A Juxtaposed of Contradiction called "The Harmony of Life"
Must we live within society's labels? This is a personal story of breaking free from external definitions to embrace a beautiful, contradictory whole and live authentically.
AWAKEN TO SELF
awaken to self
A Juxtaposed of Contradiction, called: "The Harmony of Life"
Self Liberation
Authentic Alignment
While driving on way home after running some errands, I noticed that there were many stickers sticked at the backside of the car in front of me. Then a thought came… We lived in a world where we put label on things and to ourselves. It’s definitely not just you and me who have tried their best to pushed ourselves and trying to fit in that small boxes. Not to mention sometimes the labels are contradicting one another. And then… we decided that ‘I am this… so, I am not that’. Why such limiting options? We are definitely more than that.
01 — The freedom to choose.
Photo by Olegs Jonins on Unsplash
I was once having a conversation with a senior lecturer colleague about how I conduct myself during work-related meeting. He simply said, ‘You are such a perfectionist’. Then I asked him, ‘What do you mean by a perfectionist?’ He then explained a perfectionist means that someone who wants everything to be according to that person. ‘Oh!’, I said. ‘But my intention by doing such and such is to have a certain standard that is upheld all the time. With or without others’ supervisor. I called it integrity.’ Hearing my replies he immediately said, ‘Well, me too!’ ‘Yes, of course!’ We then cracked a good laughter after that.
The main idea is not about what perfectionist is actually look like. It is all illusions. It is something that our mind creates and by owning them and breathe them in into our life, we give them life. Of course, at the end of the day, for us, they are ALIVE. They turned real.
I genuinely belief that if we really look into our daily routine and all of the decisions that we have made in the past, most of them came from somewhere. It might be from something that has been accepted by the society. Something that we have read or heard somewhere. And it’s being accepted just because the majority of people agree with it. Guess what? You can decide the definition of something and you can start from YOU.
If the label ‘writer’ weighs you down everytime you write something down, then a shift in how you present yourselves might help. Try… ‘I am someone who is like the activity of writing. I happened to have many stories to share as well. That’s one of the reason why I write’.
By doing it this way, we shift the focus from 'I, My, Mine...' to the object or topic of our attention at that time. So, what is the moral of the story?
It is to live gently. Live gently to ride on the high and low tides of life. Be gentle with yourselves. Don’t punish and push yourselves to fit in that little tiny box. Embrace all sides of you. And believe me, when you do, you’ll become your own masterpiece.
Such a Juxtaposed of Contradiction — The Harmony of Life.
02 — Shifting focus.
Gently Awakened while driving in Jakarta, Indonesia. 26 July 2025
Did this story resonate with you? I would love to hear your thoughts, your stories, or any questions it might have inspired. I would be delighted to hear your contemplations and honored to feature stories and responses in this space.