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can also irritate you beyond belief. Carl Gustav Jung did put it rather well when he said, "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." And if anyone knows how the human mind ticks, it is Jung.

Looking at ourselves also requires us to be ourselves. "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You." Dr. Seuss, my parents agree with you wholeheartedly, they drummed that into me from a very early age. But it can be difficult staying true to who you are especially when in an industry that gets hot and cold like a potential lover. Maintaining a positive, courageous creativity, whilst trying not to quantify success in monetary or stature terms is a constant battle. Winston Churchill believed that "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." And Christian Nevell Bovee added that, "Enthusiasm is the inspiration of everything great. Without it no man is to be feared, and with it none despised." Living in a capitalist society can definitely impose itself at times forcing us to question our creativeness and how much longer we can dig deep to nurture our soul and feed our spirit.

When I graduated from drama school, my drama teacher gave me some truly inspiring words spoken by one of the greatest inspirational figures of this century. Nelson Mandela. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson wrote these words, but they were spoken by a man who understood how to play a bad hand of cards extremely well.

So I will take these words "Feel the fear and do it anyway," as Susan Jeffers suggests and listen to Stephen Kaggwa, who said, "Try and fail, but don't fail to try." Because "To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful." And like Carl Gustav Jung I have no desire to be normal, nor follow the example of this Chinese proverb, "I dreamed a thousand new paths. . . I woke and walked my old one." Instead I understand Karen Ravn's words, "Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be." It seems fitting therefore to finish with some words by the man with whom I began this journey. "Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." George Bernard Shaw.

Learn more about this author, S P Cameron.
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