SELF-CONTAINMENT

 

One of the greatest lessons we can learn in this life is the value of self-containment. There is such a beauty and power that exists in relying only on one’s self to feel complete. Often times we can become reliant on other people to make us feel the full value and potential of our being. Why when we have all we need inside of us to be whole, do we go searching everywhere but within to attain harmony and accord with ourselves? Why don’t we trust the relationship we have with ourselves above anything else?

I think that’s where the beauty and power lies: in the ability to search and fight for an authentic, unerring love for simply yourself. It’s amongst the many people that walk in and out of our lives, many of whom we believe to be our source of contentment, that we discover the courage it takes to believe in ourselves for all we truly need. Of course this doesn’t mean shutting out all human connection to be solely self-reliant; it means that the relationship we have with ourselves is just as important, if not more, than the ones we create with others.

Orson Welles’ said “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” At first glance, one would think that Welles had a morbid and grim outlook on life. After all, who wants to believe that despite the many loves and friends we encounter in this lifetime that ultimately we end up alone? But to look closer into his philosophy, we can read in between the lines to see a newfound perspective. Yes, our entrance into this world and our exit out is alone, but alone doesn’t equate to lonely. The people we meet along our way are like beams of light, poking holes into our souls, to reveal the extraordinary nature of our beings. We are here to unravel each other, to dig at each other’s surfaces, to scratch at the exterior, until we can come to the realization that at the center of it all, always was, and always will be, ourselves.