When we talk about the rebirth of sanity, we have to establish what this means to us.
What is sanity and, therefore, what is the absence of sanity?
What does it mean to have a strong understanding or beneficial presence of mind?
What would it look like to have a strong and beneficial presence of self?
In the title itself, we talk about the rebirth of sanity. We use this word plainly and regularly. Intellectually, we all know what sanity means. We certainly know what the absence of sanity looks like because we see this all the time. Life can be a crazy place.
But when we talk about living our best life or when we talk reaching our goals, what has to happen for this to take place?
If we are not where we want to be or if we think our life has gone absolutely insane and we believe that we’ve lost our grip, or that we need to “get out” or find someplace better for ourselves; what has to happen to reclaim our existence and improve our position?
When it comes to fulfilling our passions and reaching or exceeding our best potential, what does this look like?
Can you see it?
Better yet, when we decide that we see ourselves in a certain way and look at our life, or when we look at our job and our professional and social influences, or when we look at our home life or the home life that we wished we could have, and once more, when we see ourselves in the mirror and notice our reflection:
What do we see?
Question this:
What does our best life look like?
If we can’t see this or if we don’t know what this looks like then the question goes back to one simple word:
Why?
An item of great value is our ability to question our so-called truths and, equally, one our most valuable rights is the right to change our mind.
We have the right to advance. We have the right to learn and to train.
We have the right to better ourselves and to improve our position. Also, even in the worst circumstances and at points when it seems that our choices are not attractive, no one can take away our right to improve.
So –
Here we are. But what does this mean?
There is the saying which goes “you are always exactly where you are supposed to be.”
Are we?
Well, whether we are or not, this journal is not intended to either support or challenge this motto; however, if we are not where are “supposedly” supposed to be, then where should we be?
How do we get there?
What needs to happen?
Are we willing to take the chances?
Are we willing to put the effort in?
If not, why?
Is this because of a lack of self-worth?
Is this due to a poor belief system?
Is this trauma-based? If so, is this a result of old and unresolved injuries?
Are the answers to our questions wrapped in old emotional tensions?
Or, did items from our past, come along, and leave behind a bias which somehow tells us, “this is all you deserve!”
The saying, “You’re always where you’re supposed to be,” is perhaps true.
Or, maybe there’s room for the argument which suggests that this is not true.
Hence, this journal is intended to ask are we where we want to be?
Is this how we want our life to look?
Or, is there something else out there?
Is there somewhere else we’d rather be and/or is there someone else we would rather be with?
If the answer is yes, then what has to happen to empower our results to guide us to where we want to be?
Is there a different life, somewhere out there, which has been waiting for us, after all of these years? Once more, here we are, alive and in the moment, and not that we’ve reached down into our true spirits, and as a result, we’ve decided that we want more than just the status quo. What has to come next?
What has to happen for us to give ourselves the permission to take the next step?
Or, as we like to say from a sci-fi perspective: What has to go on before we take the jump to light speed?
And again . . .
if we don’t know the answer to these questions, the only other question is this: Why?
Is there something holding us back?
If so, what is it? Is this real or an illusion or, otherwise, is this a mental or emotional blockage?
What keeps a person stuck in the mundane or catches us in a “more of the same” life? Rather than question or challenge themselves, what type of thinking takes place when a person submits to their own unhappiness?
As a person with my own challenges; I write this to you on the verge of my own leap of faith. I write this to you (as well as to myself) as a timely note that change requires action and actions require decisions.
However, whether our failure to launch comes from an issue with fear or insecurity; or if we have a lack of faith in ourselves or a poor belief system; or if for some reason, we think that our life has taken on a pattern and, at best, we’ve settled on the bet that no matter how hard we try, we are destined for this kind of mediocrity and, even more, if the idea of moving forward is either too intimidating or unrealistic; and lastly, in the face of our personal reflection, when we see ourselves, what do we really see and what do we want this to look like?
It is good to ask these questions because questions like this are food for thought when facing the early stages of transformational changes or improvements.
So, off we go . . .
We have addressed these ideas in previous journals.
We have talked about the secret of endurance and described what it takes to get up each day and endure life regardless of what our circumstances might be.
