My friend Patti Digh turns 50 soon, and as she nears the last month before the momentous occasion, she has launched a public and unflinching evaluation of what it is, exactly, she wishes to change in herself. She refers to it as breaking the patterns.
It is almost painful to read, her new blog in which she is creating daily entries, not out of fear I would learn something about Patti which would be awful, but because Patti is detailing stuff which a great many of us--me, in particular--share as life challenges...share as old patterns which really don't serve anyone well.
My problem is, I passed 50 some years back. That could mean I really need to get it in gear if I'm going to get myself ready for the life I am destined to lead, the one where I'm fully and confidently stepping into each day with arms wide open to embrace the magic, and eyes wide open to see the magic in the mundane.
Or, it could mean I need to go a bit easier on myself and flow toward that person I am becoming. Yeah...I think that's more likely.
Go see what Patti has to say. If anything, it is even more compelling than is her 37days blog, a long-time favorite of mine.
A recurring theme which Patti and I have talked about a number of times is that of the "playing small" issue. There can be a hundred excuses behind it, but the bottom line is that no one is served when we play small. That doesn't mean we have to seek the opposite extreme where ego and arrogance are left in charge.
So, once more, I confirm my avowed and heartfelt intention to play me. Not small, not big, just me. I'm calling it NMPS (No More Playing Small) because, for me, it is by far a more prevalent problem than is the flip side.
It is delightful that youngsters such as Patti are showing me the way, the little tykes, those.
10 comments:
Thanks for passing this along. As a 47ish person, I find this interesting.
Wow.
I thought about that when my hub was dying, although he had six months. Still not long. It is sobering to consider what I would do if I had six months to live. I'd already written most of my life's memories or mémoires by that time, which made me doubly glad I'd started years earlier. And I had said that my reason was so my children and grandchildren would know why I was who I was. It is so important, and I've tried to explain that to others along the path of my journey. I hope they've heard.
Laura, I hope your foot is now safe from further damage and has started on the road to recovery!
Lynilu--it is a gift to offer your offspring and theirs, what you describe in writing of the events which made you into who you are.
Thanks for stopping by, ladies!
Patti's blog looks interesting, thanks for the point. I especially like the breaking the pattern concept.
Her blog, 37days, is rich with hundreds of insightful essays, Fred. In fact, her first book and her second (and there are rumors already of a third) are principally drawn from her blog.
This pattern-breaking new blog, the one her name links to in this post of mine, is one I don't yet know the future of. I don't know if she plans to keep going with it after she turns 50 next month or not.
Thanks for stopping by, Fred!
I'd say go easy and go with the flow... That's not incompatible with not playing small... the opposite really. It's how we can let ourselves be who we are *really* meant to be (said as someone who is still hopeless at going with the flow ;-) )
Rick, me too! It feels like that is the pattern I am starting to break free from just a little bit now. No more playing small. It's okay to be who I am. It's okay to have a brain. I adore that Williamson poem, especially, "There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."
Yes, Joanna, flowing gently toward a new vantage point...that's it.
Kelly, I love that Marianne Williamson, too. Check out this video, two people who do the signing version of the poem. Beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxRLhn188mI&NR=1
oh i'm intrigued.. on over to read what's over there..
cheers
Thanks for visiting, Shelby, and enjoy your sojourn to Patti's site.
Little known fact: my dad and his peeps going back several generations are from Shelby, NC.
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