I Only Know What I Can Do.
There’s a great line from a movie I like that I use to try to keep my mind in the right place. Facing almost certain death, one character turns to the other and says “I don’t know what I am supposed to do, I only know what I can do”.
In that one line, the character admits both a weakness and a strength. The strength is easy to see, but the weakness is a little more complex.
Because it’s not that he doesn’t know, it’s that he believes in ‘supposed to’.
So many of us live our lives in the shadow of supposition. Maybe it’s due to the expectations of a partner, or the deeply held wishes of a family member, or maybe just some belief that we have somehow picked up along the way.
However we got to this point, believing that there is something you are ‘supposed to do’ in any situation is the fastest way I know to cut off possibilities, and funnel yourself into a pathway that may not be the one that is most in alignment with your soul.
And inevitably, that comes back to bite you at some point.
If you find yourself in that place, don’t worry, you’re not alone. All of us end up here at some point, and the funny thing is that even though we get to decide how long we remain in the shadow of supposition, some people stay stuck there, choosing the ‘security’ of a supposed right path, rather than accept and embrace the uncertainty that is the true inheritance of our birth.
We don’t really know very much at all, but we like to think we do, because it gives us comfort against all that we don’t.
The second half of the line I quoted above is the one that gives me the greater comfort. Once you choose to step away from what you suppose you ‘should do’, you step out on a journey that will grant you the experience of choosing what you ‘can do’.
That doesn’t mean you act in violation of your own terms of morality and kindness, far from it. If anything, it forces you into a greater examination of your own conscience and consciousness, pushing you to justify your ideals and aspirations against all that you believe to be good and right in the universe.
The more you do this, the greater awareness you will gain of who you really are.
And knowing who you are is so very important. So many people these days walk around in the confusion of a social media definition of themselves, struggling to find out who they really are in the midst of a million deafening denigrations, and thousands upon thousands of confusing, chaotic comparisons.
Too many people are scared to ‘do’ anything, lest they encounter the terror of a negative opinion.
Which is why coming to a knowledge of yourself is the greatest armor you can ever put on. Once you know who you are, and what you will do, the fog and chaos of supposition gives way to the certainty of a self born out of decision and direction. Clarity is rarely born out of deliberation, but out of action.
So today, I invite you to become more of who you were born to be by choosing to act, and ‘do’ the things that you can do, that ‘you’ believe are moral, ethical and right.
And kind.
What can ‘you’ do?
Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings