Self Expression and the Eco System

I have always wondered why in nature we can see the beauty in the most abstract things yet in our human experience of each other we often view or judge the ones who are “not the same” as us as some how less than, as if there was some unwritten code of conduct or self expression that we must adhere to. I think for the exception of issue dealing with moral conduct and the harming of another, should we not be allowed to be freely expressed as long it does not do harm to another or to ourselves? I think some of the challenges we face in our ability to be self –expressed is we may be lacking in certain areas that inhibit us from truly opening up and being free. One of the areas that many people lack nowadays is their physical health, and being diminished in their ability to fully self expressed on that level. Our ability to think, feel, move, be independent, relies heavily on our state of our health, from our muscles and organs, from our internal bio-chemistry, to the strength of our heart and lungs. Any lack in any of these areas certainly can limit our self-expression and ultimately our joy of living. How about our capacity to verbally express ourselves? Do we have the word power to make ourselves understood, or are we lacking in deep expression with language, and the many thoughts and feelings are bubbling just below the surface, waiting their time to be heard? Perhaps the issue is not from lack of word power, but of courage to express with words, the desires of our soul. Do we repress these ideas from being birthed for fear of ridicule and rejection? Do we yearn to be heard, but fear our voice will be to small to be heard?

Where is all this going you may ask? I was looking out into nature one day and realized that it is a fundamental law of the universe, and that law is the law of full expression. Humans are the only organisms on the planet I can think of that willfully diminish themselves, become less than on purpose, and often choose to not express themselves to their fullest capacity. Is it vanity to fully expressed physically, emotionally, spirituality, or sexually?

When we look at nature we can see the very opposite to be true. Every organism from the microbe to the plankton, to the seahorse all the way up the giant redwoods, are all living up to their full potential. Does the redwood worry about the fir tree and decide not to be majestic due to not making the fir tree feel less than? Does the peacock refuse to fan its beautiful tail feathers because the sparrow may feel diminished? Nature has long understood that the health of the planet occurs “only” when every organism is fully expressed, focusing on their innate intelligence to be all they can be so that the whole can survive and indeed thrive. There is no arrogance there, just divine intelligence and a beautiful symphony of life that we all enjoy every day. We are a part of that universal eco system, and I find that when we dare to allow ourselves to be fully expressed just for the joy of being alive, the world around us become more, people around us get lifted up, and love flourishes as we find ourselves unfettered from the shackles of our own insecurity. It has been a part of my journey these past few decades to explore all aspects of life, to ensure that before the final curtain call every song that I was born with has been sung, and that every great deed I was tasked to do has been done.

An old dear client of mine who passed away in her eighties had a favorite saying that her daughter relayed to me on her wake “when I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'. What an amazing way to live your life, to be a fully expressed of the universal eco system, to have lived so fully that the world will be forever changed because you showed up ready to live out loud!

C. David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler