Be THAT Person

For week twenty-nine in Scribbled Lives we were asked to utilize words of wisdom from Rumi. There are thousands of options here, and when I read this one it stuck out for me. The ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing bring out such strong options. I wanted to illustrate that point by writing the words in non-traditional lettering, maybe even more wrong than right, and finish the phrase “out beyond”. The smear were not intentional, yet they work with this piece.

Right and wrong, wrong and right. We have these instilled into us at an early age. For safety reasons, for the ability to exist in our society, for the continuation of traditions and beliefs, AND we are taught that conformity in normal. As we grow up, mature, learn and begin to decipher our own beliefs, we realize that what we were taught as right and wrong may be more grey than black and white. As we investigate what we want to believe not just what we were told to believe, we form our own opinions which may or may not coexist with our childhood learnings.

One day we have a thought that feels counter to who we have been brought up to be, and that is both frightening and liberating at the same time. The world did not collapse or fall apart because we think differently than how we were taught. WHAT? How is that possible? We sometimes call this teenage rebellion…yet it doesn’t only happen to teenagers. Revelation comes to us in all sorts of situations in life. We face who we are now and who we want to be and believe moving forward, which makes our mind bend and our personal self come alive. This doesn’t mean mid-life crisis, quitting a corporate job to open a cactus store; nor does it mean we are going to live out our days in rebellion. It means we are exercising the courage to think for ourselves and challenge or support what we have been taught IN ORDER to move forward with more confidence, more passion, and more joy.

The bonus kicks in when we find other people who also have learned to become and think for themselves. They too have faced the wrong and right of this world and have chosen to package it for themselves in such a way that they can truly be who they were meant to be. These are the comrades in life, the friends, the confidants, the trusted advisors. They are the real treasures in life and are always willing to meet you where you are…even if it is in that field beyond the wrongdoing and the rightdoing.

If you do not have these people, find them quickly! Seek them out and share your learning’s with them then listen as they share theirs in return. For it is the people in our lives that make it matter most NOT the wrong or the right. Go find your people and above all, BE that person to the people in your life.