We have talked about the secret ingredients which, as an individual, our personal ingredients are uniquely blended so that regardless of what challenges we face and whether we are hurting, sick, sad, beaten, weak or worse, whether we lack the drive or the spirit to get up and keep going, the secret of our endurance is the one thing that pushes us to get up and put our feet on the floor (so-to-speak).
There are speakers and books and self-help platforms that tell you, “you have to find the drive.”
There are people who will push you and say, “You have to want it!”
There is the positive narrative which comes from good, strong people who are wholehearted and on your side.
They are the good ones who push you or tell you that you “have” to find that place inside of you which keeps you going.
But the question now becomes: How?
No one talks about the internal loss where there’s nothing clear and our thoughts betray every shred of hope or belief that, above all, we can literally do anything.
No one has an answer for the person who looks around and sees nothing within themselves; no value, no worth, no redeeming qualities and, no matter what, there’s no hope for anyone who only sees happiness as fleeting postures in our everyday life.
In many cases, when we talk about a daily life that is either unlived or unenthused and when we face ourselves and we talk about the restoration of our spirit as well as the rebirth of our sanity, of course, it is not easy – but the question remains, what do we do if (or when) it seems as if we don’t have the energy or the so-called “Oomph!” to do what it takes?
What is sanity to us?
Better yet, what is the absence of sanity?
Is this more dependable or understandable to us?
Is this something that impacts our conduct?
Does this impact our thinking and our belief system and, therefore, we act accordingly?
If we don’t believe in “us” and if we find ourselves in the muck of emotional quicksand, what do we do to get out?
Even if someone gives us the answer, the question still remains?
How do we do this?
I have been told, “You have to find your strength.”
I have been told, “You have to know what you want.”
I’ve been told, “You have to have the willingness to do whatever it takes to get the life you want.”
Okay, great . . .
However, what does a person do when they don’t have the energy or the drive, the passion or the answers to any of the above questions?
What does a person do when all they see themselves as (at best) is unworthy?
Is this what insanity looks like?
I ask this because in the absence of self and the actual feel of who we are and in the lack of true identity; what does this do for our thinking?
I have thought this way for decades and, in its wake, I look back at the turns I missed and the opportunities I never took hold of.
How does this affect our decision-making abilities?
Spoken to you only as a narrator, I can only say how this affected mine.
So, rather than call ourselves crazy, what would it look like if we began to recognize the features that degraded our sanity?
What would our life look like if we recognized and removed the blockages that kept us from moving ahead?
Could you imagine this?
What would life be like without the anxiety of insecure thoughts?
When finding our definitions of self, we have to understand that yes, we might have lost our way and yes, we might have made some poor choices, but nothing in our life is so unattainable and unacquirable that we can’t step out of ourselves. Nothing in our hearts is so out of reach that we can’t find the drive it takes to make them so.
As an exercise, I often close my eyes and sit quietly. I allow myself to breathe deeply. I breathe in through my nose and then I exhale, out through my mouth. I do this slowly. Then I repeat the process. I focus on my breathing. I let my lungs fill up, slowly, and then I allow them to deflate at the same speed.
All the while, I give myself a picture.
I let myself see the face of my dream. I let myself hear what this sounds like to me. I allow myself the drive down the street to which perhaps there’s a place for me, maybe somewhere near the palm trees and the beach. I give my dreams some food for thought. I allow them to take on a picture so that in my mind, I can detail them and see them and ultimately, I do this so that I can visualize my hopes for the future and whet my appetite.
I do this to the point where this is all I can see; therefore, now that I love what I see and since this is all I can see; now, I’ve become driven.
Now that I have detailed my vision, I can find the drive it takes to build this, like a puzzle – one piece at a time, until I create this in a live version, in full-effect.
I know this: the more I work on this picture, the more I value its worth and the more I value its worth, the harder I work to make this my life.
For the record, this is not always easy.
Then again –
Is anything ever easy?
Sometimes, maybe?
Sometimes, life is easy
Some days it rains and it pours
Other days, the sun is out and life is good.
To me, this is sanity
And to think anything else, well . . .
that’s just insane!
The Written Addiction 