“The root is the fulcrum on which will rest the expression of your soul; the root is the ‘starting point’ of all natural manifestation. It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well-ordered.”
I pulled this quote by Bruce Lee out of a book about his philosophies written by his daughter, Shannon Lee. It comes at a good time while I sit here in a hotel in Hong Kong and contemplate who I am, what I care about and what I can offer the world.
And of course, I took a walk to see the Bruce Lee statue and grabbed that picture of it. The words above were in a section about living in the void, where consciousness and unconsciousness work together. Movements are perfected, thoughtless and natural. You don’t think about how to punch, you just punch.
To simplify it really quickly, she’s talking about knowing yourself truly, developing yourself and your skills to realize your potential and you just be who you are, no matter what.
I’ve written and said similar things in other contexts.
In basketball, shooters shoot even if they’ve missed a lot throughout a game.
In literature, writers write even if nobody ends up reading it.
In politics, leaders lead even if it might cost them their popularity or power.
Another quote further in:
”When I look around, I always learn something and that is to be always yourself, and to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. Start from the very root of your being, which is ‘how can I be me?’”
A traumatic event like a work termination can really make you question everything about yourself. Coupling that with dozens of job applications going out and not getting any responses will make you think what the hell are you even good at? I’ve been in and out of that over the past year. If I’m so good at comms and community engagement and writing and social media, I should be landing interviews and getting hired on the spot.
But I’m not. Am I delusional then? Maybe I’m supposed to be something else. Someone else.
I’m not saying I’ve achieved the same state of nirvana Bruce Lee achieved. He believed himself to have movie star potential and a gift to share with the world in the form of Chinese kung fu, even before he got to star in anything. I’ll say that’s the target though: to realize who I am and remind myself of it.
Here’s what I know for sure:
- I care about justice, democracy and lifting people up
- I care about helping people, whether they’re lost and need directions or they need government support to move them up the social ladder
- I’m a storyteller and I’m pretty good at it
- I play basketball and I’m pretty good at it
- I’m a child of immigrants and that impacts my life
The list is surely longer than this and I think I’ll keep the rest to myself. But if you’re feeling the imposter syndrome and just need to reroot yourself, maybe write down your five things too. It should help.
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