The utopia of being yourself: how to learn to know and discover yourself
” Young people want to dream, they want to have a utopia, they want to think that a better world is possible, and that’s the beauty of it. So why define utopia as negative? In my opinion you can really change the world, but to do it first we must be able to change ourselves.
It is clear that we cannot consume more than we already consume or try to dramatically increase the standard of living, indeed we should try to reduce it or at least not waste it. It is perverse to think that progress means growth.
To realize. Only by becoming aware of what we do in vain can we understand what are the things we really need, really useful to live better, to take more time. »─ Tiziano Terzani interviewed by Federica Morrone in 2002.
Today a memory from my childhood appeared so clear that it opened my mind. Apparently the quote from Tiziano Terzani that I inserted at the beginning of this post-thought seems to have nothing to do with what I will write but, follow me.
As I told you, today a memory from my childhood has emerged. It’s funny how sometimes matters are resolved in the simplest way possible. In recent years I have been looking for a sense, a strategy, to give shape to everything I do trying to control it. The more I checked it, the more it got out of hand.
This last sentence is now liberating: full control over everything is the biggest rip-off of all time. Only when you manage to lose control of everything do you realize how fragile and funny you are compared to the magnitude of everything around you. Nothing was created by chance, nothing is there by chance but it is there to fully support your life to express it to the fullest but above all to BE .
A few weeks ago I returned to Italy after a trip to the Baltic countries ( Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ), for the Eneloop Ambassador’s Tour project and everything took on a different meaning. I came back from this trip with the awareness that too many times we let ourselves be stopped by our mental limits and we preclude ourselves from the fantastic experiences that are right there in front of our eyes to be lived. Could it be for fear of the judgment of others? Could it be because we are too involved in such trivial matters when compared to the greatness of nature?
I cannot give a single and certain answer, each one having the task of looking for his own answer. This fantastic journey gave me two important answers that I will treasure:
- The limits that the mind places in front of us are right there to be overcome
- Every limit you cross is a door that opens to express yourself
The awareness of being able to overcome one’s limits has an inexplicable beneficial effect, once a limit we set ourselves has been achieved and exceeded, the bar of what you want to achieve rises to an ever higher level and that’s where you start to live, to breathe every moment of this life.
What are the limits you set yourself? Which are the ones you want to overcome?
As I said at the beginning of this post, today a childhood memory took me back at least twenty years: it brought me back to the exact moment in which I lived the experience of receiving as a gift a game that I had dreamed of for months. At that moment, in the naivety of the child, I was expressing myself exactly without any barrier and without any construction or mask. I shared my happiness with the world, for me at the height of joy and for others perhaps so futile but important for me.
This is the concept I take home tonight after this stream of writing. The expression of my happiness is important, freedom of expression is my happiness as the lightness in being able to simply live, without any kind of mask to filter what I feel.
What you feel, express it. Make it yours and give it to the world.
Good night.
