A Courageous, Unfiltered Life
It was in the vast spaces, underneath nooks and crannies that I began to find my creativity again. The very same creativity rooted in the depths of my imagination and the emptiness between moments. The inspiration comes and goes in waves, but I realized despite the coming and going, the real test is putting my work out into the world.
Unfiltered.
Authentic.
Vulnerable.
It is finding this sort of creativity that takes courage. It takes bold, lively steps to share a vision much bigger than thyself and the world around. What you may be dreaming up is not real just yet but might be so real to you because it can only be manifested by you.
To live life filled with adventure and journey, one which brings you alive in the most beautiful of ways is something most humans spend their entire lives searching for. The meaning of life cannot be taught, it must be learned through one’s own experience. Each one of us treads our own path and finds meaning in different ways. We also spend time making pit stops along the way – all of which is okay. It is the journey we must make on our way “home”, as some of my dear friends in India say.
On my way “home”, like most of us, I’ve been through it: filling voids with meaningless things. Perhaps it was different for me than it is or was for you. It takes different forms for all of us: parties, chasing boys/girls, TV, drugs, sex, alcohol.
However, there is a deeper knowing side of us that itches to come closer to the things that bring us most joy. It is the wiser side of us that knows that filling voids with meaningless things will only cause us to stray farther away from our true selves. This wiser side of us also knows what brings us alive and fills us in the empty moments. To step into it takes that very courage I mentioned above in the first paragraph.
I’ve often asked myself how my courage will make any difference to the deeper, systemic and social issues our world faces today. The truth is that I don’t specifically know how, but if I have learned anything over the past few years, it is that healing the world begins by healing oneself. And I don’t mean this in the rainbow and butterflies type of way. I mean in the way that forces us to see the ugly within ourselves and realize that what we see outside of us it just a mirror into what is happening inside of us as humans. Just like it takes courage to share the most authentic and vulnerable parts of yourself and work with the world, it takes the very same courage to acknowledge the darker parts of you and see how it is playing a role in your life.
Living a courageous life is rooted in being able to break out of conformities and define success on your own terms. It also means walking the path that feels right for you. Above all else, the most courageous moments may be when you turn inwards to examine the patterns and tendencies that live within you. It is in those moments that we discover the beauty of walking a path that serves our most courageous selves and the gifts we have to offer the world.