When the swirl of life pushes me toward overwhelm, my automatic response is to rush toward stimulus minimus. But there’s an error of perspective there.
What I really want is stimulus maximus, just like everyone else on the planet. I want the maximum input that I can handle. I want Life, with a capital L. I want vitality and breathtaking wonder and revelations complete with operatic accompaniment.
If all of that comes to me in a different way than it comes to the majority of humans, is it any less maximus? Of course not. Maximus is relative. It’s only minimus by comparison. Sure, the way I get off can look like stimulus minimus (a riveting idea, a colour combination seen in passing from a bus window, a silly look exchanged with my nephew), but only if compared with someone who’s different – like someone who whoops it up on the bus, all the way to the bungee-jumping festival.
Comparison damages our souls. Consider yourself worthy of the full package: all senses firing at maximum capacity, tuned, honed, and giddy – thriving in your very own, very valid version of Life with a capital L.
Shove all those other people off the scale. Recalibrate. Find your own stimulus maximus.
“Sometimes I go about pitying myself
And all the while I am being carried across the sky
By beautiful clouds.”
~ Ojibway Indian saying
Flickr photo: Free sunset flamingo pink…, by D Sharon Pruitt of Pink Sherbet Photography
Related reading: Avoid the Rush – Finish Last, Successfully Sensitive | Jo Martin
2 Comments
We *are* all worth of the full package, aren’t we?
So good to have that pointed out again (and maybe again and again)! Thanks Grace!
Auntie Mame: “Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” I need to remember this!
Dear Grace:
What a lovely shift of perspective! Thanks for shining another light of insight–permission really. I feel motivated and inspired. A true gift.
With a warm heart,
Dorothy