Being Extraordinary

One day, I asked some friends, “Do you like to live an ordinary life, or an extraordinary life?”

“Obviously we want an extraordinary life.” Each one said.

Surprisingly everyone said they want an extraordinary life. Not even one of them said, “I am extraordinary.” Even I didn’t say that, which means I don’t think I am extraordinary, and yet don’t want to accept I am ordinary.

What a paradox!

My truth is that deep inside I feel and believe I am ordinary. I do not like to let others know, maybe I do not even accept it to myself. I portray I am extraordinary, and believe that nobody can see my ordinariness.

Have we not heard that each one of us is truly a unique being? 
Even the finger prints of each being are unique. 
But how many of us feel unique?

The universal issue here is self-worth. The inherited conversations from our growing up years have had a damaging impact on many of us.

“Why can’t you be like your sister?”

“Don’t cry like girls? Behave like a man.”

“You are pretty, but I wish you could pay attention to how you dress up.”

“How can you laugh so loudly? Be ladylike.”                     

And the list is endless….

In this entire gamut, we forget our uniqueness. We start believing we need to be like others, not realizing that others are also struggling to be like someone, or maybe resisting to be like someone.

Being called ordinary feels like a rejection. Clubbed with the judgments from people around us, it does not allow many of us to feel worthy. Some then want to excel in everything to prove their worthiness, and some want to rebel and demand worthiness. Question is, how worthy does one really feel?

If we truly feel worthy, why do we need to prove anything to anyone, or compete with anyone, or emulate anyone? Somewhere, we have disconnected from our own worthiness. We have forgotten to be ourselves.

In reality we are ordinary beings, carrying inside the seed of extraordinary beings, the potential to be extraordinary beings. We need to simply accept that we are ordinary, like everyone else out there. I am as ordinary as the man selling his ware on the street, or the vegetable vendor, or the CEO of a big corporate, or the sex worker, or even the beggar with the bowl, or the President of the country.

It may feel a bit difficult initially, because we have spent a major part of our lives learning to be smart in covering up that ordinariness. How can I now accept I am ordinary? How can I let people have a peep behind the mask? What will they think about me? We don’t realize that those people are also going through a similar dilemma. They also have been busy covering their ordinariness like you and me. It is an illusion that we are different.

As we learn to willingly embrace our ordinariness, accepting ourselves for who we truly are, without any judgment, without our inner critic taking over, without any guilt, without making ourselves feel small, we automatically start accepting every other being willingly, lovingly. That is when we enter the Royal Kingdom of Extraordinary Beings.

We can now be constant and conscious observers of every aspect of ourselves, without any unsolicited expectations from others, or from ourselves. Our happiness is no more dependent on any person or thing.

As extraordinary beings, we dare to dream and make those dreams become a reality through our thoughts and actions. We learn to soar in any field, while being fully grounded in our ordinariness. We start following our inner guidance and deeper wisdom to take us where we need to be. Our short-sightedness gets replaced with a vision that reaches out to everyone and everything out there. The horizon of our vision expands to unfathomable dimensions. The entire Universe starts supporting us, conspiring with us. We start looking at the world and at everything around us differently.

We start believing, “I am the chosen one.”

This does not mean that earlier I was less than anyone, nor does it mean that now I am more than anyone. It simply tells me, “You are YOU.”

This ushers in an experience of fulfilment and inner peace. Every life situation feels like an opportunity, a blessing. Obstacles get transformed into stepping stones to move to the next level. Every moment feels special, joyous, and extraordinary.

Life becomes a joyous celebration…