Shine!

Sometimes the details take over the story. When reality gets buried you’ll have to dig. You become the diamond in the rough. The circumstances that wilted innocence, tried to stomp the life out of you, and filled your mouth with self chastisement has never affected your value. They only disguise it.

Carbon Buildup Means Nothing To A Diamond

Not everyone has the same path. But, we all do have the same destination. In between the cradle and the grave is the potential to shine. Diamonds are formed, in the area called the Mantle, between the earth’s crust and its superheated core. A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well. When the temperature reaches about 2700 degrees fahrenheit and, pressure is equivalent to 400 grown men standing on your foot, carbon becomes diamond.

Diamonds are formed in a depth where no human can survive. Heat and pressure explode the jewels to the surface where they can be discovered. They begin as larger stones. The goal is to cut the biggest diamond possible while removing imperfections that lessen its value. If the diamond is cut too deep or too shallow, light will leak out of the bottom, making the center dark and dull. All the stuff we humans do to ourselves, and each other, are the imperfections to be cut away. We are just underneath the errors. When confusion is extracted, priceless is revealed.

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” – Rumi

We can talk about, magnify, even embrace the carbon that hides the gem. Those terrible, disgusting, violations that camouflage our virtue. If all we ever elevate are the layers that need to be removed we’re likely to miss our lives. If the theme of your life is what went wrong, it’s time to get a life. If your community only talks about what you did wrong, it’s time to find your people. Perfection is not what you let in it’s what you let out!

Light only leaks from human cuts. Light isn’t trying to come or go. Its desire is to be, remain, and sustain.  Our attraction to bright, shiny, glitter is simply a desire to find a match for our internal longing. PerfectMatch.com can’t touch this. A perfect mate is a life giver. A lifter, supporter, and fulfiller. Light gives and we give what we receive. We are healed when what we give away leaves us satisfied. Takers upset the apple cart. Two halves can only create a ouchiemama! (used literary license)

We just aren’t suited to court devastation, date hollow-grams, and romance pain. Nor to find our pleasure in brokenness, darkness, and separation. The only way I know for a whiner to become a winner is to change the water into wine. From the pink and colorless Sparklers to the deep blue of Hope Diamonds, the world’s premier stones vary in size, color, and origin. The Oppenheimer Blue is the most expensive diamond to ever be auctioned. Selling for 57.5 million dollars. Hard to believe it was once a charcoal lump buried too deep to be visible.

The worst that can happen is to die a buried diamond. Hidden in the carnage of imitation. Mine the precious stone that is you, and Shine!