not a total idiot, by any means, but there isn't exactly a paper list of things that make my life's experience worth anything on the "market", so to speak. All the infinite, broad-spectrum potential that people thought I had when I was young, seems to have been squashed by both my internal and external circumstances. My experience has made me seem more of a "Jack of All Trades; Master of None". Perhaps I inherited a parent's inferiority complex, after all! I know I have completely fulfilled the prophecies I grew up receiving through that means, though by routes nobody could have seen coming!
Wait - am I saying that the PB Project
is actually just an expression of a not-quite-mid-life crisis?!
AAAAaaaaAAAAaaahhhhhhh!!!
(*cue dramatic realization music*)
Okay, that's a painful and embarrassing topic for another day. *blushes deeply* Moving on...
The point I was trying to make, before I digressed so unflatteringly, was that my friend was so kind to hear me out, and then gave me a lovely reply. In her loving way, she expressed her support, counseled me against allowing those feelings to rule me, and reminded me that life experience can be as valid as those things one would see on paper. She didn't say anything that I've not heard (and even said) before...but it was because I could feel her honest concern and support, that her words had much more strength than they might otherwise have had. It was her love that made all the difference. Given I've had people tell me what I'm doing is making a difference for them, it was a wonderful gift that this friend gave me, because it is that kind of love that allows me to share my own with others.
In other words: What can you do to enrich the world in some small way this week? How about trying to uplift and support someone else? You never know what such a small act could do for someone who might have hidden fears or weaknesses. Even if it seems a small thing to you, it could mean everything for someone who could take that small amount of positive energy and make it ripple outward in ways and directions you might never imagine possible!
I wonder if it's possible for me to answer a question with fewer than 10 paragraphs? It might keep people from giving up, halfway through. Perhaps I need to work on that. In the meantime, we'll have to work on helping others work on whatever they're working on, hmm? ;)
Better days ahead, my friends.
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