“I will not die an unlived life…I choose to inhabit my days to allow my living to open me…I choose to risk my significance.” ~Dawna Markova

Self-expression is good for your health.  If you believe in chakras (seven centers of spiritual power in the human body), self-expression is directly related to the 5th one, the throat, neck, jaw area.  When you remain silent and continually hold back a natural expression of who you are, you’ll likely have problems in this area of your body.  This is what we risk by holding back.

What do we risk, though, by free expression?  We risk scorn and non-acceptance by society.  As children, we dutifully follow our moms in & out of stores & buildings.  Like ducklings, we stay close for safety or because we’re told to.  When we reach adulthood, after torrentially tearing away from parents in our teens, we trade parental control for societal control.  We adhere to the norm for safety or because we’re told to.

But this puts a damper on our natural expression through word, through art, through fashion.  How dare we be different?  We’ve seen the popular slogan, “Celebrate Diversity!” and we subtitle it in our minds, “of ethnicity or creed.”  But Celebrate Diversity of character?  Not as popular a notion.  We mock people in our own society who look different, dress different, act different, though these are merely daring acts of self-expression.  We scorn others, a reflection of our own fear to do the same.

We should celebrate those who have broken free of the box that we’re told to think outside of.  They’ve managed to live outside the box and survive!  Lady Gaga comes to mind.  “Baby, I was born this way.”  She no longer makes excuses or holds herself back.  She’s a pioneer, like so many others before her.

Celebrate your own diversity.  Kick out the critic for one day.  Say something “out of character,” dare to wear that gaudy outfit, toss your hair in a different direction or design your own cut.  Feel the exhilaration of a fearless freedom to be you.  Risk your significance!  Do not “die an unlived life.”

Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (2)