(via House of Turquoise)
I fear hyenas.
No, not the real animal. The ones I make up in my head. The ones that howl at me and rage at me and plot evil for me. The ones that I create when I’m blocked and procrastinating the work that I’m really supposed to be doing.
“She’s such a fake. Look at her latest status update.”
“She’s such a show-off. Look what she said yesterday on Twitter.”
“She’s never expressed an original idea in her life on her blog.”
“She puts on a good show, but really, her life is a mess.”
These are the screaming hyenas of our lives.
Sure, this may happen in real life. People are people. I’m sure many of YOU have thought this about me at one time or another. We judge others because we are too afraid to do something ourselves. Or we quit judging others and immediately judge ourselves (hear those hyenas screaming yet?). (And please forgive me for yes, being fake, a show-off, unoriginal, and perfect on the outside while my life inside is a mess; you know it’s true! We ALL have those days!)
Where’s the middle ground anyway? When do we get the peace and quiet from judging others and more importantly, where do we get the freedom from judging ourselves?
When we pursue our creativity.
When we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing (raising children, teaching others, writing, speaking, cleaning, selling). When we do that, there’s no time to do anything else.
Plus this week, I read that if I can’t see the divine spark in every single person I meet, I’m shutting off my own. When I refuse to see that perhaps this person just needs a hug or some patience or that person needs to tag along (and copy how I design my house or hang my curtains), it’s because I touched something–perhaps that divine spark–and I can give them something they really need. If I make them out to be criminal or vicious (or a screaming hyena), well, you know . . .
I’m blocking what I am supposed to be doing by attacking someone else. (We all do this. It’s time to get over it.)
We can’t even douse our divine spark anyway. It was put there by something greater than ourselves (whatever you want to call that force) and it’s not like we have a choice to suddenly not be what we were created to be: human creative beings.
And because we can’t douse that divine spark, when we refuse to see it in others, ours becomes mangled, debilitated, and sick, and reverts to the lizard brain. I have had the lizard brain the past few days. Serious lizard brain. This week has been hard. I’ve been busier than I have in a long time. When I’m this busy, my brain goes sorta on auto-pilot and the screaming hyenas begin (and the lizards). Wow, I’m really into animal analogies today.
I fight back by being insanely creative (wherever I am; start where you are, remember) and by being honest about how I feel and how I need to change my attitude and by remembering what is very important to my worldview: There is a God and I am not it.
Action Tip: Got any screaming hyenas (or lizard brain)? What will you do today to silence them for at least a few hours and who can you lend a hand to help do the same?
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