On the Bright Side

One of the greatest benefits of getting older is becoming clearer on who I really am and what I am all about. Young people often lack the confidence, skills, and life experience to narrow down exactly what makes them tick. Growing up is a process of trying on different personalities and engaging with different kinds of people to identify which parts of ourselves we want to accentuate and which we want to discard. I used to love the beginning of a new school year. One year I was punk, the next year a cheerleader. I went from Rizzo to Sandy in less than six months. In college, I minored in dance and changed my major three times. If people didn’t know me better, they might think I had Multiple Personality Disorder. Bear with me, I’m not making light of this affliction. In fact, it is one of the reasons I majored in Psychology. I really relate to the idea that there are many, many personalities inside of each of us, and am fascinated by the way these voices are socialized, controlled, ...

They go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; like peanut butter and chocolate; like milk and cookies. You can’t really have one without the other. On the other hand, ‘now’ and ‘zen’ are like oil and water if you happen to be in the middle of a tooth extraction, as complete presence in a moment like that is a challenge - hence the Novocaine! The point is, you can really only appreciate the fullness of each moment if you stay in the present. Kids get this. They live in the present. They have no worries about paying the mortgage or going to a job every day. They have no one else depending on them. They are not yet aware enough to even think about their purpose in this world. Nope - they just lose themselves in play. And interestingly, the way they play is so close to the true spirit of their being that if they could just hold on what makes them happy their future might be so much easier. They create, they sing, they role play, they run, spin, and they fall down to their hear...