Dear John

Dear John, 

It happened to you because you led with such a ferocious spirit. A zealous fire for love and life. 

Whether or not you know that, you paced, when the world said to hurry. 

When the ego said to isolate, you connected.

When the world said to frown, you smiled.

When the world said “be quiet”, you sang.

When darkness said “you’re nothing”, you became someone.

Some of you survived it, others of you haven’t, leaving us with a legacy of your work in the world. You left us with wonder. You left us with love. 

For those of you still here, doing the work of overcoming — each day you choose life is another day you prove to yourself that whatever it was — it had nothing to do with you. Each day you show up for the life you want, you diminish the damage that was done to you. 

I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ve experienced.

What I know is that honest, fully developed men, are a gift to our world. You are the kings among us.

What I know is that if you can continue to show up without manipulating or neglecting your emotional needs (this includes projecting them onto others) you won’t just win, you’ll prosper, you’ll lead and do amazing things in your life. 

I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ve experienced, but just like taking the wheels off your first bike, or climbing to a higher limb (or climbing down), whatever it is, it’s just an obstacle. 

A secondary obstacle might be your emotions themselves, from the experience/s you’ve gone through.

Obstacles, not definitives for your life. Opportunities for self-mastery and transmuting pain into life. Life is just a never-ending box of lego pieces. Your emotions around a particular experience, is part of the formation. Never neglect them — allow them to complete the structure of that experience. 

That’s when life becomes like a box of chocolates — you don’t always know what you’re gonna get, but managing your response to each flavor? — Easy. No problem. It’s all apart of life. 

Honor yours, by embracing each experience, and yourselves, in fullness. 

-B