Question Everything…Absolutely Everything. Even Yourself.
Children are beautiful little buddhas reminding us of our innate innocence. They look at all things with fresh eyes as they come to find their toes, learn their names, and discover their place in this place called earth. They don’t fully understand what it means to be human, yet, but with each passing day, they learn, as we all have.
Like a wild animal in a zoo, we all become tame to what is acceptable and unacceptable, we learn the do’s and don’ts, and most importantly, we begin to identify with what we must do and be in order to achieve and succeed in said zoo-ish world. It is the formation of the “Human To Do List,” where we check off one by one what it means to be a successful, living, breathing human being. Yet this is where children thrive and serve their divine purpose, it is their ability to remind us to question everything and anything.
How often do you pause and ask yourself the following?
Why do I do what I do?
Why do I want what I want?
Am I really enjoying myself?
What really makes me happy?
If I knew failure was not an option, what would I do? What would I be doing right now?
In our race to understand what it means to be human, in fear of being left behind or considered the “crazy one,” we put aside all questions and merge into the flow of the matrix, the convenient construct, never pausing to even ask one of the most primal questions we ever had as a child, “why?” Perhaps in fear of being an annoyance, as we learned when we were younger not to be, we stopped asking such a powerful question. We didn’t realize at the time that in asking such an inquiry to an adult was merely a painful reminder that they once had such a curiosity and a desire to know but no longer do because at some point they were silenced, leaving only the shell of the strict, law-abiding adult standing in front of the reflection of innocence before them. It may sound bleak but it is never the last act in the play, and since we are the leading actress/actor, director, and writer, we are always free to pause in mid-performance and ask, “why?” We are always free to return to the innocence that lies within us, always.
One of the most popular questions that most likely lingers in everyone’s mind more than once a day is, “why am I here?” It is a weighty question, and albeit and important one, but sometimes it masks the other “why’s” we can be asking throughout the day. For example, this morning as I awoke to meditate, the moment I heard my alarm and opened my eyes, I asked myself, “why do I meditate? What is it that is so important that I am willing to get up at 4:00 a.m.?” At that moment, I could not think of a compelling reason and in doing so, I recognized that although meditation has wonderful benefits, it had, for the time being, fallen into my category of “just going through the motions.” Yes, meditation is beneficial but I realized that the experience of meditating was beginning to fall short for me and that it has been a while since I had questioned if the schedule of getting up early and sitting in silence practicing Vipassana meditation was still working for me. Why was I making the commitment to do it?
As I had approached embracing a nutritional change, embarking on the Whole30, I became aware that at this point in time it is a moment to once more question everything and to continue to question everything. I had been complacent in many ways, doing what I thought was nutritionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually “right” for me, but I forgot to continue to ask myself, “why am I doing what I am doing? Am I enjoying myself? Is this where I want to put my energy in life?”
A sense of freedom and physical lightness comes from allowing the contemplation of such questions. As I have raised the ban on eating animal-based proteins in the last two days, I have felt more free. It is as though I have cleaned my slate and am staring at a blank canvas before me, asking myself basic questions from sun up to sun down, “what do I want and why do I want it?” Sometimes we forget why we have chosen what we have chosen in the first place. We forget why we wanted a certain job, the city we live in, and the partner we share our lives with. Somehow, magic perhaps, our choices begin to fade into the background of life while we stroll through until we are given miraculous moments where we can stop and once more realize our innate innocence to question everything.
Thus, today, question absolutely everything, even yourself. Most importantly, yourself. Listen to your innocent heart and revisit and reclaim the choices you are making. And if certain choices are no longer serving you, make the commitment to choose something different and to take steps in that direction. After all, life, itself, began with a question, “what if…?” Namaste.