Friday Musings: Journal Prompt
I recently came across a journal prompt that went like this: “When everything else is stripped away, and no one’s opinion is influencing you, what is your truth?” Well now. That is quite the question, right? As many of you know, I spend lots of time each week with three little people under the age of five who I can guarantee you know the answer. For them, truth equals self; they are one and the same. Up until a certain point, we all shared that perspective. We were blissfully unaware that everyone views the world in a different way, which led us to the logical conclusion that everyone must see us exactly as we see ourselves. The possibility of not being accepted was nowhere on our radar. Around the time we turned five years old, however, we began to become self aware, and that led to the realization that other people aren’t always thinking and feeling the same way we are. Self awareness in an adult is a wonderful thing. It enables us to understand and recognize our strengths and weaknesses, and it heightens our intuitive response to other people’s feelings and circumstances. The first inkling of self awareness in a child, however, most likely comes as a bit of a shock. This is the moment when we discover that in addition to being very different as individuals, there is also a kind of social ranking that exists between us. What comes next makes matters even worse: we soon learn that we’re going to have to figure out how we fit into that hierarchy, and whether or not our truth is going to make that process easier or harder.
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