Practicing Person Defined
Many of you may consider yourself a Practicing Person, regardless of what you believe or don’t believe. Practicing Persons hail from any religion or culture. Even those with no religion can be a Practicing Person. Every day, we each have the chance to quite literally practice being a person, even when we reach a point where we excel at something. We’re always practicing at something. There’s always more, higher, better, farther, worthier, another plateau to reach; and we’ll always have new beginnings popping up in some area of our lives. We neither live at the tops of our experiences, nor the bottoms. Experiences are most exciting when they contain variety.
Practicing Persons live our questions. Who am I? Who do I want to be? What mark do I wish to make on the world? Where do I belong? What do I love? Who do I love? Who loves me? and on and on…
I heard long ago that it’s not what happens to you that matters as much as how we respond.
A Practicing Person fails; then, gets back up; She or he believes we should live and let live, and dares greatly, as Theodore Roosevelt said and Brene Brown teaches. Practicing Persons are self-aware and respect others, even when engaged in fierce and challenging conversations. They treat others as they prefer to be treated and recognize and celebrate our differences knowing there’s room for everyone, that love is an energy which is infinite. When given, love replicates and spreads like a meme.
Love ties all of humanity together, as it’s the most common thing for which we all search.
How we choose to practice matters and what we say speaks volumes…about us.
Many opine online. I’ve become one more with this blog. Freedom of Speech is our constitutional right in the United States of America, yet Freedom of Speech carries with it an inherent responsibility. We’re free to express our opinions and disagree, but adding cruelty into the mix is not only unnecessary, but doing so casts a veil of darkness over its perpetrator just as much as it has potential to harm its object. Respect in communication is vital for communication to thrive.
I ask that anyone choosing to comment here does so with dignity and respect, or else you betray yourself with your own words, as they most assuredly say more about you than they do about me or anyone else you may attempt to troll.
How we interpret what others say and how we choose to respond to others’ words is our responsibility. Either we choose to let things stick (and potentially integrate them) or we choose to let others’ words bounce off. In doing so, we give the energy back to their owners. It’s not always easy, yet we each have the power to choose our own paths, letting those who might mean us harm become mere scenery rather than center stage.
After all, our words represent our own thoughts, not the thoughts of others with whom we speak.
Additionally, we show others the way we desire to be treated by the way in which we treat others; what we say and what we do. We get back what we put into the world. It’s called karma, the law of attraction, and “do unto others as you would have done unto you”, but ultimately, it’s all the same idea.
Be good to others and chances are, they’ll be good to you, since most people choose to give and receive kindness.
Still, there’s a great deal of pain in the world.
Isolation is prevalent in our modern world, since many of us live much of our lives behind computer screens, both for work and in our personal lives. That’s a lot of time spent (potentially) physically alone. When we’re alone and in pain, we might lash out at others, but the force of that lashing is always in our control. Personal responsibility is paramount. Recently, a man told me, “No conversation was ever harmed by waiting to have it.”
We have a responsibility to be clear in our hearts and minds about what we want to say whilst also being aware of the repercussions of communicating our thoughts and feelings. To some, this may spark of political correctness, but I see it as the inherent responsibility we have to one another as people. So many people live lives of quiet desperation as Henry David Thoreau once said. Loneliness may be the single biggest silent killer in the world.
There is hope.
Every day provides an opportunity to make a connection.
Today, I went on a walk to the corner store to buy coconut water and bananas and at the entrance to the store, I found a senior citizen with a push cart struggling to get through the door. Without hesitation, I asked the man, “can I help you?” “Yes,” he replied, “the door’s so heavy.” I held the door, as he ducked under my arm as if we were playing “London Bridge”, like kids. Then, we each went on our day.
May you find a multitude of ways to be kind today as you Practice being a Person…