So we all have a desire to be seen. To know that we’re being listened to, that we matter. It’s part of the human condition. Condition(ing) being the key.
Perhaps it all began a long time ago, or short time ago considering how many years you’ve been on the planet. You took your first steps, or spoke your first word, and then suddenly you’re a circus poodle.
Upon the arrival of every friend and relative your parents, whose intent was most likely innocent, demanded that you do it again. “Can you do it for Uncle John”, “Come on, you did it this morning”, “You can do it”.
And there you have it. The beginning of life as circus poodle, being picked up and put down as others desire, and the uphill battle of “putting it on” every day, no matter what, begins. As a child, a teen and an adult.
And you just keep getting better at it.
Until one day it all falls apart. You walk by the mirror and you barely recognize the person you’re looking at. You’ve been so wrapped up in the act, you’ve forgotten who you are.
And your journey home begins.
Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, there you are following the yellow brick road to see the Wizard or as presented in life as we know it; the guru, life or spiritual coach. You believe with all of your heart that he or she has the answers you’re looking for. That somehow they know the way home.
But they don’t, most of them charlatans like the Wizard himself, they are just as lost as you are. They got wrapped up in the circus as well, only to find themselves at the top of a charade that for the time being is sustaining their desire to be seen.
They may have the whole “Emerald City” but there’s one thing they haven’t got, Courage.
Most importantly, the courage to be themselves.
As the great Maya Angelou once said “Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently”
Truth.
Without the courage to be yourself nothing in your life will ever work out. Whether you’ve “made it” to “the top” or not. It’s all perspective.
The top for me is having the courage to show up as me, 100%, all in, not matter what. And that I don’t crumble to others versions of what that’s supposed to look like just to be seen.
If you trade yourself to be the circus poodle or The Wizard, you’ll lose yourself in the process, and besides, the world has enough charlatan’s, what the world needs now is people who have come alive, fully themselves, all in, whatever that looks like, as long as it’s truly who you are.
So, in the words of the great Sufi Poet Rumi “Tear off the mask. Your face is glorious.”
Written by Shayne Traviss
Sometime’s growth involves digging up the dirt and planting anew… After over 20 years of marketing, promoting and producing others Shayne Traviss decided to open a new chapter in his life. If you long to go higher, live a life ‘all in’ join him as he dives in deep sharing his life experiences, travels and inspirations for living a VividLife.
