The Courage to Be You

Today is your lucky day. I am going to put in your hand, right now, the ticket to your success, the inspiration you may be searching for, to unlock the courage to be you. You were created on purpose, for a unique, divine and noble reason. You are an incredible, magnificent creation. No one anywhere in the world can duplicate your unique expression of your gifts and talents. No one can offer your community, the world, your unique contributions. Your unique dharma is truly yours and yours alone. And right now, you have everything you could possibly need within you, to become a glorious new creation and to bring forth a glorious new life.

Sometimes, on our journeys toward a more authentic life though, we have to bravely and boldly walk through gloomy places and unmarked streets, just to find our way. I was actually excommunicated, or kicked out of the church I was raised in, for being me, for walking my path. I learned quickly, you can become quite unpopular by your peers and community for thinking outside of their box!!! Many of my long time friends even turned me away for this and wouldn't have anything to do with me anymore. For a long time, my family even turned their backs on me. But nonetheless, I have continued to blaze my own trails through the wilderness of life, because I am not interested in finding acceptance from family and false friends who don't accept me for who I am. I am only interested in fulfilling the dictates of my soul, walking to the beat of my drum and fulfilling my destiny...

And this is where courage comes into play. Discovering who you are is the easier part, while having the courage to be who you are, regardless of others support, approval or understanding, is oftentimes the more challenging and critical part! Even though we are all equipped with all the skills, talents and inspiration we need to make our lives work for us, we have to find within
ourselves the courage to be uniquely ourselves. We also have to find the courage to announce and declare ourselves to the world, or as Walt Whitman said to, "Sound your barbaric yawp over the rooftops."

We all have inborn impulses that urge us onward toward our goals, toward our life's path. Our souls know the agenda we have come here to fulfill. We also have core values and inner impulses that are motivating factors behind all decisions that we make and all actions that we take. Though no one else can do it for you, I promise you, you have what it takes to be magnificently successful at being authentically you. Allow the beautiful person waiting inside of you to come more fully to the surface as each moment passes. Let yourself, and the world around you, know the joy and fulfillment that is meant just for you to experience and express. If others disapprove of you, or give you a hard time, don't worry about it. Just understand that it is probably only because they're envious or jealous of you for living passionately and for reaching for and seeking a higher station in life, that they have probably never allowed themselves permission to go after, or found the courage to reach for.

There is an intense power in knowing who you are and what you want out of life. When you have defined your life's mission and values, and you start to act on them, regardless of how others view you, or talk about you, or even treat you, then you can then make every day of your life more fulfilling than the last - and you will experience a new euphoria, a new optimism for life!

It takes great courage to stand up for, and go after the life you wholeheartedly desire and deserve. It takes great courage to be uniquely, authentically, and passionately you...
I would like to end this today with the lyrics to a song I wrote titled:

My Cup of Tea

Sometimes I go walkin' and I cant seem to find my own way
Well it's gettin' late and I'm frightened, but this happens everyday
I get turned upside downside inside out
Sometimes I feel like water from a water spout
And I'm splashin' all around
and I'm a crashin' to the ground
But I guess that's the price that I've gotta pay
For being different in a different way
But it sure suits me well
Yeah it sure suits me well

Cause I don't care what I should do Where I should go, who I should be
And I don't care about the clothes I should wear I just wanna be free and be me
Cause being like you and everyone else just ain't my cup of tea

Sometimes I get lost when I'm strollin' down my own road
There are not too many on the path I'm on
And the streets aren't always paved with gold
But I'll take the road less traveled any day
And I don't care what the people say
Sometimes I'm lost but then I'm found
And I'm a crashin' to the ground
But I guess that's the price that I've gotta pay
For being different in a different way
But it sure suits me well
Yeah it sure suits me well

Cause I don't care what I should do Where I should go, who I should be
And I don't care about the clothes I should wear I just wanna be free and be me
Cause being like you and everyone else just ain't my cup of tea

I sit and watch the blind as they follow the blind
And I thank the Lord above that I'm not the sheepish kind

Repeat Chorus

Cause being like you and everyone else just ain't my cup of tea
No being like you and everyone else just ain't my cup of tea

-Copyright Justin Topik 1998

Walking Your Path

Robert Frost wrote a poem titled The Road Less Traveled in which he stated,"Somewhere ages and ages hence, two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." What is your path? the one that will make all the difference for you. I was in Pre-Med for almost 3 years with a 3.9 GPA. I dropped out and started my own business, even though my family thought I was out of my mind. I did this because I knew in my soul, I was walking down the wrong path for me! And I needed to find and walk my own path and be true to myself.

Walking through life is a marvelous journey, but filled with a myriad of possibilities and choices. Sometimes you just know when a path you're on doesn't feel right for some reason, so you decide to take an alternate road that feels right for you! We all need to feel like we are on target, living authentically, walking the right path for us.

On life’s journey, you will encounter much-narrow paths blocked by boulders, forks in the road shrouded in fog, deep valleys of darkness and despair, and bright sunny days in meadows of golden poppies. It is all a part of life's journey. And through it all, the only constant is that you are you, that you have an inner voice within you and a path to walk. If you allow your inner voice to tell you which fork in the road to take, if you allow that internal compass to tell you which mountain to climb, then you will do well indeed and have a fulfilling, interesting, and enjoyable life. If you go chasing after security, or living someone else's dream, then you will find yourself suddenly awakening in a deep forest without knowing where to turn. You will find yourself lost and confused, because you have lost touch with your own personal truth. And when this happens, you must just sit down in the forest, become very still, return to yourself and find yourself again before you continue walking, or else you will simply go around in circles, becoming more desperate and alone and lost.

In her book, A Still Small Voice, Echo Bodine had this to say, "Because the road that leads to God is not an easy one, many people choose the wide road instead. It may seem easier to follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing-following what appears to be the safe road in life-but the truth is, that road doesn't encourage individuality. Instead, it promotes a deadening conformity, and it keeps you farther away from God."

Have the courage and the heart, the centeredness and audacity to follow your own path. Be who you are and love being you no matter what. Your path is your path only and no one knows better than you which path to walk. Shine your light and show the world who you are, so that people who are looking for someone exactly like you can find you. Do not allow setbacks or even major betrayals to dampen your shine and your being. You are a shining star when you are walking your path!