It’s Wednesday night, 10 pm EST. I’m finishing up the final edits for my weekly YouTube show–#AskJuanita–that’s set to ship early tomorrow morning.
Juanita, the soulfully sassy lead in the show, is both painfully clueless and equally aware. She has moments of absolute stupidity and sheer clarity.
How can she feel so curiously wise and naively oblivious all at the same time?
And how does that translate into our own, human experiences?
Juanita, like so many of us, enjoys asking herself the almost-impossible-to-answer questions such as:
What is my life purpose?
What is the meaning of life?
And am I on track?
For me, I’ve known I was here on earth for an important reason for as long as I can remember.
Those driven by a deep sense of purpose also seem to be the kinds of people who are most attracted to this blog. In fact, for many, it’s this ever elusive question of “what is my purpose” that seems to create anxiety, worry and stress for many a folk.
The irony is that a stressful state goes against creation for:
Creation favors a clear mind. @heylaurynbee (Click to Tweet!)
I think for many of us, outer purpose is vastly overrated. We spend a great deal of time searching in the outside world for things that are best found within.
Why?
Because we don’t know that an inside world exists and if we do, we don’t value what she can offer. She seems trivial in the face of all that we can obtain otherwise.
What if I told you that peace is your highest priority?
Above and beyond the empires you hope to build, your current state dictates your future.
How can you logically expect that a cake made of dog sh*t, if you wait long enough, will somehow taste like candy in the near future?
Your life is like cake.
Are you using dog sh*t or sparkles to make her?
Unicorns or dragons?
Love or hate?
And why is any of this relevant?
One day you might decide to be somebody. You’ll be like Juanita and go on a quest of sorts.
I’ll applaud your effort, only to realize that there’s nowhere to go.
Part of me hates that advice or outlook because it feels so cliche. How many people have shared this exact same advice? I bet you millions.
But that doesn’t change the validity of such wisdom. You have nowhere to arrive because the only thing that exists is right now.
Time is an illusion; it exists only within our minds and is the source of much pain.
Do you want to be creative?
Discover the peace within you.
You don’t know where it is? Too much noise you say? Stress? Anger? You are numb you say?
Wonderful. Perfect!
Each experience, while seemingly different, is a doorway to your greatest work: yourself.
We spend our lives searching for ways to enforce and push ourselves into looking and sounding a certain way.
It’s all a focus on the outside and how we are perceived by the world.
It’s so much effort and for what?
With so much energy invested in looking and sounding a certain way, it makes me wonder, then, what’s on the inside?
Who are we if not our jobs, relationships, incomes, cars, neighborhoods or haircuts?
Maybe nothing. Maybe it’s in that empty space that you and your best work live.
Your mind won’t get it.
He’ll tell you you’re full of sh*t and you’ll die if you go there.
No one will like you.
You’ll go broke or get an STD.
And 1 million other thoughts that will trigger the shit out of you.
But your mind is like a haunted house and it’s a choice how much time you spend there.
Most people, however, think the world is a haunted house. They are their minds as well as the thoughts produced by them.
I’m here to tell you there’s an entire universe outside of the haunted house, and outside of your mind.
It goes way beyond what you think you see with your own two eyes.
What will it take for you to believe me? Better yet, what will it take for you to join me?
Lalita Ballesteros is a director, artist and entrepreneur. She helps big-hearted businesses create bold, authentic brands online and produces a comedic YouTube show called #AskJuanita. She makes art everyday and loves to instigate powerful inner dialogue. She just released a free, six-day guide on how to meditate like a real human. Sign up for it here. You can find her on Twitter & IG.
Image courtesy of Daryn Bartlett.
