The Rusty Truster

The Rusty Truster

Okay, here’s the idea-kick I’ve been on lately:  We live the life we are committed to. Look around you and you will see your commitments.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that concept gave me a fresh outlook, and has helped me refocus my thinking.

One of the very curious things about living is that we are so often right in the middle of it that we can’t see what’s around us. Finding ways to get some perspective is enlightening and useful.

Those of us committed to wealth are wealthy. Those of us committed to advancement are advancing. Committed to stuff? You got stuff. Committed to joy? You got joy. Committed to suffering, well, you’ve got the idea.

Some of us are committed to hiding our light. Isn’t that sad? When each of us is special, when each of us has unique gifts that the world needs, hiding our light isn’t very useful. It takes up a lot of energy we could be using to have fun, or be helpful, or some other worthwhile or enjoyable thing.

One of the side effects of light-hiding is that we start to believe that we don’t even have a light to shine. Our self-esteem suffers. We start making self-deprecating comments to others. We don’t challenge ourselves. We underachieve, we waste our potential.

Depending on what path our light-hiding takes, we can begin to bury ourselves. It might be with over-committing to our families, or our jobs, or it might be weight-gain, or too much stuff. The more we hide our true selves, the more insecure we feel, and the less we trust.

Not trusting gets us in big trouble. When our trusting apparatus gets rusty, we can’t let go. The rustier it gets, the more stuff we can’t let go of. I’m not just talking about renting storage units filled with crap you may never use again, although that’s a $22 BILLION business.

Not letting go of body clutter, not letting go of resentments, not letting go of tasks, not letting go.

So then, in order to hold on, to hold the bushel basket over our light, so to speak, we have to tighten up. And we get chronic muscle pain, and poor circulation, and headaches, and gut aches, and...

By recognizing our importance, by letting ourselves matter, we start to soften a bit. We can begin to trust a bit. We can let go a bit. We may find that we don’t have to do it all by ourselves, or that the weight comes off, or the clutter leaves. We find that we can actually relax doing nice stuff instead of just flopping down with the remote and a beer (which, oddly enough, isn’t actually relaxing to our bodies or minds, but is addictive.)

How have I changed from feeling like a dim bulb to shining for all I’m worth?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 02282013