We’re taught from the start that something is missing — that we must fix ourselves to find peace. But what if the key isn’t in perfecting or erasing our flaws, but in embracing them — finding freedom in the beautiful mess of being human?
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Do we have to banish our demons before we can truly live?
The billion-dollar industry of self-help, personal growth, and spiritual awakening often rests on the premise that something is inherently wrong with us. How did this happen? From the moment we’re born — before we can reason or even understand words — we’re conditioned to believe we’re broken. This belief burrows so deeply that it lingers until the day we die, only to reveal, perhaps too late, that it was never true.
I’ve wrestled with my own shadows, adopting ideas that weren’t mine or twisting truths in my search for clarity. These beliefs thrived on the frustrations and confusion I felt about life and the people in it. Yet beneath it all, I’ve always been driven by a desire to understand and improve the human experience — starting with myself.
Music and words are my chosen mediums, supported by images and an unshakable curiosity about life’s mysteries. Feeling my way through it all has always been central to my process. Words often fall short, but perhaps the next song, essay, or conversation will come closer. Isn’t that why we sift through countless books, studies, and dialogues — for those rare morsels of wisdom that stick?
But here’s the question: since we can never truly “get it done” — not in one lifetime or a thousand — why should we obsess over fixing everything? How could we, in a single fleeting life, possibly be here to save anyone or anything?
As a modern culture, we exist in a chaotic, tangled mess. It’s maddening and liberating all at once — how wildly and extravagantly we live across the spectrum of human experience. Every size, shape, color, emotion, and disposition is expressed somewhere by someone. It’s extraordinary. It’s terrifying. It’s… eerily perfect.
There’s no need to disguise the wounds of the heart, nor should there be. Betrayal cuts deeply and leaves its mark, but it’s self-betrayal, self-denial, and self-loathing that we have the power to heal. Through conscious awareness, authentic living, and periodic spiritual upheaval, we can rewrite the stories we tell ourselves. And as we honor ourselves, we naturally learn to honor others.
Life doesn’t ask us to conquer fear; it asks us to engage with it. It’s not only about “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” It’s about feeling the fear, accepting it, and moving forward because something within us dares to explore the unknown — something uncomfortable, challenging, and potentially beautiful.
Because beyond fear lies knowing. And all knowing becomes available… when we’re ready.
Solvitur ambulando
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“Real Me [The Fantabulous Mix]” from Wander… Another Path