Tag Archives: inspiration

The Giraffe Shows Us

As Oscar Wilde so humorously put it, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”

Society has this need to shape and mold us, to make us “acceptable”. Perhaps this has never been more strongly evident than it is in these times.

Becoming our most authentic selves, being fully true to ourselves, is sometimes a lifetime journey. But it does not have to be! We are not born with the masks that society encourages or demands that we wear. We learn to acquire them to get along and fit in.

This may make life feel easier in the short term, but in the long run is it really?

When you do not show who you really are to the world, there is an undercurrent of self-betrayal that you hold inside. Over a lifetime, this can become an unbearable burden.

Being true to yourself is one of the most important ways to fulfill your soul.

Look to nature as an example. There are no false face games being played there. Nature is authentic. No giraffe is wasting his life bemoaning his “too long neck”…

… or his “ugly freckles”, wishing he was a zebra with those marvelous stripes.

No, he’s just living his life, being the best giraffe he can be!

Time of Our Lives

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“Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn.” are the profound last lines of the poem, Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day, by Delmore Schwartz. It’s a beautiful philosophical contemplation of the passage of time, with a particularly great wrap-up last stanza.

The seconds, minutes, hours tick away relentlessly. Our lives are busy, and inundated with many distractions and responsibilities. Lately I’m looking at my age and thinking, “Wow! It’s going faster than I ever imagined at age 18.”

Realistically, we don’t have time to sit around and endlessly ponder about the value of time and our lives. But, it’s useful to carve out a little time (from time to time) for such introspection. Because your life IS precious, and the clock IS ticking. Ask yourself in this moment, are you spending your life the way you really desire to?

It is crucially important to have vision and intention for our lives. Otherwise, we will just end up with someone else’s idea of how life should be.

Inspirational Time Quotes:

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.” ~ Marie Lu

“Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” ~ Mitch Albom

Soul Inspiration

Freedom of Spirit

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Someone once told me, “Music is part of the joy wave”. This is not hard to grasp, when you consider that each generation has its music, its sound, that special combination of notes, words and beat that resonate and speak to the heart and soul of the people.

Post WWII in Russia, there were citizens who risked their own personal freedom to bring western music to the people. It had been banned. Only particular Russian music could be possessed and played. This is a story about more than music. It is one of freedom, and the will of the human spirit to overcome soul crushing oppression.

It’s a fascinating story, even if you’re not particularly a huge music lover. Rest assured, there is something that you love as much as they loved music, and that you would go to any lengths not to lose. You can read the story of Bone Music here:

Bone music: the Soviet bootleg records pressed on x-rays

In freer Western societies, it may be hard for people to comprehend not having the simple access to music they love. That basic freedom of choice just is. And yet, is it? Right now there is heated dispute about who should decide and dictate what people can think and say. I stand back from it and wonder, why is this even in debate? Were we not born with the inalienable right to think our own thoughts and express them freely?

Food for thought for your soul.