We live in a society that lauds the achievement of the few. In fact we could even say that with the advent of social media and pulp programming we are living in a society where we laud the celebrity who hasn’t achieved anything of note or any given any measured contribution to society. Our networks are full of people who look a certain way, earn a certain amount or say a certain thing. None of which contributes to the collective good. Despite the constant messages that the world is evil, or we are all at war killing each other I am of the firm belief that we as a collective are far more caring and sharing then we let ourselves believe.
In the film I Robot the main human character trying to convince an AI life form that humans are different, argues that the AI cannot paint a Sistine chapel or Mona Lisa or create a sculpture of David. The AI responds, can you? I could relate instantly to feeling of check mate. So often in my life before I managed to walk on a path of healing , I told myself a story that was dis-empowering. My story was one of stupidity, abandonment, and full of can’ts and out of my leagues and a complete lack of faith in my own abilities.
As a story teller and healer one of the other stories I heard was about a woman who asked Picasso to draw a sketch on her napkin. He took a minute and asked for an astronomical sum of money. The woman affronted stated that it had only taken him a minute, and his reply was , Yes but it took me a life time to learn how to do it in a minute. I began to understand the idea of self worth and a life time of experience. No matter who we consider, unless very exceptional prodigies, everyone has walked a path to their greatness. There are many who are powerful and giving in our society and they never make the media social or mass because their stories are neither scary or sexy enough.
Our stories , those ways of communicating that create our realities are crucial in defining who we are and what we can do. What story are you telling yourself today about your power or ability to be your best self? How often in your speech do you negate your abilities or not even realise the benefit of the experiences you have had. We are all living breathing thinking feeling human beings. We all have talents and abilities and some of us work at them some of us take them for granted and some of us are down right scared of the notion of success or greatness or achievement. What our society doesn’t show us is the path of life our heroes or celebrities had to take to get to where they are now. What it doesn’t do either is encourage us to be our best self. I want to encourage you. It doesn’t matter how small an act you do, how small a gesture. Remind yourself frequently you are capable, remind yourself frequently you are caring and remind yourself frequently that you are just one among nearly 8 billion. Surely if you can they can, or even surely if they can you can? Why not? Empower yourself today and tell your story that is positive and rewarding and use it to move forward.
Thanks for reading.