6. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
We
all give benefits of the doubt, and we should allow room for mistakes in our
daily interactions with others. However,
we have got to pick up on patterns of behavior and thought. We can’t make excuses for people or accept
everything as happenstance. People
behave, await our reaction, and that reaction helps determine their future
behavior. When someone throws you under
the bus, on a “technicality,” believe that they will do it again. When someone doesn't follow through as they
said they would, believe that something in them makes their word less of a
priority. Of course, we can allow for
some human error, but for the most part, believe that their behavior reflects
their character, their personality.
7. Life is for living.
I
thrust myself into work. I started
working at McDonald's at 14. I worked all
throughout college, up to 3 jobs at one point.
After I graduated from college, it was off to full-time work I went. I became a teacher at the tender age of 22,
and haven’t stopped yet. But somehow in
this myriad of jobs, I happened upon a job that allowed to me to work in an
organization full of hippies, world travelers, and liberal minded folk. They have lived in Buddhist temples, road tripped
across the country, skydived, and run a winery in Costa Rica. And this is far from an exhaustive list of
all the “out of the box” living they have experienced. At that time, the most I had done was lived
in LA for six weeks. I would say that I
was perfectly happy living inside this box, working a 9-5, well a 7-3, but to
be honest, I wanted more. I want
more. Can I just live?
Two quotes come to
mind. Katt Williams’ reference to weed
in Pimp Chronicles, “Weed was put on this earth for people on the struggle and it’s
got a chemical called fuck it.” Now I am
not a proponent of weed, sorry, but his point is well taken. Stop
thinking so much. Overanalyzing. Just do you.
Which leads me to my more sophisticated quote, by Duane Michals, “Trust
that little voice in your head that says, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if..”;
And then do it.” If something pops in
your head as a thought that interests you, do it. Just push forward. And even if it feels crazy, sounds out of “character,”
do it anyway. I would have to disagree
with John Legend’s “Ordinary people” in this sense. We’re not ordinary. Back up, let me speak for myself. I’m not ordinary. I’m multidimensional. I have layers. I have interests, and goals, and thoughts that
defy typical Chavonne. Why not tap into
that sometimes? Nobody creates rules for
your creativity and freedom of spirit.
You do that. I do that. We put a
ceiling, a cover, a top, a fence, parameters, over and around our creativity of
mind and actions. I cannot be true to myself if I do that. Don’t know about you, but my life is for
living.
And in the spirit of
life is for living, I know I said five, but I’m going to make it two this
time. Y’all have read long enough. I got a little carried away on number
seven. Until next time….
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