When you tap into your Why and hang on as it leads you up and over the waves of life, that’s half the adventure. When you pair that inner fire with your unique form of self-expression, (ie, your way of getting that fire to the surface) then you are truly locked and loaded.
Locked and loaded is ready for whatever the world tosses at you.
This is the ultimate form of safety in an ever changing world.
Yes, locked and loaded is a super strong term, with far-reaching implications. I struggled with the title when it came to me. I researched each word separately and all of them together to make sure it was the best way to phrase what follows.
And it is.
A Story
Last fall I took a self-defense course. It changed my life. Growing up with parents both of Texan origin, of course, I am no stranger to guns. And this particular class had plenty of them; from plastic replicas, to gun simulators, to the firearm my son (who signed me up for the course) packed securely away and brought out for me when we hit the range.
Just because I grew up surrounded by guns, knew every safe-handling practice and knocked down my fair share of empty soda cans before I could drive, didn’t mean that I ever registered a firearm in my name. I didn’t have them in my house. Plus, even when it became standard practice here in the states to carry a weapon everywhere, I “stuck to my guns”.
Even following the self-defense course, my CCW paperwork still languishes on my dresser; untouched.
But from that day forward, being locked and loaded, is how I do life. Ready.
When you lock and load your gun, you have to be ready to fire it. To know your target. To pay the consequences of your actions. In order to pick it up in the first place, you have to mentally prepare yourself for everything that action entails.
Locked and loaded means you are ready for whatever the world tosses your way. Mentally, emotionally and physically. But it never means that you are not willing to run.
Locked and loaded is precisely what you are when your Why is crystal clear and you’re in touch with your deepest, most genuine form of self-expression.
Here’s an example:
I listened to a podcast this morning (The You Project Episode #1066) where Craig Harper and his friend, Patrick, talked about purpose. Craig recalled a stint he did with a charity organization in another country sometime early in life. Patrick asked him why he didn’t ever go back.
Easily and simply Craig said (this is not a quote) he was more useful continuing his work back home.
And that is the power of being lit up by your passion and actively engaged in your unique expression of it. The answers to life’s big questions don’t seem too monstrous to answer. They are, quite simply, just your truth.
Here’s the important thing about your Why:
Regardless of how the world shifts around you, what people and projects ignite your compassion, who comes and goes from your life, and all the darkness and light you pass through, your Why adapts. Like I said in the beginning, your Why leads you up each wave crest and down the other side, so that you continue to surf rather than drown in the tumultuous ocean of life.
Your Why is the quiet hum of your truth and it is the ‘soul reason’ you are on the planet right now.
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However, you have the choice whether to express it or keep it to yourself.
That’s the locked part of your locked n loaded. You have bullets. Whether you chamber one or not is your choice.
Enter your brand of self-expression.
No one on the planet is your double. Therefore, even if you are given the same starter-scribble on a page of white paper and you are handed a box of crayons with the same 10 colors as 100 other people your exact age with your same birthdate, hair color and eyes, not one of your drawings would look the same.
Okay.
Then it follows that, no matter what your Why is and how many other people have the exact same one (which is no one, I would venture to guess), your true self-expression of that mission would be completely different.
That’s because self-expression is Who You Are!
When you get past:
- the way you normally do things,
- the way someone else does things that you wish you could emulate,
- the processes you have learned and
- the methods “they” think are best…
You arrive at true self-expression.
For some, it flows so easily and naturally that they’ve never bothered to try to do it any other way. For most of us, we work a bit harder to uncover it.
True self-expression is a topic I could riff on for days. Reams of paper have been flooded with meaningless words in an effort to describe the ineffable.
Only when it is expressed and the vibrational resonance is felt, does it become clear.
For example.
I write. Not because it’s my blessed talent or something I studied extensively in college, but because I cannot NOT write.
I will say that again, because it is the super important aspect of our individual brand of self-expression:
I cannot NOT write.
I have told the story time and again. I used to get so fed up with not having time to write, then not being able to pull the right words from the dark recesses of my brain. When I did those two miraculous things, I then, couldn’t get the words to line up on the page in any kind of recognizable fashion. And grammar? Spelling? OOf! Hopeless.
Finally, I just let myself free flow with words, watched them splat against the page and did a bit of finger painting with them and sent them off into the ethers. That was how this blog was formed… too many years ago to count.
Writing is my self-expression.
That doesn’t mean I can’t speak (I do, in my podcast), or sing….
oh, it does mean that.
Anyway, the simple fact is, for my self-expression everything begins with the written word.
To return to the original thought:
Why then, when we combine these two magical elements of ‘your why’ and ‘your self-expression’ do they alchemize in your ultimate safety?
Here’s my thought:
When you get those two to synergize in some way, you are tapped into the deepest part of you. Somewhere, at the very core of your soul, these two forces are inextricably entwined.
When you mine for them, extract them and bring them to the light, you are surrounded by a fortress of your unique design.
Better than that?
This is a flexible fortress…more like a super supple tank that moves with you through the world. You are locked and loaded. You adapt to the world as it unfolds. You are ready for action.
But not just any action.
Action in alignment with your true essence. Your Truth.
I leave you with a phrase my guides gave to me this morning: “Remember who you are and you will know what you are here to do.”
I really appreciate you taking the time to read my words. I hope you gleaned a tidbit of information or pleasure…or both!
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