Some people are avocados. ONE BIG SEED!
Some people are pecans. Two equal halves.
Some people are apples. A star divided into neatly arranged pockets of smooth, shiny seeds.
I am a tomato.
A messy, mooshy array of slimy seeds that stick to everything,
closely related to the deadly evening nightshade.
The seeds represent the myriad of things that I am passionate about. One of the things I am passionate about is being a tomato and encouraging other tomatoes. Society has told us we need to be about ONE BIG THING and society is right, sort of. Those who embrace their one big thing might change the world. Tomatoes bring the spice!
As I age (gracefully?) I have come to realize I was focusing on the wrong thing. I was trying to change my seeds into something they could never be and, honestly, something I did not want. All those sermons, books, articles, TED talks, and lectures on the ONE BIG THING blinded me from my truth. I could not see what was holding all those sticky little passion seeds together. It was never about the seeds! It was always about the fruit! It was about being a tomato. Not even avocados are about the seed! It has always been about the fruit!
I was fruitful, but I judged myself as being inadequate with my multitude of seeds. I looked at others rather than who I was created to be. I compared myself to the one big seed and I found myself lacking. I was so busy trying to consolidate my seeds that I missed the point of being a tomato.
Firmly planted in middle age (if I live to be 108) I have learned a thing or two and I am calling all tomatoes and multi-seeded persons to UNITE! Plant the seeds, toss the seeds, collage the seeds into an art project, but embrace your fruit. Be FREE!
Sometimes human beings need permission to embrace what their hearts have known all along. Sometimes we wait for affirmation that does not come. I am going to help you with that today. Here it comes!
You have permission to be who you were created to be – be it one passion or many passions.
Please, bring your own flavor to the table. Be fruitful.
Be fruity!
Be free from should haves and would haves and could haves.
BE!
Post Script (PS) Eliminating the should’s is hard.
It might help to find a journal, 3×5 cards, a spiral, anything to capture the words. Write down what those voices from the past are saying. Look at the words. Get them out of your head. Decide what is true and what is not. Truth sets captives free. Freedom is contagious. Every little step is a positive change in the world.