The sun sets on another day…
Sunset was cold, wet, and less than perfect in vision, but in my mind I saw spectacular colors, and warm rays of an evening sun bathing the land with fiery incandescence. Cool huh?
Brief science 101, I know you will think this is weird so bear with me. The body schema represents both position and configuration of the body as a 3-dimensional object in space. A combination of sensory information, primarily tactile and visual, contributes to the representation of the limbs in space. With this in mind (literally) we see the world based on how our brain interprets it and we see ourselves the same way, even if it is not reality. We really don’t think about this and I learned how I was flawed in my brain and had to correct myself.
Science lesson over, well, kinda.
I was in a Kayak group with my family and pictures were taken years ago, later I looked at the pictures and almost gasped. “Who is that fat man?” I said to myself. I laughed and had a moment of self realization, I see myself as I feel and adapt, not as the world sees me. I guess I have always done so as I push envelopes others place on themselves. This puts me in review of who I am often, and that is just fine with me.
Massive reviews of myself have verified to me that I am me, and that instance were me as well, it was all valid, but this continually updating vision of me had to be revised more, or did it? Here is one point. Does your self vision have to match what the world sees? For that matter, is that external vision of you as important as the connection you have to you or with you?
I am sure someone will be saying “Of course, how other people see you is important!” but I have to question “Why?”. You are the only person who gets to define you, so why are you letting someone else decide how you look, act, react, interact, or just exist in the world? Sure, you have to know your limits and abilities but in some cases seeing a better you is a good thing. Getting rid of the worse you may also be a good thing. We have the ability to build a self image that can override, to some extent, what others see in favor of how we see and know ourselves. We have the ability to be more than others think we are. Funny thought huh?
The entire purpose of this post is: No one gets to decide you but you. My brain was right, I was still a young man, strong, able to keep up and push limits of people who were young but was that a flaw? I was who I was, and how the camera saw me was not as important as how I saw myself, right? Sure, I now find myself changing some thought habits (and some eating and exercise habits) but I was even more fascinated with self actualization and knew that my image of myself was as important as anything else floating around in everyone else’s minds.
I have been aware of this for some time and I often look at others and see past their self projections knowing their true self is somewhere inside. Finding it is a matter of peeling away layers through observation. Sometimes this is easy, sometimes it is not. I see people in so many ways and a lot of them hide. I ask why over and over. I am reminded of the movie Beetlejuice when Lydia is trying to look under the sheets and asks “Are you night of the living dead under there?” Why hide under the sheets at all? Maybe what I am trying to say is, let people see you as you are and see them as they are.
Ouch, right? If people see who I am they can hurt me. No one will like the real me. I have to hide behind my three masks. I am an introvert and I need to hide from people by staying in the background. I am an extrovert and I need to hide by staying in the foreground. Wow, this could take a while, I will stop and say isn’t it time we show who we are? If we define ourselves can’t we stop worrying about the worlds opinion of us and start worrying about how we see ourselves?
Perhaps we need to take a self assessment. I like this one. Do I like me? (Why or why not?) Is this me? (Why or why not?) Should I change me? (Why or why not?) With that in mind perhaps get a better picture of yourself and decide how to proceed. You might just be amazed at how it could open your mind.
I think I will stop here as I wrote a bunch more, copied it out, and now need to reread this mess. (Funny huh)
So as the sun sets on another day, how you fit in the world is up to you. How you fit within your mind is only up to you. Be the you that you want to be and find a fantastic way to a super relationship with yourself. Only you can set your standards, and in the end, only you will know you. Know you, be you, and be true to you, no mater what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and be you…