Even when we are drowning in darkness,
Even when we find ourselves in a dire situation,
And no matter how much horror and chaos we may have experienced,
Our natural inclination is to seek healing and to keep gravitating towards the light.
Hey there friends,
Thanks for joining me today and hitting play on this short audio track.
My name is Anthony V.
Lombardo and it's a gift to be able to share this message with you today.
I hope I can offer you some wisdom and inspiration,
Maybe help you live a more conscious and meaningful existence as you go about your day here.
And specifically,
If you're going through a hard time right now,
I hope this message could give you a little hope.
Psychologist Carl Rogers tells this famous story about a bin of potatoes his family stored in their dark,
Dreary basement several feet away from the window.
He recalls that while the conditions were unfavorable for growth,
The potatoes would still shoot up pale white sprouts.
Of course,
This was opposed to the healthy green shoots they would produce when planted in soil.
Nevertheless,
Rogers was amazed that the sad little sprouts,
So to speak,
Would still grow two or three feet in length as they reached towards the light of the window.
And this is a fascinating story that Rogers talks about as the self-actualizing tendency,
Which is a desire in all living things,
From an ant on the ground to a shark in the ocean to a rosebud to you and I,
That all living things have this desire to push towards growth.
And in the case of human beings,
In the case of us,
We all have this yearning to be a fully functional human that desires to express themselves fully and reach our potential.
So,
Just as I opened with,
Even when we are drowning in darkness,
And life is challenging us,
And when we feel like we're being pinned to the floor,
We still gravitate towards the light.
Just like those potatoes,
We are compelled to keep growing,
Even if we are not consciously aware of that.
Deep within our hearts,
There's this drive to peer through that window,
So to speak,
Wipe off the muck,
And make our way out of whatever hellhole we found ourselves in.
Which I think speaks to a larger point.
We,
As human beings,
Have an innate sense of resilience.
No matter how dire our situation is,
Our natural inclination is to find some sense of wholeness.
It's really the nature of life.
All life yearns for more life.
In all of nature,
There is this desire for more life,
To function at a higher level,
To be more than it is now,
To find fuller ways to express itself.
And really,
That's what the spiritual path is about.
We have an inborn impulse to quote-unquote expand our sprouts and become greater than we are right now.
This story is also a call for compassion.
For ourselves,
And for others.
It reminds us that we are all fighting a hard battle,
And doing the best we can with what we have in this moment,
While trying to get where we want to go.
So when you see others struggling,
Or you see others acting out,
Or if you're struggling,
Or if you're acting out,
Instead of that critical voice like it always does to all of us,
Telling how we fell short,
Or we're not doing enough,
Or how we should have behaved differently,
Or done things differently,
Remember this story.
We are all going through something.
And we are all trying to solve whatever we feel is holding ourselves back.
And we are all dealing with different things.
But our commonality is that we're all like those sacks of potatoes in the basement,
Looking to become more than it is.
Looking to express ourselves more truly,
More freely,
More lovingly.
With all that said though,
We have to remember that the experience of our life is entirely our making.
It's up to each of us to awaken,
And scratch and claw our way out of the basement,
And consciously create the life experience we want.
So if you're feeling discouraged,
Overwhelmed,
Ready to give up,
Or stuck,
Remember those potatoes.
Don't give up on life.
Because the life inside of you won't give up on you.
It doesn't know how.
Thanks for listening.
As always,
Have a wonderful,
Beautiful,
And highly conscious day.
Much love.
