Pave Your Own Path

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“Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.”

~Buddha

 

In a time where we are compelled to follow and like others and where we are connected 24/7 to an influx of messages, ads, information, etc., we can fall into the trap of having others pave our path or set our direction. We can begin to define ourselves by the acceptance of others but not by ourselves.

Inadvertently we get influenced or distracted by what others are doing or saying and by the increasing noise around us. We may start to long to be like others, to have more things, to have different life styles, etc. We create expectations for ourselves that are not aligned with our true selves—as we have lost sight of who we are.

We live in a “cookie-cutting” factory with the aim of maintaining consistency and compliance. We live in an environment of followers, and more so, a society that rewards or recognizes following as a good or preferred thing. And social media encourages this. rocks mountains sun

It is common behavior to follow others among us. This is somewhat of a flaw in current social design, and seemingly getting worse by a world wide phenomena–fueled by social media—of measuring our selves by who we follow, who is following us and who likes us. This trap keeps us preoccupied, distracted and in-line to follow or copy others by design. In this state are we really expressing who we truly are? Are we mindlessly hitting the “like” button without contemplating what we are liking? Are we following others since it seems that everyone else is?

Yes, it is an amazing thing on one hand that we have tools that help keep us connected to those not in our physical space. But is the following of others in this online world leaving us with a false sense of connection? Is it promulgating a behavior of constantly comparing ourselves to others? Is it creating lower vibrating energies of envy and want?

We are conditioned to believe that our net worth equates to happiness, and with this many people strive to be more, do more and have more. But do these actions and things give happiness, contentment or peace?  Many strive to have more connections and see what others are doing but do so from a smart phone or computer screen and do not get out in the world. They forget to look up and look forward, and for some it keeps them looking back.

It is easy today to get caught up in following others and comparing yourself to others, and it is easy to go along with crowd. I encourage you to stop and contemplate the questions I put out in this post. I encourage you to take a different route by listening and hearing you, and to pave your own path.

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