#Trust30 online initiative - a 30-day writing challenge - Part 32 - Fault and Change

Fault and Change by Carlos Miceli

I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Think of all the things that are not working in your life. That job you don’t like, that relationship that’s not working, those friends that annoy you. Now turn them all on you. Imagine that everything that’s not working in your life, is your fault. How would you approach it? What would you work on to change your life to the state that you want it to be?
(Author: Carlos Miceli)

Fault and Change by Andrew Cairns

Buddhists might say you need to detach yourself from desires - material, physical, emotional; Christians might say, you should think more of your neighbour, turn the other cheek; Jews might say do good deeds. As a Muslim, while I would agree with all of these approaches, I think that any change in your life should be guided by reflection on the passages of the Qur'an, the Hadiths, prayer for guidance, consulting your religious community / family, and doing what feels right in your heart.

I notice a lot of the prompts in this series run along a similar vein of what you want to be, what goals you have in life, how you want your life to be; and then proposing some kind of rather simple / naive self-help method of achieving what you want. While that can be interesting or useful; sometimes you just have to accept in life that despite all your best efforts and striving, you do not actually have control over everything or everyone and you have to humbly submit to reality, to destiny, to events outside of your control. 

#Trust30 online initiative - a 30-day writing challenge - Part 31 - Image

Image by Matthew Stillman

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mess up your hair. If you are wearing makeup – smudge it. If you have a pair of pants that dont really fit you – put them on. Put on a top that doesn’t go with those pants. Go to your sock drawer. Pull out two socks that don’t match. Different lengths, materials, colors, elasticity.
Now two shoes. You know the drill.
Need to add more? Ties? Hair clips? Stick your gut out? I trust you to go further.
Take a picture.
Get ready to post it online.
Are you feeling dread? Excitement? Is this not the image you have of yourself? Write about the fear or the thrill that this raises in you? Who do you need to look good for and what story does it tell about you? Or why don’t you care?
(Author: Matthew Stillman)


Image by Andrew Cairns

Part 31 of the 30-part writing series - only in America!

I wouldn't feel dread about dressing up in this way, since I quite often do wear colours that don't go together that well in a conventional way. Also a picture on this site is likely to be seen by very few people (undoubtedly less than the number of people who would see me if I just took a walk down the street). I do have some phobias and conventions about how I dress (and opinions about how other people should dress). I need to look 'good' (usually) to meet the work / casual dress-code, to be attractive to others and I suppose to blend in. I don't really care in the sense that what I'm wearing (as long as it's decent) doesn't make much of a difference to who I am / what I can do, but sometimes I have to care since certain people judge you by your image : you turn up for a job-interview scruffily dressed and you'll have less chance of getting the job than if you're dressed smartly. 

In short I don't really like or agree with all the dress-code, conventions and judgemental attitudes; but it's there and sometimes you need to comply or compromise to please others / fit in / get on in life.

PS Photo to follow...

                                                                 Be afraid, be very afraid... ;)