Own Yourself
I was sitting in the couch close to my youngest daughter.
We were browsing the internet for a school project and we ended up in WikiHow. Wow — once you’re trapped in there, it’s almost impossible to get out. đ Or how about interesting articles such as: How to spin a pencil around your thumb, How to skip rocks, How to wallpaper a room, How to cheer someone upâŠ
And then we found what we were looking for: How to be happy. So, if you have ever asked yourself how to be happy; here are the answers. đ
As my daughter and I read the article, we discussed the answers and found they resonated with us. We liked the article very much. Some of the answers we discussed longer than others.
But there was one item on the list I have not been able to forget all week. Maybe it gave me words for something I have been pondering for a while.
Own Yourself.
“This means accept and embrace your habits, your personality, mistakes, the way you talk, looks, your voice, and most importantly ‘You’. Try to be comfortable in your own skin and subconsciously communicate to others that, ‘This is me take it or leave it’.”
To me this would include: if you are a singer — own the way you sing, if you are a dancer — own the way you dance, if you are a writer — own the way you write, if you are a poet — own your rhymes, or lack of them. đ
And on a personal level — own your scars.
The full half a meter of them. Own your story, all the messy and the strange and the confusing and the painful and the happy memories. Own your future, the upcoming heart surgeries (luckily my heart is doing fine now, but I’ll need at least two more surgeries down the road, the first one hopefully not sooner than 15-20 years from now.)
Own where you’re at, right now. Own the road behind you and what you know about the road ahead of you. It is tempting to carry along a shadow of how things were supposed to have been, of who you were supposed to be. You know — the person you dreamed when you were little you would become, before, well, life interfered. I have done that, am still reminding myself to let go of this shadow from time to time. It is heavier than one might think to carry, even though it really doesn’t exist. But I am here, scars and all.
In short — own your pineapples.
I love the picture I chose to symbolize this principle. Just look at her! Isn’t she beautiful!? I met this woman on the shores of Lombok, a small Indonesian paradise island. She sells pineapples and traditionally patterned shawls on the beach, and believe me — she knows how to bargain! đ (I think we bought at least ten shawls). She is a typical proud woman of the Indonesian islands — feeling slightly sorry for the poor tourists who have to leave their cold home countries and travel across the world to come to visit her. But not sorry enough to go below a certain price. đ She knows her home island is the paradise of the earth and she is proud of it. Often, she has never left her island — why should she, when people from all over the world leave their homes to come to hers?
She may not have read how to be happy on WikiHow. But — my goodness — she owns it.
â„Lene
Own Yourself — what does this mean to you? Is there a point in your life, or a certain aspect of your life, where you can see this principle working more clearly?
Comments (8)
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Jag har funderat mycket pĂ„ detta som du har skrivet. Ibland undrar jag om förmĂ„gan att kĂ€nna lycka Ă€r en gĂ„va sĂ„som till exempel en musiktalang Ă€r en gĂ„va. För mĂ„nga Ă„r sedan nĂ€r jag var sĂ€ngliggande nĂ„gra mĂ„nader sĂ„ tĂ€nkte jag “jag mĂ„r inte illa iallafall . . .”. Det var ju tur för jag avskyr att mĂ„ illa. (Jag har faktiskt inte mĂ„tt illa i vuxen Ă„lder.) “LyckogĂ„van” mĂ„ste nog ocksĂ„ trĂ€nas för att utvecklas. Det Ă€r en utmaning att i olika tider och med olika svĂ„righeter se det som Ă€r “ljust” dĂ„ det “mörka” Ă€r sĂ„ framtrĂ€dande.
Vi har alla olika utmaningar i livet och i olika Äldrar. Just nu kÀnner jag en oro för att Äldras med alla svÄrigheter som kan komma. Om jag fÄr leva blir jag ju gammal och fÄr ta ÄlderdomskrÀmporna nÀr de kommer eller hur?
Tack för de intressanta sakerna du tar upp pÄ din hemsida. Ser alltid fram mot att lÀsa det du skriver!/Eva
Tack Eva, för dina fina tankar. Att se det som Ă€r bra varje dag var ocksĂ„ en sak som togs upp pĂ„ WikiHow. đ Tack för att du kikar in hĂ€r och delar med dig av egna erfarenheter, uppskattar det mycket!
Tog just en paus i planeringen av vinterns asienresa, och insĂ„g att det inte gĂ„r att skippa Indonesien i Ă„r heller. Ananasdamen pĂ„ stranden…. Den ljumma vinden,vĂ„gorna, solnedgĂ„ngarna den dĂ€r underbara vegetariska restaurangen i Ubud som jag inte minns namnet pĂ„, ska frĂ„ga min dotter… Ett bra stĂ€lle att slinka in pĂ„ nĂ€r man vill lĂ„ta alla intryck falla pĂ„ plats och batikarmarna kĂ€nns vĂ€l lĂ„nga.
Tack för alla vackra bilder och bokstÀver
à h, vad fint du skriver Sonja, nu lÀngtar jag ocksÄ till Ubud! Tack!
Ă vad hĂ€rligt skrivet! Just precis detta har jag ocksĂ„ gĂ„tt och funderat pĂ„ en tid… đ jag tĂ€nker lite som ananaskvinnan: det Ă„ker ju massvis med turister hit dĂ€r jag bor sĂ„ varför inte njuta av att vara hĂ€r! Vi svenskar bor ju i drömlandet för mĂ„nga… đ sĂ„ varför inte Ă€ven för mig?!
Kram
Anna
Eller hur! HÄller med till 100%. Ju lÀngre jag bor utomlands, desto mer tycker jag Sverige Àr exotiskt, fantastiskt, underbart vackert med sina trolska skogar och himmelsblÀnkande sjöar. Och jag mÀrker att de jag möter tycker likadant, sÀrskilt indonesier som aldrig sett snö till exempel⊠De drömmer om att nÄgon dag fÄ uppleva det. Tack för dina fina tankar Anna, kram!
Just denna förmÄga att vara aktiv i sitt eget liv, se glÀdjen och kÀnna tacksamheten, förhöjer livskvaliteten! Jag tror att jag skall börja bÀra nÄgra ananaser pÄ huvudet!
Visst Ă€r hon vacker, ananasdamen! Hon Ă€ger hela stĂ€llet đ Gillar henne ocksĂ„ som metafor för en medveten livsinstĂ€llning.