SPARKLERS, MOTIVATION, & INSPIRATION: IF LITTER WAS BORING

When you were a kid, you wanted to play with fireworks. Your parents reminded you of the neighbor or relative who's either missing a finger or now has one eye that's "a little off," but you really didn't care and still wanted some "fire" to "work." Because fireworks are like drinking or drugs. Sure, they hurt that one dude, but it won't happen to me.  

To eliminate any risk or potential harm, you and your family come to a compromise: sparklers! They put a sparkler in your hand, and the excitement builds as they tell you to "be careful" and then light it. 

The rush of sparkling takes over, and you stand there in awe, watching a sparkler sparkle. That usually lasts about 5 seconds. So now what? 

The emotional pendulum starts swinging from "sparkle rush" to "now what," so you try some shapes. Maybe wave it side to side, "Be careful." Then you try some big circles. Then you run with it for three to five steps and realize you're running towards sparks, so you get wise and hold it behind you, looking back as the sparkler still just sparkles. This is all you can f!?#ing do with a sparkler, and it's only been 30 seconds because sparklers are the above-ground pools of fireworks.

 Now, you are still left with 80% of your sparkler and wondering what to do with it. So you either litter, because all the Fourth of July is, is a spectacular way to legally litter, or walk over and hand it to some adult who now has to put down their Hard Lemonade to be left holding four other sparklers that were also dumped on them from other thrill-seeking children just looking for some excitement, and it wasn't as fun as they thought it would be, so now it's someone else's problem.

So, how is a sparker like wellness?

Acro Yoga is a great example to start with. It looks fun and spectacular in pictures and on social media, but when you finally hit that pose on someone's feet, you will begin to think, "What now?"

You're just holding a sparkler unless you dive in and devote yourself to learning the craft. In acro yoga, the sparkler is bruising your hips, and now your stomach is dirty and itchy. 

The first step is to realize that spectacle and sparklers, like inspiration and motivation, are great for pointing you in a direction and reminding you of the essence of what and why you seek wellness, peace, wisdom, and freedom. 

You know you want to be happy and healthy. Motivation and inspiration are tricky because people feel they need them to begin something good for themselves. But how many TED talks have you listened to about brushing your teeth? Do you really need a fireworks display to remind you that you want to be free? I'm sure your pets would rather you just be cool with quiet, peace, and freedom. 

It's easy to kill, hard to bring to life.

Negative results are easy and controllable. You can always control how you lose, how you get fat, what you become addicted to, and how you will ruin a relationship. 

Yet it takes patience, discipline, connection, education, trust, and heart to make the choices that will turn you into the person you want to be. You can't just light a match and sparkler your way to greatness. You know this, we all know this, but the sparkler seems so much more fun. I mean, it sparkles.

Pain and fear are easy motivators to escape and significant signals that you may be looking for pleasure in life's boringly bright sparklers. People will poison themselves to avoid emotional or physical pain, no questions asked. You will get that cardio pumpin' when there's potential harm. Bad news and emergency is a clear and simple call to action: Are you making choices for your health or as a strategy to win a war you have waged against illness? 

 Are you attracted to subtle, deep, challenging, and fundamental practices or distracted by more sparklers in the form of inspirational quotes, motivational speeches, workshops, camps, and more instantly lit sparklers?

The sparkler was supposed to represent and remind you of something. Just like a quote or meme, it is to trigger an entire feeling, practice, or essence.

"Be the change" is another classic example of a sparkler that is just waved around, but have you taken the time to check in and define the change you want to see in the world? Journal, meditate, and tune into whether or not you're actually "being the change," or are you just holding another sparkler?

These grandiose gestures of spectacle burn out fast and leave us empty unless you can find simplicity and subtlety. However, when something so spectacular ends and nothing changes afterward, how does that make you feel? It often just leads to chasing more spectacle. I kind of wished that I could tie this into "waterfalls" because imagine lighting the sparkler and not getting what you wanted out of it; then you just keep chasing waterfalls. We all know that you "Don't go chasin' waterfalls." 

Ok... I'm now metaphorically out of my league.