The first revolution

[Taking the first step; change; knowing]

Gil Scott-Heron wrote: “The first revolution is when you change your mind about how you look at things, and see there might be another way to look at it that you have not been shown.”

You have, no doubt, been shown how to do many things by many people. Parents. Teachers. Politicians. Preachers. Advertisers. As people are moulded and conformed to do and say what is expected of them, how many of them are going to tell you to look at things differently? How many people in your own world are going to encourage and trust you with finding your own feet, your own path? How many people are going to prize you, unconditionally, for placing your wellness at the heart of your own world, when their world had no time for their own wellness?

How can you ever figure out that things in your life can improve without first having a knowing – your very own knowing – that this might be the case? By piecing things together. By looking for and finding clues. By joining up the dots.

The art of knowing beyond that which is freely given puts you in the game. You are now part of the revolution. You are now in control – if you want to be. You can start to think independently and freely. You can develop your own insights. You can champion things other than that which the outside world champions. You can deviate from what’s deemed correct and proper. And you can do all of this because you have changed your mind.

This first revolution could well be the biggest leap of all. Because from here it’s not too much of a stretch to becoming, in time, the sole director of your own reality, the sole narrator of your own story, the sole designer of your own identity and the sole self-detective when it comes to maintaining your own well-being. But only if you want to. Only when you’re ready. One step at a time.

“When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but it was gone. I cannot put my finger on it now. The child is grown. The dream is gone. I have become comfortably numb.”
Pink Floyd

“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”
David Graeber

“One who looks inside, awakens.”
Carl Jung