We often don’t think we are. Awesome. Or we vacillate between delusions of grandeur (“I’m king of the world!”) and downright self-annihilation. What if we just set the dial more in the middle? That pretty much all of us ”“ by being here on this planet, walking a walk (whichever one we’re on!) and doing the best we can with what we have right now makes each of us pretty remarkable. If you don’t believe it, remembering these simple facts might help you get there.
1) No one is thinking about you. Especially in this digital age where we’re bombarded with millions of data to process ”“ our brains compute 34 GB of information everyday, apparently. If we’re all being overwhelmed with digital downloads, we’re all constantly moving on to the next sound bite. Good to know. Everyone is just figuring their own shit out most of the time. Period.
2) No one has a free pass. It simply doesn’t matter how pretty or popular or how many millions of followers someone has ”“ everyone has to contend with his or her life through it all. The journey is a journey for each of us. Sometimes, people take detours. But believe me, in the long run, everyone in some way has to reconcile who they are and why they are here and what they are fundamentally doing with their life.
3). The stuff that goes “wrong” in your life isn’t wrong. Good isn’t always good or bad necessarily bad. The transmutation process of converting your suffering, your challenges, your setbacks into something sacred and learning how to sanctify all of it is the process of being alive. Life is not to be devoid of challenges. When we realize that and embrace the crunch ”“ then, and I believe really only then, does our life take on real meaning and purpose. And we discover, it’s all ultimately good in the big scheme of things.
4) Martin Sheen said this working with Francis Ford Coppola on Apocalypse Now ”“ “I remember complaining to Francis one day about my confusion about all that was going down. I said to him, ”˜I don’t know who this guy [the character] is. Who is this Willard?’ And Francis just looked me square in the eye and said, ”˜It’s you. Whoever you are, whatever we’re filming at the time. You are that character.’ ” Mic drop!
5) (Re-read the above quote again.) Then realize, if all we want ever ”“ is more of you ”“ then how could you ever be wrong?
6). Nothing is as it appears. Ever. Don’t get caught up in the way things seem to look. Like an iceberg, 2/3’s of the actual iceberg is under the surface.
7). As Anthony Hopkins’ character says in the film 360, “The fastest, most powerful prayer in the world, my friend, is fuck it.”
Amen.