Have you ever questioned who you truly are? And then i’m not referring to the external layer of your personality! We can all see how one looks and behaves. But don’t we somehow seem to get a bit lost sometimes in it or get too focused on this outside crust of our being. Like we hold on to much to this self-made personality. Some call it ego, the other self etc… but who are you? That was my question… Are we the person we pretend to be? Or is there something deeper in us. I might say i’m a vegan, jumping through life on flip flops catching waves and digging with my hands in the dirt to get a sweet potato out of the ground. Or am I a soul on a sacred journey trapped in a human body to learn about love , light and forgiveness… Probably a bit of both. Somewhere in between. I guess it’s never good to lean too much to one side. Extreme is never a good answer. Unless it’s extreme happiness. : ) So just to tell you that it’s not the best to be to focussed on neither of these sides. There is only one black and one white, but endless shades of grey (so E. L. James who wrote “50 shades of grey” missed out on a few… Good news ladies, there are more to fantasise about :p). But let’s get back on track here… and yet we tend to hold on so much to our shade we choose to be the only true one.
But we cannot blame ourselves. We grew up in a society where individuality became so important that it started to dominate us. So we just became a victim in a way. We followed the flow. We didn’t know any better. Everybody does it, so do I. “Individuality is important”, they all say. “I have the right to work on my personal growth”, would another reply. And sure they have that right. I’m the first to support people in their growth… But is working on that external layer of what you call personality really growing as a soul?? And are we sometimes not confusing growth of the soul with attention to the ego? Coming to my point, this is a very important topic if we think community style. I think that here we have to make a sort of quantum leap. Change your way of thinking. Put the focus on the bigger picture. If one is to focused on it’s personal growth and focused on his own, he or she will not fit in the wholeness of community life. It’s of course finding the balance between the two extremities. Blend a few shades of grey together.
We all have our believes, our vision, our habits and history. We were given different values throughout our childhood. Each got influenced by another culture and another peer group. And all of that made you the the beautiful person you are now. Your personality has been formed from birth till today. How you will continue to form and reshape your personality is determent by your dreams and hopes… And I hope they are magnificent, sustainable and will flower nothing but good memories. So yeah, you are you and I am me, all with completely different backgrounds and emotional baggage and yet… we all have something in common. That big dream to create something were the future generation can look up to. Something they can enjoy, live for and continue to create with their wisdom, as they will be wiser than we will ever be… The future will look bright, if we unite and create a solid base for them to grow on now. And that’s why we all need to join forces. That is why it’s the perfect time for Vegoa to rise and lead more people into a sustainable and ethical way of living. If not now, WHEN???
All around the world communities are rising like mushrooms out of the ground. More and more people have figured out that just being a little dot of paint on the wall isn’t what they want to be. They want to be a piece of art themselves. And damn right they are! You are all divine, once you believe you are. Once you’ve just got hold on a grasp of your full potential, you’ll find a way to grow. Even if its with baby steps.. But you will grow!! Your inner self will grow, not your ego and with inner growth comes happiness. A form of happiness that money can’t buy. If we pull on the same side, we can attract anything we want. But to realise a project of this size as Vegoa is, one needs to sometimes put aside his personal shade of grey and blend in with the shade of his fellow neighbours. Personal conflict is the bigger topic why communities fail. People disagree about a certain subject and keep their point of view without considering meeting somewhere in the middle. And believe it or not. That is what we call ego. I’m right and you are not!! What I learned already, wandering this planet, is that there are endless possibilities of right… Easy like Sunday morning, right? Just find a ‘right’ that suites both of you. Mix dark grey with light grey and come up with darklight grey…
If we want to contribute to make the change possible, we have to decide what we see as a priority: Defending our own personal believes or the ones that might one day save the world… Tolerance, Modesty, Unity, Flexibility Coherence, , … they are all beautiful words.
But they are even more beautiful if we truly put them in practice… Think, Talk, Act… and do it positive.
Bart