Saturday, March 4, 2017

Week 1 Harris: Find unity with yourself

When thinking about how much we hide from others for the fear of judgement and disapproval, it shows how much we try to “fit in” on a daily basis. In the video done by Parker J. Palmer, he started off showing a piece of paper and how one side represents the onstage life and the other side represents the backstage life. The onstage life is how we portray ourselves in front of people with the thought of influence, image, impact, and question if others like us or if we are making a difference. The backstage life is focusing more on instinct, belief, faith, and the deeper sources such as soul and being. This shows how we have two different parts of ourselves, and when we choose to let them show.
 After thinking about this, I can relate to exactly to what he was saying daily. I work as a personal trainer at a huge fitness facility. I constantly know that people are judging me by how I look and watch as I work with clients. I am conscious of this every day, and it is very stressful to deal with. This leads to always wanting to look my best and be who others think a personal trainer should be. Without having to say anything, I am constantly fighting my onstage and backstage life to make it through a workday because I know I am very healthy and in shape, but I might not look “perfect” to other people working out there. As Parker mentioned, “It is not safe to be our backstage truth in the onstage world.” Being afraid to be who you really are just because of fear of rejection can hold people back on many levels. It takes time to be comfortable around people before you really let your real self out. An example of this would be when you first start dating someone. You don’t want to show them your “silly side’ too quickly, so you put on a front until you feel more comfortable. This can be the same with just normal friends. For me, I have a handful of best friends I can be my complete self around, don’t need to get ready for, and can just relax together. We can talk about all topics and express our own opinions because we know we can without the fear of judgement. It took some time to get to this stage and to be open with these people. I think this is what Parker was trying to say with his video. We want to have unity in our life and become centered and we allow are back stage, values and beliefs, come to external life. We want to be our whole selves all the time and not have to hide behind a shadow and just show the minimal to certain people.
 The purpose of the Mobius Strip is to not be afraid to be yourself all the time. It is a way to be continuous and unbroken from the inside and outside surface so there is no distinct inner and outer side. We ultimately want them to co-create each other and we can interact with others using both our inside and outside truths. We want to be able to form wholeness and be who we were born to be and to not be afraid to show the true us. We don’t want to judge others for their beliefs because that just puts up another wall. We want to accept others for being strong enough to be themselves, and that helps create unity for all.

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