So many people talk about intuition. You ask how to know something that would be a very important piece of information, and they answer, “You just know.” That’s an unhelpful answer. And it begs the question, “What is intuition, really?”
It’s getting to be that time where we start talking about “the holidays”. And you know what that means. Pretty soon, everyone’s going to be talking about New Year’s resolutions and “new year new me” and all sorts of things about bettering yourself. Things that this website seems to talk about all the time. You’d think that I’d be excited about it, but really, as usual, I’m kind of frustrated. Not that my personal feelings really matter much compared to the general consensus of how we perceive this time of year, but because I have this platform, I just thought I would talk about it.
We’ve talked about kindness before on this site. You can find that post here, if you’re interested. In it, I talked about how important kindness is, how much we really need it in this world, and how to go about living our lives in a kind way. But one thing was entirely left out of the equation. What about being kind…to yourself? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
So, I’m a chronic over-thinker. I plan until I’m blue in the face, psyching myself out until I don’t even want to take action anymore. Even when I know I need to. Sometimes it works, giving me extra perspective and time to work out how I feel about things. But sometimes (often enough) it doesn’t. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.
Today I want to talk to you about the idea of “doing your best”. It’s so problematic, because it’s so subjective. Some of us will make very little effort towards something, but then claim we did our best, because we know that people can’t technically argue with that. While still others use it as an excuse to judge themselves harshly for not being better at (insert whatever goal here) yet and burn themselves out in the process. So how are we supposed to find out what our real best is, and actually do it?
I recently had an eye-opening conversation with a friend, about our worth as human beings. It led me to a very frightening realization, for a while. The realization being that…I really don’t know what we, as people, as individuals, are really worth, and why.
We talk about a lot of different concepts here in the Thoughts that Bind. Concepts that change and save lives. And each of these concepts are very near and dear to my heart, many with swaths of context surrounding them. But it’s that very context that can make things confusing. Because how are you supposed to know what fits your life?
There was a song that we used to sing when I was a little girl, that was accompanied with a hand game or dance or whatever you want to call it. It started like this, “I went to a Chinese restaurant, to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread, the lady asked what my name was, and this is what I said, said, said” and then it goes on with a long string of nonsense that if I never hear again, it’ll be too soon. But I was thinking about it today. And I don’t know about Chinese restaurants in your area, but in mine, I’ve never seen them selling loaves of bread.
It’s been on my mind a lot lately, this idea of making the world a better place. And it’s not really a new subject on this site anyway. We’ve talked about kindness (here), being a good person (here), as well as educating yourself and speaking up against injustice (which you can find here). But making the world a better place is a broad topic. And as such, there’s obviously more to the concept.
Today, we’re wrapping up our letter-writing extravaganza, or at least for the foreseeable future. I hope that I’ve given you a helpful concept to play around with, and that you write your own letters. Letters that I’ve suggested, but also letters of your own, that are undeniably valuable and that I would have never had the details to suggest to you. If you’re not familiar with this concept and this is your first time here, you can go back and read the initial concept of this series here. Or you can go to any one of these posts for a suggestion of a letter to write to help you work through your thoughts and emotions, as well as leave this world a brighter place. (1234567)