Over the last few days I have gradually started to realise the extent of how often I try to be someone or something I am not. The reasons are various: wanting to fit in, wanting to please, thinking that someone else is doing things better than me.
Whenever I am not as I would like myself to be, I will look outside myself for a model to copy.
Today I asked myself, “Why?“ Why do I want to be a copy of someone that is not me? Why do I try to create a copy, instead of feeling inspired to do my own thing, my way?
Could you imagine a famous artist copying a work of art by someone else? Of course they might, and due to experience and talent would be able to create something that would look as near to the original as could be, but it would lack its essence.
There are some artists that follow trends, or try to produce works that will sell well, but if you look at works of art that really have an impact on people over the course of centuries, you will often realise that it is not the perfection that sets them apart, but the unique expression of the artist who created them.
This unique expression is something we all have. It could, for example, be the way we see, do or sense things, the way we dress, how we do the garden, the way we connect with others, the amazing way in which we cook, how we bring people together. These gifts to us all, as a humanity, are endless.
Once we start to express freely, we will see how much of a difference we can make, as others may feel inspired to let go of their walls of protection and suddenly start to show sides that no one was allowed to see before.
When we bring together our different expressions and support each other to bring them, we can truly change the world. We are the only ones who are able to bring them, as no one else can bring them in the way we are able to, and only if everybody brings their piece of unique expression, will the puzzle be complete.
I do not need to copy anyone in anything. Be it to eat what others eat, dress like somebody else or carry out my job in the same way that somebody else would approach it. Not only do I not need to be like someone else, in fact I cannot become someone else. Even if I reach such a goal, I will feel no lasting joy or satisfaction, as it will not be me that I have found.
So, snuggling up under the blanket this morning, enjoying the warmth and the lightness in my body, I could deeply feel how I am fine as I am, just being me, and instead of making plans of what to do, or thinking about what most probably might need to be done, I felt into my body and instantly knew what I would love to do.
In this case this meant not rushing out of bed and getting to my desk to finish some computer work immediately, but instead, first of all, gently getting up, making my bed and preparing myself a cup of tea. I then dressed as I felt to and went for a short walk in the woods and when I sat down at my desk, suddenly the work that had been so challenging and time-consuming the days before was now finished in just more than an hour, because I had sat down with the joy from my walk and worked with focus and ease.
Approaching my day in this way involves much less effort, emotion and potential frustration – if any at all – rather than trying to copy an image of a certain situation or person which I would allow my mind to suggest, as it does not focus on a certain outcome, but starts from an openness.
Whatever I then express from my essence on the “white canvas” in front of me simply unfolds with ease and joy, as this allows and asks me to bring ‘me’ and my inner knowing to it, instead of fervently trying to produce a perfect copy of what I am not.
This simplicity and joy for me is art – the art of being me.
By Michael Kremer, Personal Assistant, Buchholz, Germany
Further Reading:
True Expression – Our Superpower!
Returning to our essence
Changing your life
