Personality Calesthenics

When we say, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, or still waters run deep, we are trying to shed light on the inexorable part of living that we often overlook or outright ignore completely. Like spoiled brats, we run the risk of get lost (from creating ourselves) in the shuffle, thinking we are the center of the universe and that all things, even personality should "come to us". Understand, coming from a child of certain privilege, I have also faced privation. I have been the minority, the bitch, the street person, but never forever and never for too long. I have learned that the world is most often a mirror, reflecting all that we are beholden too. Frequently, the reflection can be disturbing, but realizing that you are what you think has been driven home to me in many powerful ways recently that I will try to share.
I have just come from a place that is idyllic in ways that are hard to get a handle on. One local described "her people" as proud, of whatever they do, and in a most basic way, always willing to share, their time their talent and the many blessings they receive daily as residents of their unique environment. Those who know me know of where I speak. There is always a real risk of over popularizing fabulous areas, lest they become cesspools of exploitation and deceit and because of that I would not want to focus on where the place actually is. Instead, I want to focus on what qualities make it unique so that the unchained abandon with which life is lived can be experienced everywhere on Earth in the same way, or at least a similar one.
First off, I noticed that artists are taken seriously. They are a reflection of a culture's essence, a bonding of each individual to place, to human effort, to beauty, or at least the quest for it. On a related topic, I recently heard that the Japanese spend about 17% of their GDP on the arts. In my country, (USA) it is abysmally low, barely seven percent. Quizzically, that includes such big ticket items as the 24-hour news cycle and the movie and television industry, some aspects of which could be considered anti-cultural. Has anyone heard of a recent top story about the power of loving one's neighbor recently? The art of storytelling is appreciated. Virtually everyone seems not only entitled, but expected to occasionally engage in cogent use of story-telling, as a tool to enhance understanding and demonstrate lucid contemplation about whatever topic may be at hand. Food also is at the heart of creatively interfacing with the local environment. In many real ways, the art of cookery and the esoteric realms of herbs and their use are commonplace. Raising even the ditch-diggers labor to the level of art, through limber metabolism allowed only through the consumption of top tier veggies and local artisanal cookery.
When I was a youthful and opinionated art student, I spent countless hours degrading the very idea of craft as a blatant step into "commercial art" which was also snobbishly discounted, relegating it to the scrap heap of mechanism and rote practice of production. This idyllic place, more than any other single factor, has taught me the need for art to be practiced in both the commercial realm and what we refer to as craft. Recognizable and utilitarian objects need to be art-laden and as such, adjuncts to our making meaning in the world. Touchstones to humanity can accompany us on our journey at each moment, in fact without them, life can lose a sense of connection, to the land, her people, and our essential needs, wants and desires. For a place and a people to have the capacity to transform and old curmudgeon like myself deserves special mention, only because it is my trip and reflects a deep need we have in areas all across the planet.
When we are raised in and environment of adversity, there are two probable outcomes that seem mutually exclusive and polar opposites. Scientific research has proved, beyond the shadow of doubt, that humans are kind, helpful and compassionate, innately. Only through abuse or neglect can  they be turned into psychopaths, sociopaths and greedy, hostile organisms. On the other hand, the ability to persevere, trust and attain true greatness can come about through these same traumatic experiences. Who are we to deem such an amazing growth opportunity inherently "bad". Now the grist for our mill. If I had not suffered subjugation, sexual humiliation at the hand of a pedophile, been malnourished or worse, beaten with a dowel rod, would I be the "same person" I have become today? I can truly say "No!" Everyone has got to play Jesus from time to time, that is why his myth is so powerful for us. The moment when "he" has been attributed the saying "God Bless them for they know not what they do." Who has not had to bear that cross? The growth is not in experiencing the personality building events, but the grappling that takes place between who we think we are and who we are always in the act of becoming.
I am an unabashed theatre geek. Obsession with the idea that all life is indeed a stage lies at the heart of why so many give so thoroughly to our discipline. When I was growing up backstage, everyone we knew did theatre, we all believed that society's ills could be healed through the concerted efforts that we put to the art and science, as well as the rudimentary technologies at our disposal. By practicing the art of musicals and plays, we were consummate storytellers. Bending and stretching the stories allowed us to bend and flex the mirrors we had at our disposal to focus attention on who we are as a people, and as individuals engaged in a larger society. Without the constrains of having to live each and every mistake, we as story-tellers as well as our audiences, might learn better ways of being that would further the culture as a whole.
The passel of lighthearted comedies that has "gotten us through" the recent economic downturn notwithstanding, several of our recent long lived plays dealt with topical social issues, such as exploitation, class warfare, power and control and the tragedy of war. Sadly, too many still wink, wink, nudge, nudge their way through misogyny and patriarchy. Out-dated religious icons are in complete disproportion to their incidence in the lives of people I know. In most theater, perhaps because the only shows that bring in enough money to be produced, themes that somehow support the status quo will always carry the season.
I believe that we grow more, in both more robust and adaptive ways, when we stretch into realms that are not fully explored. Just as with our individual development, the same growth can occur in cultures, or societies. If I didn't see the discipline of theater from the inside, I could not fathom how to achieve beneficial social change. When I was young, I sat tables and handed out literature for dozens of causes and groups. During my canvassing days, I spoke to over one million individuals. During my 80 Day, Great Lakes Bicycle Trip , I sent a direct message to over 8 million folks. We can all live better and more lightly on the planet. Being a stand (as the Erhart Seminar Training, EST folks call it) for something grows the personality in unique ways. The growth that ensues when something other than yourself is the main focus of your every waking moment transforms even the most mundane acts into enlightening experiences.
Don't do these exercises as novel events, like a three-times per week exercise regimen. Take this approach to heart, seek constant betterment of all that you deem important and don't sweat the little things. Remember that everything you touch should have the hand of humans in it somehow, these people have their own creative expression to share. As we explore and define who we are, shaping ourselves into ever better folks, our truest natures can be ever more closely approximated. When we grow beyond our own fears and expectations, there are those who clamor to attribute our growth to a "higher power" or other miracle. This sort of mumbo-jumbo is superstitious nonsense exempting the speaker from realizing the truest potential of their own existence. Ultimately, we cannot be judged in "heaven" but by our actions while earth bound. Each and every one of them.
Blessings on your path and may you realize the depth of love I have for y'all, that is why I have attempted to express this. May your growth be uninhibited by dogma or expectations. The true you may shock, and occasionally misunderstood but without you, the world would be a bit more inhospitable and a little less balanced. If we all do our parts to change things, we lead by example and invite reciprocation.