As I ease into 2018 I’ve been in quite a pensive mood. I’ve attempted to be slightly more deliberate about setting intentions for this year but equally as important is the endeavour of self-reflection about what it is that motivates me to begin with.
Late last year Elephant Journal published an article which pushed me to think beyond the factors that lay only at the surface. The piece focused on intentionally turning within to ask ourselves a set of deeply personal yet penetrative questions in an attempt to refocus energy for the journey ahead through reflection of our key motivating factors.
So today I am choosing to share my responses to some of these questions in the hope that you will do the same.
- What is my authentic voice?
My authentic voice is literally screaming for justice, love, tolerance and the eradication of all kinds of discrimination based on any elements of hate. Hate being the anti-thesis of love and the driver of cruelty.
- Where can I showcase my pioneering spirit?
Within my writing, within my work in international development. I am a fighter, an activist and a purist that genuinely believes in the power of love. I believe in humanity but I fight to better it through raising the awareness of others and being a mirror in which all can question their core values and ideals.
- How can I summon my inner fire to begin?
This has really prompted me to think about what it is that I draw on to spark action and change in my life. Of late I’ve been asking myself what exactly is the element what motivates and inspires me, and deeper than this what is it that I live for, why am I fighting? The immediate and most simple answer I can provide is love.
Love is the thing that pushes me to act, that forces me to stand up to injustice. It is the thing that I get out of bed for every damn day and spurs me into action. This is not necessarily the romantic love that most people are familiar with, it’s the deep seated love born out of a connection to humanity.
It’s that feeling you get that tells you to be kind, to inspire, to enact change. It’s that all encompassing sensation of a bond fixed at birth with every element of nature, with human beings and with every living thing is this wondrous planet.
Love spurs the pursuit of the building of a more just, humane and equal version of this existence. It pushes us to look beyond the perceivably tainted. It teaches us about the kind of tolerance and acceptance that is at the heart of the emotion and pushes us all to be kinder and forgive more.
- How can I honour my own individual, independent spirit?
I have to be true to myself. In all honesty I have tried to live life differently. I’ve attempted to be like everyone else to pursue things that society deems are appropriate. But in every single one I have been miserable. As if deep down my soul always knew that those things were never for me in the first place.
Just like all of you reading this right now, I have made the mistake of assessing my progress against a misplaced and unfair judgment. This has usually been rooted in the outside looking in approach of comparing my life to someone else’s. However if I were to ask myself, and I mean truly ask, do I even want those things… the answer more often than not is no.
I choose to live life the way that is right for me. I’ve stopped even attempting to justify myself or my circumstance to anyone because in all honesty it doesn’t matter what they think. That external person won’t be the one living my life, that responsibility rests firmly on my shoulders and my goodness I’d rather live a life based on what I want as opposed to that of someone else’s misaligned expectations.
- Do I have the courage to stand on my own?
I do, I always have. I don’t think I’ve given myself enough credit for this in the past. In spite of everything, perceived failures and harsh judgment from others I have stuck to my course. I have never once been tempted to stray from it. After every hit I have taken I may have stumbled and fallen but I have always gotten back up and continued from where I left off. Yes perhaps more visibly and emotionally scarred but far more resilient and courageous than I was before.
Sx
I blog for Change. 