Last month, the "no makeup selfie" challenge helped raise over $2-million toward cancer research. I posted mine, left, 10 days before the campaign went viral on both Facebook and Twitter. I was in a very sunny locale, hiking ancient burial mounds, leaving frigid New York far behind. And I don't just mean the weather....
Sometimes, you live in a place because it's where the Universal current sweeps you. Why would you allow that to happen? Well, if you've ever had the opportunity to swim in the ocean, you know that swimming against the current is futile. You expend tons of effort and energy, just to stay in the same place, and the moment you stop swimming, you're swept along anyway. Better to let the tides of the Universe move you where you need to be. Once you get there, it's up to you to sink or swim. Luckily, I'm a strong swimmer.
Being a strong swimmer doesn't mean my smile is always beaming. Quite the opposite. It means that I keep swimming, even when I don't want to. Which is more often than I care to admit. But the "no make up selfie" challenge goes beyond bare skin. It means baring your soul, too.
The mind gives up long before the body. It's the cardinal rule in survival. Once you learn this, nothing can prevent you from swimming to your next goal, not even an opposing current. Because, even when a current pushes you somewhere, you have the ability to make a decision: Go with the flow. Conserve your energy. And at the next opportunity, swim like Hell....
Humanity's search for an illusory state of permanence is what slows us down.
Permanence is a fairy tale. Every millisecond, you are changing. To expect that everything else would stay the same borders on psychosis. The human psychosis. And in the last few days alone, there are plenty of examples.
In the great State of Georgia, just north of Atlanta, a teenager who didn't get the time off he wanted went to work the next day with gun. He shot six people before killing himself. That sounds like insanity, doesn't it? But this young man had certain expectations. Expectations are based on an artificial sense of permanency. When those expectations were not met, it meant a lack of permanence that this teen was ill-equipped to cope with.
Stubbornly clinging to permanence makes a human being a danger to themselves and others. It doesn't mean you can't look forward to waking up and seeing the Sun shining. For the moment, every day you awaken, the Sun will be shining...even if you can't see it because of cloud cover. But one day, our beautiful Sun will end. It will be a long time from now, and when it happens, like the legend of the phoenix, from the ashes of that magnificent explosion, whole new worlds will be created. Even a new Sun. That is a permanently affixed rule: The end always ushers in new beginnings....
Embrace change! Your character, or your soul, is made bare when you do. Don't let a false sense of permanence distract you from something much, much better: You. You have the tools. We all do. It's in our very DNA. No matter what excuses your mind provides, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's all you have to do to effectively deal with a lack of permanence in your life, also known as "change."
Trust yourself. If you don't, how can you expect anyone else to?
Learn more about "no make up selfie" challenge:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/21/no-makeup-selfie-campaign-facebook
Learn more about the *shooting in Georgia:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/us/fedex-shooting-atlanta.html?_r=0
*Prayers to the victims, their families, friends, and to all those involved....
Sometimes, you live in a place because it's where the Universal current sweeps you. Why would you allow that to happen? Well, if you've ever had the opportunity to swim in the ocean, you know that swimming against the current is futile. You expend tons of effort and energy, just to stay in the same place, and the moment you stop swimming, you're swept along anyway. Better to let the tides of the Universe move you where you need to be. Once you get there, it's up to you to sink or swim. Luckily, I'm a strong swimmer.
Being a strong swimmer doesn't mean my smile is always beaming. Quite the opposite. It means that I keep swimming, even when I don't want to. Which is more often than I care to admit. But the "no make up selfie" challenge goes beyond bare skin. It means baring your soul, too.
The mind gives up long before the body. It's the cardinal rule in survival. Once you learn this, nothing can prevent you from swimming to your next goal, not even an opposing current. Because, even when a current pushes you somewhere, you have the ability to make a decision: Go with the flow. Conserve your energy. And at the next opportunity, swim like Hell....
Humanity's search for an illusory state of permanence is what slows us down.
Permanence is a fairy tale. Every millisecond, you are changing. To expect that everything else would stay the same borders on psychosis. The human psychosis. And in the last few days alone, there are plenty of examples.
In the great State of Georgia, just north of Atlanta, a teenager who didn't get the time off he wanted went to work the next day with gun. He shot six people before killing himself. That sounds like insanity, doesn't it? But this young man had certain expectations. Expectations are based on an artificial sense of permanency. When those expectations were not met, it meant a lack of permanence that this teen was ill-equipped to cope with.
Stubbornly clinging to permanence makes a human being a danger to themselves and others. It doesn't mean you can't look forward to waking up and seeing the Sun shining. For the moment, every day you awaken, the Sun will be shining...even if you can't see it because of cloud cover. But one day, our beautiful Sun will end. It will be a long time from now, and when it happens, like the legend of the phoenix, from the ashes of that magnificent explosion, whole new worlds will be created. Even a new Sun. That is a permanently affixed rule: The end always ushers in new beginnings....
Embrace change! Your character, or your soul, is made bare when you do. Don't let a false sense of permanence distract you from something much, much better: You. You have the tools. We all do. It's in our very DNA. No matter what excuses your mind provides, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's all you have to do to effectively deal with a lack of permanence in your life, also known as "change."
Trust yourself. If you don't, how can you expect anyone else to?
Learn more about "no make up selfie" challenge:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/21/no-makeup-selfie-campaign-facebook
Learn more about the *shooting in Georgia:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/us/fedex-shooting-atlanta.html?_r=0
*Prayers to the victims, their families, friends, and to all those involved....
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