Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Learn. Grow. Live.

Autobiography In Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson

I.


I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find my way out.


II.


I walk down the same street. 
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again. 
I can't believe I'm in the same place,
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.


III.


I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.


IV.


I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.


V.


I walk down another street.

I read this poem a few months ago and it spoke to me. I recently found it as I was rummaging through my things and I couldn't not share it. It sums up so many aspects of my life thus far. I am finally walking down another street. In self-awareness. And it feels wonderful. I hope we can all get to a place where we can bravely walk down another street. As long as we have breath in us and hope for tomorrow... it is never too late.

Smooches,

15 comments:

  1. This is absolutely profound.

    I'm happy for you because self-awareness is the biggest (and often hardest) step to take!

    Lord knows I've pretended not to see that hole and fallen right back down it! Today though, I feel like I not only avoid the street, I paid a team of talented street pavers to fix the hole :)

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  2. What a beautiful poem!!!

    ~Jess

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  3. Love it! Lord knows I have fallen in a couple of holes in my lifetime before I finally learned to walk down another street! So glad you have found another street too...like you said "it is never too late!"

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  4. Great poem. We all have to fall down the same holes a few times before it dawns on us to try something different.

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  5. Wow I needed to hear that today thank you for sharing it lets me know that I can do whatever I put my mind to it is never to late.

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  6. @PandaBear: YES! You certainly can do whatever you put your mind to. Work it!!!

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  7. Seep! This reminds of of that saying, if we continue to do the same thing we can expect the same result.

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  8. @Teresha: Girl... you aint never lied! Amen to that!

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  9. Beautiful poem!! I think it is so true. Sometimes it gets a while to get there, but self awareness is a wonderful thing :). Thank you for sharing! Have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you on Monday! xx

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  10. What a neat autobiography and I'm sure it speaks to us all in some way.

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  11. Compelled to live life with more awareness each time I read this poem. It was just what the doctor order as I've been reevaluating some things in my world. I know what I gotta do, I plan to do it and I'm feeling stronger with each tear 9and they aren't always tears of sadness). Can I have your permission to share with my readers?

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  12. @Kerissa: Of COURSE!!! Copy and paste away!

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  13. I mean, how can you not feet connected to this poem. It's a powerful poem I first read years ago and it's still so relevant. I initially tried to figure out which stage in my life I was at, then stopped trying, realizing that I have decided to walk on a different street. Thanks for sharing, powerful stuff

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I love reading what you have to say!

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