That stuff ain’t pretty
Hush to the folks who house their minds in small rooms with no light.
Those with dogged opinions and aggressive ideals… this is your cue to take a look at your own humanity and heart, instead of dishing out stale barbed wire, judgement bile.
That stuff ain’t pretty and it grows nobody, including you.
For those impacted by the shrunken ones, let me assure you not to be dismayed or discouraged if your well intentioned efforts, support or beliefs are mocked or attacked.
It’s that sadly familiar, repetitive, and often ‘learned’ behaviour for some folk to be negative and fearful in the face of someone else’s beliefs, victory or stance.
Don’t waste time or energies looking at those throwing stones from glass houses.
Your purpose and passion is a much stronger force, and it’s moving in the right direction.
Keep your eyes forward and your head high.
And as John Lydgate said…
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
Don’t divvy up your soul trying to please or appease all.
Keep on steering…
You were born to become YOU.
Footwear, roles or people, if they hurt you they’re not your size.
Live out loud.
You have a right to be here and you matter.
Forward we go,
Dr Lynika
#liveyourlife #blogger #newblogpost
You CAN do something
Be a light for others.
It’s all good and well to post memes and quotes about right action and helping others less fortunate or capable…
But it’s another thing to take action and actually help.
No dollar is too small, only the one not given.
No kind word is useless except for the one not spoken.
No donation of clothing, socks or blankets goes unnoticed except for those shivering on the streets or in poverty without receiving them.
Anything you give matters to the one in desperate need of it.
Memes alone don’t keep people warm, they don’t protect children or donate on your behalf.
Please take the small amount of time it takes to ACT on the topics you talk and post about.
There are so many ways you CAN make a real difference, right now.
BE for others the hands you’d want most in your life if it were your time in need.
There is no separation, no “other people’s children” or “other people’s struggle”
You can’t do it all but you can do something.
Do that something now.
Together, giving what we can, where we can, we stand for all.
Be your integrity not a meme of it.
It’s not too late
Your life isn’t a practice run…
It’s right here, right now.
Each and every moment is turning into a memory.
Saturate them.
Play the leading role you were given, with all your heart and gusto.
Leave nothing to waste,
dive all the way in,
widen your beliefs to match the possibilities that call to you.
Back yourself 100%
You came here to be YOU.
Live out loud and embrace your life for the fierce, brief miracle it is.
It’s not too late.
Your future self will rise with gratitude for the irreplaceable gifts you create by living wide and deep now.
Own your life.
This world needs your light.
What are you going to do with all that dark?
Find a way to glow in it…
Why?
Because that’s what you do in the dark, you find the light…
you find the smallest speck and you grow it…
and then you exude that light,
and then you shine it everywhere so that others can find the light inside themselves,
and realise their fierce right to own it.
Shine fierce.
Anyone who wants to complain can wear shades in the back row.
Whoever wants you to play small, is too small for you.
Own it.
You matter.
Learn to read them
Emotions and feelings are guideposts, important messengers.
They’re really the answers within you, every time.
They’re a built in compass that save you enormous time, money, effort and energy.
Many people try to avoid uncomfortable feelings like the plague.
They want them to go away or be ‘fixed’ but the truth is…
emotions are there for a powerful reason, and their enormous worth and value are all too often overlooked.
It’s like turning down a valuable gift that you really need…
all because you don’t like the packaging.
But the quicker you get the packaging off, the quicker you uncover the gifts and are able to use them.
When you lean into the feeling instead, and listen to it,
you become more empowered,
switched on,
and energised.
Because you find out exactly what’s going on.
Emotions will tell you where you’re depleted or weakened,
and what needs changing.
They’ll tell you if a boundary of yours has been compromised,
and what steps and decisions you need to make.
The additional bonus is you get to know yourself in ways you never knew before.
This leads to greater empowerment, clarity and groundedness.
It makes you much less likely to be tripped up and waylaid by someone else’s ideas of what you need.
It gets you in tune with your own inner compass.
