Follow your heart,
Not the crowd.
You live in a world that works night and day to make you just like everyone else.
That way you can fit in and be just like the others.
Life's easy then,
Right?
I mean you just show up and go through the motions.
How is that working out for you?
As you read this,
Are you living the life you truly want for yourself?
Or one that someone else has chosen for you?
And if it's the latter,
Then how has that happened?
At what point did you accept that society or another person gets to choose your life?
To determine your hopes and dreams?
Allow yourself a moment to consider how much energy you have given to being the person that others thought you should be.
How many times you've been swept along in someone else's flow?
How often you've not spoken up or perhaps said what you thought others wanted to hear?
And how,
On some level,
You've always known you're not being true to yourself?
It's exhausting and there has to be a better way.
In fact,
One of the greatest tragedies of life is to lose your sense of self and become someone else's version of you.
Nature gets it.
It doesn't waste energy on false existence.
It knows its truth and lives it.
Let me give you an example.
Cress just wants to be Cress.
It's so sure of who it is that it always becomes the best version of itself.
Imagine a spark of energy standing before the Divine Source,
And at this point it can be anything it wants to be.
So what do you think?
Asks the Maker.
I'm going to be Cress.
Are you sure?
You have many options.
I'm going to be Cress.
One last chance,
Says the Divine.
I'm obliged to mention that you may end up mixed with egg,
An afterthought on a salad,
Or grown on a windowsill and forgotten.
I am Cress.
And so it is.
What does this have to do with you?
You too were once a spark of energy,
And you chose this life.
Your life has a purpose,
And you alone decide what that will be.
You have a unique gift,
And you alone decide what that will be.
You have a service to give to the world,
And you alone decide what that will be.
Cress doesn't allow others to deter it from its purpose.
It doesn't fear lettuce.
Consider surgery to make it more coriander-y,
Or feel inadequate next to a massive cucumber.
As you listen to this,
You travel the arc of life.
You and I have no way of knowing where our cross lies at this moment.
How long we have left.
The only certainty is that we shall return at some point to our resting place.
The Buddha said,
The trouble is,
You think you have time.
So what's your thing?
Your gift to the world?
What are you putting off?
And for whom?
On behalf of a planet that is desperate for someone just like you,
I ask you to find it and give it away.
Focus on what makes you feel alive,
And be that.
Notice what helps others,
And do that.
Nothing energizes you like being true to who you really are.
And so follow your heart,
Not the crowd,
And live your life on purpose.
Until next time,
I wish you well.
