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Last week, I wrote on Simpler and Honester.  Wow, I did not realize how much that would impact me, consciously and otherwise.  Over the last year in particular, I have been purposefully reflecting on meaning for me in and for what I keep calling “the next chapter”.  Specifically, back in March of 2018, I wrote on Aim High.  It considered 5 areas worthy of questions, answers and reflection.  And I wrote The Book on Happiness in that month.  In April of last year, I wrote on #FTS… F$%#K the Script…. and Find Your Simplicity… and What is Your Ikigai?  In May 2018, I wrote on 5 Questions for Clarity… and Finding Your Script… and your fit.   The blogging continued on a variety of topics related to my work (including purposeful reflection) and in January 0f 2019, I wrote on The Tr’a’at is Talking…. Manifest, Oh! and Do the Work.  In February, The BIG Cool Work and Our Universal Three… about Remembering who you are, Readying yourself every day and Rising in action and service.  Indeed, this meandering exploration of me heated up with A Birthday Wish and:

It might seem that this is all I have blogged on, but I write a lot of blogs.  🙂  That being said, and in and amidst all of this reflection and journaling (out of the seeming complexity of same), two things arise for me.

  • FIRST, I suggest meandering has a purpose.  It is called exploration.  Indeed, I suggest any and all of the reads above to nudge your own meandering reflection.
  • SECOND, by traveling the road or river and all its meandering, you invariably arrive at a destination point of sorts for at least that leg of the journey.  For me, that has just happened.

The Next Landing Point

These past few weeks in particular, I have had questions asked of me randomly that have surfaced some realizations and remembrances.  I have had huge and heartfelt disappointments and wondrous surprises that have done same.  And, with it all, there has been almost a bubbling up or boiling down of some simple truths.  Recalling passions, purpose and more.

Specifically, the other day, in a conversation around age of all things, someone asked me how I might describe myself in terms of age.  My answer was quick, forthright and lovingly forceful (and unplanned).  I said that I consider myself a “force of nature”.

I don’t give a “rat’s arse” what number or category you want to apply.  I am thunder and lightning with the “and” in between.  Well, that got me thinking; that and those other direct and unexpected questions along the way.  Actually, it got me realizing some undeniable truths for me.  Undeniable truths are the destination point for reflection.  You are trying to get to them, in terms of your very soul.  Everything else is wishy-washy.  So, what are my undeniables?  I include them here as to what my soul screams in a whisper and not necessarily as how I have been living or not living it of late.

  • In the work I do and the life I live, I am a force of nature, unconstrained as the wind. I live to create, learn and teach for a damn freakin’ better world.  I am an outlier and a misfit who loves humanity.  I revere the human spirit, reveling in it.  Humanity rocks.  Inhumanity rots.  I am accountable to and unapologetically confident in humanity; and my deep desire to live and serve it.  I am not perfect, nor do I believe in it as a noun.  I have made and will make doozies of mistakes. BUT, I damn well sure believe in perfect as a verb.  Perfecting and raising my character is not part of me.  It is me.  In that, I have got a “four let word for I don’t care… a whole lotta drive to get me there“. I do not care about fame nor fortune, but I live for fierce.  I will work, live, love and play with what I call “activants”; those people who do not want to change the world… they are doing it by their very living in it. No kumbaya.  All, bring it.  I love and live fiercely. Untempered.  Unconstrained, Unconditional. Period.  Force of nature. Dangerous. In the best of ways.  When I am fiercely honest with myself, I love and live like a weapon when the order is “fire everything”. In life and work, I love the extremes of inward, slow and gentle to gregarious, fast and forceful.  I am a creator, student, teacher, singer, dancer, writer, cartoonist on all things character.  I fiercely contend it is the path to vibrant, dynamic, exciting and future driven unity.  And, I loooove that.  I am Barry (Lewis Green).  I am The Unity Guy thing.

This will always evolve in terms of articulation and vocabulary.  But it will not in terms of spirit.  That being said, have I been living this fully?  No.  I have been tempered for way too long, hoping to be comfortable for as many people as possible.  Comfort is good, but it can also be cowardly and complacent.  I want neither.  Never have, though I have tempered myself.  This past year, and over the 4 years since stroke, I have been slowly but steadfastly getting to a space where the shy but immensely creative boy merges with the confident, “successful” but somehow overly-responsible-to-the-wrong-things-and-people man.  It is what drives my nine milestone goals for this year ahead of my next birthday.  The result is and will be some new best of both worlds.  This silly boy and fierce man are one.

Now, many who know or think they know me might say that that is what they see and experience right now, but it is not.  98% pure water is not pure.  And pure is what my soul craves.  No tempering or tampering down.

Does this mean no mistakes?  Hell no.  It does mean I am choosing to get back to and even move the needle on Hell Yeah.  It does mean a rediscovering of an energy buried a bit, for too long.  It does mean a new found kind of boom.

Quite recently, I have been introduced to the music of Damien Rice, LP, Zaz and Brass Against… among others.  Each time, I hear a song that touches my soul, I know.  I don’t have to think about it.  I freakin’ know.  Each time, I meet a person who does the same to and for me, I know.  Each time, I run across a cause that does the very same, I know.  I know. You do too.  You just have to tap in and open up.

Look, conformity for conformity’s sake is numbness.  Conformity for not rocking the boat, is repression and oppression.  Conformity to fit in is a slow death.  I want neither.  I am not in favour of strife nor contention.  But being who you are is not about trying to offend.  Trying to offend is another form of posing.  Asserting your voice is simply finding your place.  As a kid, I knew my voice, all the while learning to speak it.

For You

For you, who might be reading this… here, are my humble suggestions.  First, try out some of the blogs noted and start dabbling or diving in.  Second, practice Courage and Honesty in doing so.  Third, understand that the goal and eventual reality is that you will come to a simple understanding and that is that knowing who you are is right under your nose around about where your heart is found.

In one of my blogs, I suggest that the stars are the Soul, the captain who sets course by the stars is the heart, and the navigator/helmsman is the mind who figures out the way there.  The ship itself is the body.  Understand that and let your soul be your guide, your heart make your best decisions, your mind figure the way, and your best body carry you there.

That is this simple man‘s plan.  Everything else is settling.  To Hell with that.

Peace, passion and prosperity…

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy