Flying Out My Nose

Not long ago I was happily crunching down on a pickle when all of a sudden I had to sneeze. Afterwards I felt something was stuck in my nose. But before I could react my body took over and vanquished the green invader from my nose in a series of violent sneezes. Thankfully I was in my office alone with the door closed. So after a few moments of clearing my throat, blowing my nose, and wiping away the tears; was able to regain my composer and not look like a crazy pickle missile launcher.

We have all had those moments that we are less than proud of. When our otherwise well put together selves become potential grand prize winners on Americas Funniest Home Videos. The ability to laugh at ourselves when embarrassing things happen is a virtue not everyone possesses. Frankly if I we're not able to laugh at myself, I'd either be dead by now or in jail for killing someone. Sadly though there are many in this world that have such a deluded opinion of themselves, that when they lose an argument get teased it drives them crazy. Resulting in them having an outburst out like a two-year-old with a Twitter account.

Throughout my life I've had this nervous laugh that I can't help. As a kid this thing got me tensed to the point that getting on the school bus and attending school was pure torture. It's a thing that has followed me through to adulthood and has prevented me from venturing into podcasting or video recording. Along with my other short comings this nervous tick has robbed me of a lot of potential and a great deal of self-worth. Thankfully, over my lifetime I have experienced enough compassion and love to keep me from turning into either some completely pathetic soul or at worst some kind of psychopath.

Instead I built an armor of humor and self-deprecation around me, which for better or for worst has kept me going so far. I suppose my point here is that we all have some sort of armor of which we wear. It's that protective layer that protects the fragile child within each one of us. What I have learned though is that the more armor you put on the less effective that armor becomes at protecting you.

In a way I always known that, which may be why I haven't turned into the spiteful pathetic monster I could be. By learning to forgive myself of my own shortcomings, I’m learning to forgive others. Still too many of us depend on the armor we've collected instead of love and forgiveness to take us through this hurting world. So instead of becoming a solution to the world’s problems, we end up making the world around us that much worse. So let’s Learn to love and learn to forgive.