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OWN OUR LOOKING GLASS

Thursday Feb. 26, 2015


Authenticity.

Vulnerability.

Are these identical?

Of course.

Of course not.

Contradiction or corroboration?

Reminders yesterday – people see us best, at our best, when we being ourselves without thinking about it.

Unvarnished, unpolished, going about our business – speaking what is on our mind, acting on impulses, representing ourselves instinctively without pausing to wonder how we should speak or act.

Our guard down, consumed by something, oblivious to pretension or fatigued or elated or ill … something takes us outside normal-skin behavior.

In touch with 5-yr. old self – not saying “pinch me”, nothing went poof.

All while feeling stuffy wheezing of this cold I’ve caught fully arriving in my body. Did I catch cold because my guard was down? Did I have a great conversation over lunch because my guard was down?

Did I welcome a unique chance meeting at my hair stylist (my weekly trim, beard trim and scalp massage), several lovely conversations throughout day and evening because of that great day I was having, or was I having a great day because all those things that were happening?

Very good things happened, surprising things happened (pleasing to me), planned things unfolded as planned. NOTHING negative. That was just my morning.

Lunch meeting, haircut, afternoon and evening, laughing all the way to the bank …

Poignantly reminded, this subtle shift, this transparency of being vulnerable without acting vulnerable, transparency, being authentic without acting authentic.

Transparency is not seeing through glass.

It is being the glass.

They are the same, and they are not.

Authenticity and vulnerability are not the same.

They CAN occur at the same moment.

It’s magic when they do …

 

 

Mark Kolke

column written/ published from Calgary, AB

morning walk:  -14C/6F, overcast – but the snowing stopped; windy, fresh fluffy whiteness everywhere, happy dog, happy owner …


Reader feedback:

WE ARE HERE

Agreed, I just started reading the book "the Magic" by same as "The Secret", all about being grateful.  I am very grateful, every day I see someone with many more struggles than I have and I always remind myself of that, sometimes being grateful takes a little more work but once again look around you, you will see the proof.  MM, Arlington Heights, IL

Hello, My friend has shared some of your wonderful musings with me – loved them. Would it be possible to add me to your e-mail list? Thanks! PJD, Calgary, AB


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