It gets you moving from stuck… to momentum.
Pay attention to your feelings and lean in…
You WERE born with a compass,
a manual…
and your emotions are a big part of the instructions.
Learn to read them.
Roll the dice a hundred and one
It’s ultimately not about losing or winning, it’s casting your roll again and again.
That’s where you’ll find yourself breathing the fullest, that’s where you find yourself living out loud.
No matter what happens, get up and roll again…
As Rumi said – “Your life has been a mad gamble. Make it more so. You have lost now a hundred times running. Roll the dice a hundred and one.”
Don’t stay in one repeat episode
These moments are your life…
Live them in new ways…
Climb out the other side of the bed each morning.
Don’t reach for your phone right away, let your soul come back all the way first.
Notice small things, kneel in the garden, the park, watch the tiny worlds living amongst the grass.
Remember how your heart beats for you each day, take deep breaths in return.
Work in a different room or corner of your home.
If you don’t work or you work for someone else, carry a stone or scrap of paper in your pocket with something valuable written on it.
It can be a quote,
a word,
a wish,
your name…
Remember your world is bigger than 4 walls and it calls to you.
Eat outside.
Help someone.
Love the miracle of being here, alive, playing yourself for a short time on this magnificent stage.
Love your character.
Write it new lines.
Remember to let it laugh, weep, dance, fall down, get up, love.
Think outside the old lines.
Don’t stay in one repeat episode.
This day isn’t a rehearsal for something ‘better’ up ahead.
Walk into new rooms, make new chapters.
Own your moments, your life is made of these.
Occupy them.
Our time here is brief.
Live it wild, w i d e, open and deep.
You didn’t come here to fold yourself into a corner
The stress and fatigue live in the hesitation, the what if’s, the fear.
If you wanted a sign, this is it.
Whether entering or leaving, go there with ALL of you.
Back yourself, believe in yourself and do it in motion.
That means feeding yourself, staying hydrated, giving your mind a diet of support.
Walking through a door takes guts, that’s something to respect.
It’s a fierce act to live out loud in your life, to turn the door handle, to take that step.
But it’s what you were born for.
You didn’t come here to fold yourself into a corner.
You came here to become you.
Fear is a misspelling of fuel. Use the energy and move.
Take the step.
Your body knows, your gut knows, your evolution calls your name.
Go there with ALL of you.
You’re not broken, you’re wounded and therein lies your key.
Being ‘broken’ is a sadly common phrase, too easily picked up and worn like a final statement.
The truth is you’re not broken. You’re wounded. And realising this makes for more self compassion, more recognition of the places that need healing.
And ultimately realising you’re wounded instead of broken, gives you the key to knowing what you need right now, right here, this moment and then the next.
Being wounded offers a trail instead of a dead end.
It offers hope instead of finality.
And most of all it offers validation for the things you have faced and are facing.
When something is ‘broken’ it’s no longer of use, it usually means discarding and finality.
When something is wounded, it warrants care and tending.
It invites understanding, support, hope and patience. Most importantly from yourself to yourself.
The key is in owning the wounded self, it’s in hearing what that self needs and where it needs it most.
In time the wound becomes the key that leads you out.
I see you.
Keep going.
Playing small offers no favour to this world
Those who work hard and invest in themselves do so to stay in the world stronger and longer for the people they love, and for all those they will inspire and encourage as a result.
Playing small offers no favour to this world.
Do not quit or be guilted about self-investment.
This is your LIFE and legacy at stake and nobody has the right to throw opinionated rocks at you, nor distract you with fear-soaked ‘cotton wool’ limits.
If you’re operating from reason and integrity then you must play all out for yourself.
It’s the only way to authentically reach the platform where you can go all out for others.
The more you make of yourself the more you genuinely have to offer.
“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.”
― Michael Jordan
Great minds think alike, so rise up like Baruch, Michael and I, and countless others who have held fierce to their life, and don’t EVER allow yourself to be shamed out of creating your greatest self, your legacy.
You were born for this.
Dr Lynika Cruz