I am often meeting new individuals in my day to day, through face to face interactions, online or at a grocery store, visiting friends where I meet new friends etc. Through these interactions I participate in getting to know more of the life and story of several who have grown up, at least, on the same earth as me... dwelling in the world to which at some level, I actually belong. So often though, I am beside myself at the lack of confidence I see in others. It deeply saddens me. I've often said, face to face with an individual, “you know, you would do well to wear confidence as a your adornment, on the very outer layer of who you are, so it covers all parts about your amazing self. It would suit you well” I’d say. I have yet to meet someone who is showing a lack of confidence that I think wouldn't look better with the stuff. Seems so easy like “man, just pick somma this stuff up, put it on for size, you’ll get used to it in no time!”. Turns out that ish ain’t that easy.
Blessings and blessings ago, I came upon an opportunity to begin working/volunteering in my neighborhood on a more full time basis helping to strengthen a sense of community. During my time here, in my community, my home, I began to look at my own utter lack of confidence at times and to start to try to unravel its mystery. After all, I was no exception; I knew I was best dressed in confidence. Not the kind of false confidence that is perpetuated by an ego, but the kind that comes from the soul... a confidence in something greater than my individuality... that set me thinking.
As the neighborhood I live in becomes more than just a series of roads I drive on to get home it turns into this beautiful thing called a community. Sometimes you are too close to a chrysalis to realize that soon you are going to have a butterfly on your hands. And then it began. Relationships started forming. “Hi’s” and “Hello’s” on the street turned into conversations on porches. Conversations on front stoops gave way to time shared around tables, eating together, sharing culture, something not given by individuals, but communities themselves.
As the neighborhood I live in becomes more than just a series of roads I drive on to get home it turns into this beautiful thing called a community. Sometimes you are too close to a chrysalis to realize that soon you are going to have a butterfly on your hands. And then it began. Relationships started forming. “Hi’s” and “Hello’s” on the street turned into conversations on porches. Conversations on front stoops gave way to time shared around tables, eating together, sharing culture, something not given by individuals, but communities themselves.
You see, the more I plod along in this journey of my soul on this earth, coming out of this individualistic society that I do, I realize something. The issue with confidence maybe isn't always something to be solved at an individual level. Maybe a sense of community, a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves, has a hole lot to do with it. For me personally, when I am confident, it is directly intertwined with a greater closeness to what I appreciate calling “God”. Yet again, something bigger than ME. Funny thing is, my confidence has been steadily on the rise lately, and I have began just recently to start seeing that the budding community I am in and among has a whole lot to do with that. You see, I am an individual at some level. Here I am, the guy typing these words, hoping they connect with YOUR soul. Not trying to find an audience, but a nodding head that says that these words could come from your mouth too. I desire our unity. Now adding to that the fact that I am one human being in Central Neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN, USA, Earth and I automatically have something to be more confident in- I am part of a people.
The beautiful and fortunate thing for me about being part of “a people” in the US is that my people here come from all over the damn earth. Problem lies in the individualistic culture we have to tear through, coming from so many many backgrounds, to become a people ourselves. We are representative of several countries and cultures. Though that all exists for us, we are in the midst of forming a collective identity here. The beings here, we are individuals that are bringing with us different flavors, colors, smells and shapes to weave into this beautiful tapestry called “Central Neighborhood”, we are seeing a greater vision. The vision alone, this “shadow” of what can soon be, is something to wake up in the morning with and feel a sense of peace, tranquility and wholesomeness.
A word for all that, I like to say, is confidence.
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