You are will and substance.

Not a puppet string or pawn to be nudged around by every Tom, Dick, or Harry. Nudge. Nudge. Nudge.

The added wealth, the new doors, the expanding network— everything that you think would make you the king of the hill, well, sometimes they just god darn quicksand. You might mistake that pull for lifeline rope. They fling open doors to new junctions, possibilities, and -urgh– expectations. Suddenly, everything seems important, seems worth doing. If the world is doing it, why won’t you?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

You need that pause. Don’t yield. Stand firm. Not preaching Zen philosophy, but hey, Zen, if you’re reading this, now you know why you got your name.

At your core is the root. The anchor. It’s what stops you from becoming just another object, dancing to eternal nudge of the button.

That inner compass, the “me-ness”, which when checked, has you nodding, “Ah, that’s unmistakably me.” Hope you can get it. Everything else—the graying hair, the extra pounds, the trending clothes—is merely the wrapping, not the gift. It may evolve in expression or you have different words for it, but you? You’re always you.

Sure, there will be moments you’ll feel like you’ve lost the plot. But in those moments, look for totem that would help you to stay root. For me, the totem looks like above. But your touchstone it would different. Of course it would different. It might be words, it might be drawing, it might be things. But this totem, you need to see it everyday. Like the thing in that Inception, but of course without the suicidal part.

This would help you to find your color, and express it, amidst the expectations. Its the true confidence. Find it and you will radiate your unique shade, even if circumstance try to paint you differently.

The price for me to create this totem every year is 10 minutes daily, 2 hours weekly and 8 hours semi annually, in other city, undisturbed, unmoved. I’m grateful I have one, and I wish you have yours.