Become a sun and everyone will see you.
This is my favorite line from the book, "Crime and Punishment." In part six, the inspector, Porfiry is attempting to convince Rashkolnikov to turn himself in; telling him he will not miss his things or being seen for a long time while in prison, because of his current state of torment. The torment in his soul will not go away without facing his crime. He encourages him to free his conscience by becoming the sun, doing what is right, and although he will be locked away, everyone will see him.
The words of Porfiry in this entire passage are quite possibly some of the most powerful words in literary history, depicting the necessity to live right by God or your conscience.
While clearly the vast majority of us are not going around murdering people, we are committing crimes against our own humanity on the daily. We riddle ourselves with guilt, shame, self destructive behavior of all sorts: neglecting our diet, taking poor care of our physical fitness, depriving ourselves of sleep, drinking or eating to excess, wasting endless hours on the internet, procrastinating, failing to follow our dreams…the list is endless. Like Rashkolnikov, we aren’t enjoying our comforts and we aren’t been seen by the world, because our hearts are not set straight. We run from our mistakes and regrets, in hope our spirit won’t remind us, but it always does.
We set ourselves right in the world by accepting personal responsibility for our lives. Nothing and nobody can set you straight but you. The point lies in you, not time; not in your family, not in your friends, not in your coworkers, employer or the government. The responsibility lies within each of us alone.
Accept responsibility for your life no matter what. No matter who wrongs you, how unfairly you’ve been treated or how downright unfortunate your position is in life, you can overcome it.
Be seen by everyone by shining so brightly they cannot help but see you. Be so good at your job that you cannot be ignored. Be so eloquent with your words that people cannot help but listen. Take so much pride in what you do that others have no choice but to take notice. Be willing to face the crimes you commit against yourself, so the light of your soul cannot be dimmed.
In the words of Porfiry Petrovich, “the sun must be the sun first of all.”
When the sun is shining, you have no choice but to see it. Be a sun so everyone can see you.
Your happiness is not a gift given to you by others.
Create a mantra for your life. If you aren't writing your story, someone else is writing it for you.
Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eml-radio-talking-truth/id1498113483?i=1000558947971
Hello my friends!
I'm finishing up the transition away from Locals onto Substack and wanted to be sure each of you have made the necessary adjustments to your accounts. For those of you who have remaining months left on your paid support here, I have comped you the balance over at Substack.
This will be the final week I post content here.
I will resume the live recordings over there, starting with our first call on Friday, March 3rd at 9am/12pm. Invitations to join the Zoom calls will go out on Substack. Mark your calendars!
Also, be sure to download the Substack App! I love the app and find it so helpful in organizing content I want to read later by keeping it on my dashboard.
See you on the other side!
https://eviefatz.substack.com/
One of the biggest challenges in writing my book is not being able to share any of it along the way. Given my narcissistic need for constant approval and attention, not having any feedback is killing me. Even negative attention is better than no attention at all (which explains a lot of my behavior in life), so not only am I missing the praise but I also miss my haters.
I need to break out of this cave. Thanks to Chuck Palahniuk who writes Spoiler Alert on Substack, but you would know as the author of Fight Club, I got the idea to share some excerpts and things that won’t make the final edit. This will give us both what we need. I get some attention and you get some thought provoking words to make you think (and possibly laugh, cry or both.)
Today’s snippet is from the first draft of a chapter titled, Remove Your Kindergarten Name Tag. I am currently on my third revision and we can all be thankful for this. As I walk my readers through the dark hallways of my earliest years, and attempt ...
Wanted to pass this short video along. We think of health in very limited ways. Faith, nature, love, communality, shared human experience…all prove to be just as necessary, if not more so, than going to the gym.
I’ve always viewed and taught health from this perspective. It is my belief the lack of these essential elements is as big an issue in our culture as poor diet and lack of movement.
The takeaway-we can do better🙏🏼
