Embrace your crazy!

Embrace your crazy!
Why?​

We humans have a deep bias to conformity, fitting in, being accepted.  It first emerges in childhood and can give us a struggle as adults seeking to identify our unique gifts and bring them to the world.

Why?

We humans have a deep bias to conformity, fitting in, being accepted.  It first emerges in childhood and can give us a struggle as adults seeking to identify our unique gifts and bring them to the world.

Deep down, our differences can concern us, especially if we have experienced any rejection for having them.
 
Even though we are given the power to choose, we, humans, often prefer to conform rather than “freak others out” with our “distinctiveness”. Most of us prefer to often bury our unique gifts to the world just to fit in because what “the world” might define as crazy in one, “it” may just define as eccentric in another.  However, history exemplifies how risking rejection is necessary for full expression. 

Consider the artists who were never appreciated in their lifetime and who now have art that is found in museums, inspiring others beyond their lifetime. 

Do you love your extremes? Can you love your changing and shifting moods?  Do you appreciate the emotions that can serve to awaken you to a moment of inquiry, moments that provide opportunities to ask why?  Yes, seek to understand why, seek assistance to understand why, especially when your crazy may be limiting your possibilities rather than making them possible.  

Risking ridicule seems to be among our greatest challenges today with so many quick to judge, quick to find their own identity in comparison.  

Unfortunately many take the path of not loving themselves, keeping alive past criticisms and rejection that can lead them to exact similar behaviors toward others.  Kill or be killed, so to speak.

However, by loving ourselves, and all of our eccentricities, we open up a powerful path to loving others and all of their eccentricities.

Can you laugh at yourself, have fun with your crazy, your differences, your eccentricities?  If not, ask why not?Consider for example how extremely passionate people can be particularly disturbing to those who prefer a more temperate existence.  Neither is wrong, just different.

Frankly we humans have so much variety, each of us having our own unique ingredients that makes for an amazing human pot of stew.  Some of us are “more spicy” than others - do you like your flavor?  Are you bringing your full-on contribution to the whole?  If not, why?  Do you enhance the collective meal or make it a bit more bland and untasty?  There is nothing like harsh criticism, of ourselves and others, to sour our own meal.

Embracing our uniqueness, loving our eccentricities and seeing perceived weaknesses as strengths can lead to a more empowering way of living. Caring less about what others think and more about how our thinking can serve others is a pretty nice formula for life; and more likely to enhance everyone's life including yours. 
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Embrace your crazy!  Love all of you and all of your complexity and you'll find yourself more capable of loving others, bringing forth more fully your unique gifts to the world. 

Make it a great week!


Steve Luckenbach ​​