Being Original in 2010

Being original is not really fun. I think we worship it in our culture so that we keep it at a distance from our own personal experience. Unfolding our own originality is a struggle and it really isn’t glamorous. It’s uncomfortable actually because you don’t have any guideposts as you make your way through territory that doesn’t seem to make sense at first. If you’ve ever done this, you know it takes a lot of courage to do what you feel from your own heart, to make or say something without any authority but your own. The “authorities” don’t like really like it either, so it’s not unusual to be punished with exclusion or ridicule because we have chosen our own paths, our own ideas, without a place to “fit in”.

Sure, we like to tell ourselves that originality is important and special, to strive for it, or to amuse ourselves with someone else’s “originality”. It even looks as though originality is rewarded in our world, but if you look more carefully at this, the reward comes at a high price. It comes after the numbers show up, the money arrives, and the investment is made. That’s when being original “pays off”. We hear it in the mission statement goals of many organizations and makes for good business jargon. But it takes an original mind to recognize one. How many times have you heard the stories of the music powerbrokers who passed on a great musical original who later become iconic with another label, and lived to regret it?

Original may not mean NEW, so I guess it’s easy to be confused. What’s new may only be a more convenient, more effective way to do something very old  – the toilet is not an original idea for example, but it certainly provided a new and better way to pee!

In contrast, the guy who first walked around England in the 1700s with an umbrella over his head in the rain got rocks and mud thrown at him. Now that’s an original idea! Everyone else felt that it was an affront to be dry when clearly nature meant you not to be. See what I mean? Original means maybe only you know it’s right, and you don’t care what the majority thinks. Well, in this case, they were very wrong. Seems to happen a lot.

Each of us is an original, a specific imprint of frequency on the invisible movement of waves that our entire world is really made out of. (Science already knows the world is made up of invisibles, not solid objects.) So if you’ve forgotten the original part of yourself, pick up the scent again. Get on your own trail and find out what and who you really are. Research your own stuff, don’t take anyone’s word for it. Know that being original –  in your ideas, your feelings, your expression and not waiting for the OK from on-high to make your point – IS THE POINT.  What is original about you cannot be taken away by anyone or anything. It’s the only part of you that you can really call your own.

Happy 2010. There is no one like you and there never will be. Don’t underestimate your originality and don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you don’t have any. We’ve suffered the consequences of “originality fear” for centuries and look at where that got us. So go for it. I’ll be with you all the way.