Farewell, 2023.
A year not without its challenges, but still, a lot of lessons learned.
By Arjuna Maria
Let me share this quote I read before the year 2023 ended for me..
You didn’t come here to straighten out the world. You didn’t come here to make peace. You didn’t come here to teach people anything or to show anybody anything. You are here in order to wake up, to awaken, to awaken from the mortal dream. That’s all you’re here for. You’re not here for any other reason. — Robert Adams
This year has become a mark of my maturity. It reminded me not to betray what my body, mind, and soul knows what is the best for me. I put my boundaries up and not afraid to people please anymore. I admit, thoughts of them still come up and I just witness them. I learned to honor my self, my truth and my happiness most of all.
But what does that really mean in practical ways for me? This is all about discipline and control of how I express my feelings as well as my forerunning thoughts. This is about being less judgmental of my perceived weaknesses and limitations. This is about accepting my self wholeheartedly and to remind my self that I do not have to do anything, perform or please any body in order to be accepted and loved. My value is inherent in who I am. And those who does not recognize that, I do not have to do anything to change their mind. The truth is you cannot do that, and you must not. People exists with their preconceived notions of what is good and what is bad, of what is attractive or not, and wasting your energy in changing their position just screams that you are hungry for validation. Validation that will not ever fill your satisfaction because there is always that one person, who’s hatred towards you outweigh those people who are silently supporting your true authentic self.
But really, who are you? Do you ever find the time to question your existence? What are you here on this existence for?
The problem of this world is that we want to feel significant. It is a valid feeling. But it becomes a problem when the motivation for being significant is to save the world and to feel so above others, just because you have achieved a certain status, power, influence, level of wealth, beauty or certain relationship. It becomes a problem because we do not see people any more as human beings, we see them as beings of value, or worse market value. Relationships become insanely transactional that we are not able to humble ourselves enough to emulate true empathy.
But, alas, people will still do what they want to do to feel significant. This is what makes this life worthwhile anyway. Fast forward to the future, our small little problems and worries becomes so insignificant the same with our existence. And we can wonder if it was all worth it after all?
Another message that came through with me before the year ended was that, happiness, joy, peace and true love — all the beautiful things in this world has one similar quality. It is that these things are quiet and unspoken of. True happiness, true joy, true peace and true love are all quiet. They are only felt but cannot really be expressed in words.
So whatever we post in social media are all fabricated, the true happiness that we feel will only be witnessed in real life, in real time, in real moments that can never be replaced anymore.
What I strive to be for this year is to have more authentic moments as such, not curated, not filtered, not rehearsed. Love that is shared true quietness, joy that is shared through smiles, happiness that are heard through the in-betweens of hard held breaths of laughter. That is what I wanna live for.
And that is what we wanna live for. I wish everyone these moments with all my heart.
Happy New Year.
