This piece was originally written in 2010 during my original “awakening” as an extended post on social media. Parts of it contain a negative tone, which I would not word things this way today. Embracing a negative tone only gives more energy to the negative, fueling that fire, and making it more likely to manifest into reality. Overall, the points made were worth posting the original, non-edited work. Thanks for reading!
I’m the type of person where if I hear a song and the lyrics are super-perfect for the moment, or something happens in that moment that is just too perfect to be a coincidence, I think it means something deeper. I always think there is a deeper meaning to things. I used to think this was all in my head, but I’ve found that it is actually a spiritual thing. These “coincidences” are signs, messages, etc. from the above (whatever you believe in: God, spirits, the “everything happens for a reason” theory, etc.).
Most people our age are not this connected but if you open your eyes, you’ll begin to notice these little signs and messages that are thrown at you every day. The accuracy of them and the ways that these little things match up will blow your mind. Another key to self-actualization is remembering. You’d be surprised what you forget about your life and yourself in a short period of time. You can’t know who you are on an intimate level without knowing and accepting your past (this means realizing and taking in both the good and the bad – even the parts that your mind may try to repress). How can you fully understand where you are in life if you don’t remember how you got there in the first place?
So many people are oblivious of the world around them and who have no desire to see the world for what it really is. So many people are too scared of the truth, too simple to be “stressed out” about politics or other important things in life (which may be negative or complex) and so they numb their minds with media, parties, Facebook, social trends, etc. Everyone wants the easy way out. People lie to themselves. They can’t face their emotions with confidence nor acceptance. Therefore, they can’t grow, can’t see the full picture. If they lie to themselves, then they lie to others.
In the end, some people only care about themselves. You may have many friends, but how many of them would give you the shirt off of their back if needed? Now, how many of them would give you the shirt off of their backs if they knew that you wouldn’t do the same? Yeah, THAT’S compassion, love, a true friend. But people would rather hide in their secure fantasy worlds of parties, texts, beer, clubbing, and ignore reality – ignore real love and true compassion because it’s too complex, too much work. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party, a refreshing drink at the bar, but you know the type of people I’m referring to – Hell, you yourself might be one of them. The type of people pointing out everyone else’s faults but as soon as you offer them constructive criticism they flake. The undependable, unreliable people. I want someone I can trust to be honest, real, and selfless even on their worst day. Really, what is wrong with society? Does maturity not exist anymore?
“Hurt people, hurt people.”
Verbally attacking others is merely a defense mechanism to lower those around you and exert a false sense of superiority for your own esteem-related preservation. People would be a lot happier, more productive, and obtain a sense of inner-peace and serenity more quickly if they didn’t let power phrases from these insecure people throw them off the beaten path. These insecure people could also realize their full potential – see that things like this only bring them down and corrode the remaining good qualities of their personalities – by ceasing to lie to themselves: Admit when they are wrong, man up when an apology is needed or when bite their tongues (choose your battles), stop running to clubs or parties to cover up their sorrows, stop hiding from important issues or problems (stop taking the ‘easy way out’), face their negative emotions with acceptance instead of using means of escapism to reach a faux feeling of ecstasy, and so on. By being honest with yourself, you will become more self-aware, content, humble, better able to handle yourself and, as a result, more efficiently go through the ebbs and flows of life. There’s no sense in having enemies or grudges when there’s more important things in life, goals to be met, dreams to be reached, and so on.
I hope someone actually read this. I also hope that someone actually takes this to heart and understands it. I hope that people will open their eyes, ears, minds, and hearts. I know that this sounds very liberal-hippie-kum-by-ya bullshit, but coming from a conservative republican: This is what’s up. Our society, our age group especially, needs more positive awakenings, strong and stable influences, and basically… More balls. Less hiding from themselves in clubs or someone else’s beds, and more embracing themselves, both the good and the bad. How can you have world peace without inner peace? How can you have a stable government with mass spiritual (not necessarily religious) instability? How can you have an opinion without really knowing?
Life repeats itself. A cycle, if you will. If you are in touch with your past, you will be better in touch with and more aware of your current self. If you realize that life does, in many ways repeat itself, you will be better prepared to handle it when it cycles back around. You will know what hasn’t worked in the past, what has worked, what you haven’t tried, and what to do to reach the outcome you desire. Experience is what you gain when you don’t get what you want out of something, when something doesn’t go “the right way.” Knowing that life repeats itself and being awake enough to realize when these cycles end and begin, you can make use of your experience and skill to manipulate the happenings and events to produce an outcome that fits to your best advantage. However, don’t rule out Murphy’s Law.
Gratitude is also an important key in realizing this level of spirituality. Always be gracious. On the days that it’s hard to stay positive relay back to your gratitude – What you are thankful for and the good things in life. I know, easier said than done, but take it from me when I tell you that the day you see a shooting star and instinctively say, “I wish… No, I’m thankful for ________. I have everything I need right here and I’m completely content right now,” you will feel absolutely amazing.
In conclusion, I thought that a lot of this was bullshit. You hear it all the time, “be thankful, be nice to others, blah blah blah,” but when your eyes finally open and you see the world for what it really is, yes you might be disgusted but this will also just come naturally. If you believe in God, self-actualization has a direct correlation with your relationship with God. If you don’t believe in God, you will still be surprised how amazingly different it feels to live like this. I can’t explain how it happened, it just clicked, everything made sense, but I do know that I am a lot happier now, a lot more aware of myself, what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I’m more humble and confident. I don’t let power phrases distract me. It’s a good feeling. I don’t know, I posted this and tagged those who I thought needed something like this or thought it would be interesting to read.
There’s so much more – this is only 1/100 of the story — but this satisfies my sudden urge to publicize my thoughts on this.
