We Are More Than This

I want more.

I want excitement.

I want transformation.

I want endless potential.

I want to be more than I thought I could be, and to help others do the same.

I want to see the good in every person I meet without turning a blind eye to their blind spots.

I want someone to ask me, “What are you creating?” instead of “What are you watching?”

I want every single person to enjoy life.

I want to get my hands dirty.

I want community.

I want more.

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Do you ever feel

like you have so much more to offer than you’re able to show?

I’ve found myself, at different points in life, with an ache in the pit of my stomach that indicates some part of me wanting to expand into a hugeness that is within, itching to leap into action.

It’s usually when this feeling reaches an unbearable intensity that things begin to shift. It’s as though something in us knows, without doubt, that it’s time for what’s next, and our life falls in line with that new statement coming from within. Just as you can’t ever go back to ignorance after learning something new, you can’t fit a soul that has become something more into a life that is less.

You can halt the process though.

If you’ve ever experienced that feeling of, “I deserve more”, or “I’m bigger than this”, you know that it can go one of two ways. You can honor that feeling, and pay attention to the little nudges and opportunities that life tosses your way, or you can resist that feeling.

When we resist this instinct by allowing ourselves to feel unworthy of something bigger, something better, or by pretending that we don’t have the feeling at all, we are halting the natural flow of our lives.

We are meant to go after new experiences.

We’re designed to grow and change. What is life but a process of experience, assessment, and discovery of something new to chase?

But if we feel we aren’t good enough to be that successful self, or deserving of that promotion, or talented enough to land that opportunity, we throw a big old boulder on the path laid out for us.

We do this collectively too.

In many parts of the world people are feeling this burning in them for something better, for something more. They know at their core that there is something more beautiful, more in line with what we know deep within us than what we are allowing to take place at this time.

So what gets in the way?

Have you ever known someone who was phenomenally talented, or incredibly intelligent, or stunningly beautiful, but who could not see it? No matter how much you try to reassure them of their gifts and their worth, they stubbornly demure, and refuse to believe that they’re all that you say they are. It can be so frustrating to be with someone you love who cannot see themselves the way that anyone outside of themselves would.

Could it be that we are doing this to ourselves?

We want to be generous, but we condemn ourselves as greedy.

We want to live in harmony with nature, but we complain constantly about how awfully short-sighted and selfish we are.

We want everyone on this planet to have enough to eat, yet we tell ourselves we are powerless to affect hunger unless someone else, someone more influential, or someone with more wealth does it for us.

We want peace, yet we constantly recount the evidence of our violence.

What if the first step toward greater peace, increased health, and demonstrable unity among our communities is seeing ourselves as capable of achieving them, without doubt and without cynicism?

It’s time to tell a new story. 

It's time for a new idea about ourselves, and about our collective selves.

“I am fabulous” leads to “we are fabulous”.

“I am strong” translates to “we are strong”.

“I am worthy of happiness” becomes “we are worthy of happiness”.

“I choose peace” brings us to “we choose peace”.

It’s a two-fold lesson. To demand that you treat yourself with enough respect to go after the life you know is waiting for you, and to demand that we treat ourselves with enough respect to go after the world we know is calling us.

Maya Angelou

once wrote: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

I believe we carry this story as individuals and as citizens. Our agony is not truly coming from our struggle, it is coming from our knowing that we want more. That we are more.

Step 1:

I am more. We are more.

I am excitement. We are excitement.

I am transformation. We are transformation.

I am endless potential. We are endless potential.

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Much love,

N