O N C E a Man T W I C E a Child | 1 . 19 . 21

Welcome to 2021!

2020 has been full of lessons beyond my wildest imagination. My matriculation through manhood and my ascension to my highest utility is not without ruggedness. 2020 reminded me that I am one of many who will earn the title of wise, but I must secure my designation intentionally. T.E. Lawrence once said, "[h]e was old and wise, which meant tired and disappointed..." and in 2020, I experienced both tiredness and disappointment. Still, adversely, I also experienced abundant joy and remnants of what true love could be.

One of the enormous lessons made abundantly clear in 2020 was the use of gratitude. I learned through multi-tiered losses, the importance of appreciating individual authenticity. We must train ourselves to exchange hurt with appreciation. In doing so, we open ourselves up to an omnipotent source of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Negative energy in the form of resentment, jealousy, and hatred stifle our real purpose. When we live through the fractured lens of past misfortune and pain, we miss the love and skip the understanding needed to navigate our purpose journey.

2020 has also exposed me to my greater self! I was able to experience small pieces of who I was ordained to be! I have come to appreciate my unique patterns of thought and grown to love my ability to accept people for who they are and how they present in the moment, no matter the circumstance. Especially during times of disappointment, for everyone is doing the best they can with what they have at every given instant. No matter the deed, or how trivial or simplistic a situation or action may seem, we must all seek to understand each other on a deeper level. We are all creating an Iliad through our odyssey of life, and we all have different depots that have designed who we are today. So have patience, because once you were a child who knew not what to do, and did in error, but were forgiven.

We do not grow wise through osmosis, and we will not grow old without first being a child. Life is full of lessons; condition yourself to meet everyone with an eye of gratitude, patience, and yearning for understanding. 2020 has taught me to seek to understand and accept what I learn while appreciating the moment's authenticity.

I look forward to 2021 and will continue to meet all circumstances with an eye of gratitude.

Be | Y O U - 4 . 23 . 20

7:45 A.M. EST

Great Morning!

I spoke to a friend this morning, and we discussed growing into your purpose and dissecting your journey. He explained that he grew up in an era where people did not speak about their doings – yet be labeled a snitch—a period where people did not take pictures because of the fear of Johnny Law’s ever watching eye. Long story short, as we got deeper into the conversation, I uncovered a trend that many people experience while growing up and even as adults. I’ll use a story to help guide the thought:

A young man was walking down the halls of his high school, seemingly ignored by everyone. He had a strong desire to be accepted and noticed that one guy, in particular, got a lot of attention. He would hear people talk about how tough and cool the guy was every day. One reoccurring theme was how the tough kid would never smile and would always have a mean demeanor and look. It dawned on the young man that if he copied/followed suit, he too could be cool and no longer ignored. So the following weeks, the young man practiced not smiling and walking the halls with a mean and tough look on his face. Eventually, people were asking what was wrong with him and treating him like he mattered, some even were fearful. One day the young man, with his newly found popularity (if you’d call it that), went to the restroom and ran into the original tough kid. The tough kid asked the young man what was wrong and why he looked so mean recently. The young man explained that he was tired of being ignored and wanted to be like him, so he copied him. The tough kid looked perplexed and oddly enough a bit sad. Then smiled and reached in his mouth and pulled out his front teeth. He proceeded to explain that the reason he looks so mean is that his stepfather knocked his teeth out, and his mother couldn’t afford to buy him implants, so he wears false teeth, and he is afraid that if he talks too much his teeth would fall out of his mouth. The young man was astonished by the story but realized the error of his ways.

The story highlights the importance of following your own path because you never know how treacherous someone else's life journey may be. Learn to love yourself and relish in your journey. Revel in the fact that you have mountains to climb and bruises to acquire. You are becoming your best self and will have a story to tell a young person/people along the way.

- Aaron Johnson

M A K I N G R O O M

We are often derailed by the difficulties of yesterday

We allow the fray between pain and reality to skew perceptions

We conjure ideas rooted in fallacies and believe them true

We focus on the suffering because of its versimitude

Forgotten is the lineage from which lords come

Cluttered is the minds eye

by sewage yet sieved

Only filtered through forgiveness

Only filtered through patience

Only filtered through acceptance

Only filtered through thanks

Only filtered through Love

-Aaron Johson

Responsibility: A Look Within

Weekly Quote:

“Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get where you want to go, no one else.”

– Les Brown'

Description:

Acceptance is where it all starts! In order to achieve a fully positive life we must first accept

responsibility for all of which we are. We must release the blame and ask ourselves, “what have I done

to land here at this exact point in life and what can or will I do to change?” We must stand up to

ourselves inside ourselves and overcome the fear of disappointment. The late Sigmund Freud can be

eloquently quoted saying, “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves

responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility” and that fear is what separates the

influencers from the followers!

-Aaron Johnson