January 22 – Being Bold: Make or buy an outrageous hat and wear it all day today.

So how in the world would wearing a silly hat help me to empower my latent, caring True Self?

Well, if you think about it, we each expend enormous amounts of energy subconsciously trying to “fit in” with our surroundings.  This urge is deeply programmed into the most primitive parts of our brains.  Humans are by nature herd animals who gain their sense of security by living in like-minded groups.  There are exceptions to this rule, of course, and yet by far the majority of people today are submitting (most of them unknowingly) to this base-instinct.  It is the driving force behind all abandonment anxiety, as well as what forms our cliques and solidifies our “circles of friends”. It is what engenders a particular culture’s “style” – defining what is “in” (acceptable to the herd) and what is “out” (ridiculed by the same).

True, while most people hide behind “fashion” and other “normal behaviors” in order to feel safe,

others “push the limits” of those conventions to gain power by drawing attention to themselves,

Neither of these intentions brings Peace or emPowerment — only enhanced anxiety & dis-ease.

Some folks, once their security has been established, just like to express their creativity.

But this isn’t what today’s task is about either.

Indeed, none of these intentions harmonizes with the purpose of today’s activity, which was to risk “embarrassment” or “ridicule” solely to free up the vast stores of energy we use every day to avoid the same. Indeed, we cannot fully Love anyone selflessly while subconsciously worried about how we are being perceived while doing so.

So with this in mind, I made my silly hat today and ran a few errands with it.

And even though I was doing so in very conservative Wildwood, Georgia, I didn’t feel nearly outrageous enough, so I “spruced it up” a bit and continued.

I knew I had met the day’s theme head-on the moment I saw or felt others’ ridicule or surprise (which did indeed come) and didn’t even feel the slightest twinge of either embarrassment or even joviality. What I was wearing had become completely irrelevant to what I was choosing to do – who & how I was choosing to serve.

All of my energies were once again my own — to do with as I wished.

I was once again Whole.

See You when I see you …

… and until then, Be Now !

Scaughdt

Filed under: 366 Days of Kindness by Scaughdt