Month: January 2019

Advertising your uniqueness.

“When you have to advertise your uniqueness constantly, you become very fragile.” – Richard Rohr on the Liturgist Podcast

Advertise = Describe or draw attention to in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.

What are we promoting when we advertise our uniqueness? 

A certain identity we hope others see.

The alternative to our insecurity we hide.

More here but requires deep thinking…

 

Where do I sense the need to display and make clear my uniqueness?

At what spaces in my life do I sense this desire inside myself?

I should confront those spaces with authority. The authority which I do not need to advertise my uniqueness. There is a truth of who I am which does not need advertising.

My people know this. If I am not confident of that I need to invest more in my people and myself.

 

Why does uniqueness matter so much to me?

More on this question to come.

“Are true” vs. “Can be true”

I hope to create spaces where people are true.

When claiming this I switched between the phrasing “can be true” and “are true.”

Can be true allows the other to interface with the space how they choose and gives them full responsibility of if they will or will not be true. This is sacred in the sense that it gives someone freedom and choice. However it removes me from being responsible for doing anything more than “setting the table.”

I hope to do more than simple set the table. I hope to set the table, encourage conversation, ask probing questions, empower others to speak up and be.

That’s why I settle on “are true.” It gives me more agency to lead others to a place of being true. Rather than letting myself off the hook for a partial attempt, I now am the party responsible for doing all I can to make it so.

Of course I’m likely swinging too far in this by thinking I can make the change fully on my own. I must rely on the other to also join but I hope to not swing too far the other way of letting myself off the hook.