Ordinary People

Image by author

Ordinary people understand the power of just doing what needs to be done.

They have this understanding because they care about getting them done.

Why do they care? Because it’s the right thing to do.

Think about it. No one anyone could call a leader gets anything good done without involving ordinary people. People who care.

Generally, if a leader wants to do something good, they’re ordinary people.

Being ordinary is probably the pinnacle of the human experience, yet it is avoided. Being exceptional is valued more than ordinariness.

The trick is to be exceptional in your ordinariness.

When you can get to that perspective, you are living the good life.

The current clamor, the internet-induced hubbub of everybody saying ‘hey, everybody, look at me’ is based on the desire to escape ordinariness.

What constitutes ordinariness is doing something every day. Practicing something and getting better at it. Practicing life and getting better at it because you care.

Figuring it out. Because you care.

Experimenting to see what works and enjoying that process.

Challenging yourself to improve at living life. Handling what life throws at you. Because you care.

Living life is doing ordinary stuff. Life is lived in ordinary ways on ordinary days. You do it because you care.

Just being ordinary is about caring about something greater than you.

Caring is the essence of responsibility.

Responsibility is always assumed. It is a choice. Responsibility can’t be given, it can only be assumed.

Being ordinary is being exceptional without the need for attention.

It’s harder to do than it looks.

Ordinary is aligned with natural order.

It requires changing your mind.

We have to do it, though. We have to become like weeds. Ordinary weeds. We show up in our season and care about doing the right thing. It means doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. It means being a multiplier instead of a divider.

Strangely enough all these ordinary things are exceptional. They just aren’t recognized as exceptional by people who don’t look beyond the surface of things. Looking beyond the surface is what is required to care.

We have to stop being so superficial. We absolutely must start looking beneath the surface of things.

We have to change our minds. It applies to everyone equally.

We can’t let this continue.

We know how this story ends. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy that perpetually profits off misery.

We have to change our minds.

Why should we continue to perpetuate systems and societies that exploit people, the earth and future generations?

We’ve got to change the way we do things. To do that, we’ve got to change our minds. We’ve got to liberate our hearts.

It will take changing our minds so we can find the reasons to make better choices. It will take changing our minds so we can see consequences and their causes.

It will take changing our minds so we can see how we get in our own way.

It will take changing our minds so our minds are willing to work with our hearts instead of ignoring the wisdom inherent in our heart.

We must change on a fundamental level.

We must change on a massive scale.

We must change before we can no longer do it.

Obviously we need a miracle. If you want to attribute that miracle to God or to magic or to people working with the laws of nature, it doesn’t matter. We all still need to do our part.

It’s the least we can do.

Lend Your Light

Spread the word.

Let’s dream together.

Originally published @ steverigell.com