Sunday Story...Be Brave

Every day we have an opportunity to “put it out there”. For some of us putting it out there may mean putting our art, our effort out into the public for open viewing. Writing, drawing, painting, speaking, dancing, performing all require a bravery to get into the arena a let the world have a look at our art. We open ourselves to the slings and arrows of criticism; we allow the world to have at our efforts because we are brave.

But how brave am I, really? Because, at the bottom of it, it hurts much more to keep it inside than it will ever hurt to let it out, no matter what the public outcry may be. Keeping my dance locked up hurts my soul. Keeping my words off the paper drives me insane with ideas bouncing off my brain. The images in my head need to get out or the risk of loss is just too high.

I can be afraid of criticism, I can fear ridicule from my peers, and I can be scared that what I am doing is simply not good enough, or too amateur-ish, but I can’t keep it inside…the cost of doing that is too high. The price of keeping my art inside is one of mediocrity. The cost of a life of quiet desperation is to admit failure, to admit that we never tried to be excellent, never tried to be great.

This applies to your life in every arena. The price of poor nutrition is what? The cost of being unfit is what? The expense of not setting goals, not learning new skills, not being better is what? Too damn high if you ask me. The cost of all those things is a life of quiet desperation, a life of terminal mediocrity. Is that who you are? Is that who you want your children to be? I hope we all want more than that from ourselves, for our children…I want excellence in every area. Why would I accept anything less than increasing fitness, outstanding health, and a life full of goals set and met?

We all have fear. We all have a piece of ourselves that wants to be lazy; the part that wants to just sit around and eat junk and do nothing. The part that denies the art that live inside of us that is aching to escape and fly free. Your art might be on a canvas, a page, a dance floor, or a gym mat but it is there nonetheless. Depriving the world of your art is selfish and small. Depriving the rest of us of the shining example of your excellence is criminal.

Put it out there. Don’t try it, do it. Every chance you get, just do it. Pretty soon it will become a habit and the fear will fade and excellence will be ingrained in your psyche.

And that is never going to be a bad thing.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

Follow me at:
Twitter --- http://m.twitter.com/jmariotti
FaceBook --- John Mariotti
Blog Spots…John Mariotti
http://sunday-stories.blogspot.com/