97.1: I Contain Multitudes (Part 1 of 2)

May 20
Breaking Patterns

If I contradict myself, I contradict myself. I contain multitudes.

Walt Whitman

I’ve decided, every night Mark Nepo‘s elves sneak into my copy of The Book of Awakening writing exactly what I need to hear for the day. The May 20th page on Breaking Patterns perfectly summarizes my life experience.

We are all self-made blind to the kaleidoscope of wants, needs, and desires of the people around us: to see others more fully is to see ourselves in their reflection.

Since the beginning of the beginning, this has been my poem to the people around me. This has been a consistent theme in my life for as long as I can remember. And to know me is to know this is truthful and honest.

I’m genuinely interested in seeing all of you.

We create patterns that others depend on, and then the last thing we ever imagined happens: we grow and change, and then to stay vital we must break the patterns we created.

There is no blame or fault to this. It is commonplace in nature. Watch the ocean and shore do the dance of buildup and crumble and you’ll see this happens daily.

We know we are close to this threshold when we hear someone say, “You are not yourself,” or “That was out of character for you.” What is difficult at this juncture is to resist either complying with how others see us or withholding who we really are.

The challenge, which I do not do well but stay committed to, is to say to those we love, “I am more than I have shown you and more than you are willing to see. Let’s work our love & know each other more fully.”

Mark Nepo

The Book of Awakening

May 20