Can You Take Your Own Advice?

“I write the right. I do the left.” 

― Dominic Riccitello

Have you ever given someone advice and said to yourself, man Im good, I have it figured out. But then we catch ourselves doing the opposite of what we advice. In that moment many of us feel like real bonafide hypocrites. I got a reality check from a colleague who read my blogs regularly. She asked in essence if I was practicing what I was preaching. In motivating others was I motivated? I said yes but i also started to question the extent to which this was true and I felt like a part time hypocrite.

I am really grateful for this platform to inspire at least one person. Before I started this blog I questioned my purpose and how I could do acts of kindness. I thought to myself what can i do to be a positive influence. I decided to start a blog because i loved writing and because I love words and how words can transform something simple into something magical. Something you cannot recreate simply in your thoughts but you could see touch and then be. In the course of contributing to this blog I realised that it is not only to reach as many people as i can. It is also for me. I hope that doesn’t sound selfish. When people comment and make suggestions I feel as if I have reconnected with myself I can reaffirm my humanity through someone else’s humanity via this portal that leads to human connections. 

Many of us- the majority- have good intention and so we give some excellent advice. Sadly still many if us do not take our own advice and we maybe the ones who need it the most. Its hard to admit that we can help others but we cannot help ourselves. Its sad to know that we are disappointing others by not living by what we preach. But its never easy to do this. So we hide our own pain behind a smile and good intentions; but the disguise never holds true. The cracks are always revealed and ultimately the mask will crumble…

The wonderful advice you give is not your own but they have been given to you by God initially for you and then you see the merit of sharing with others. Sometimes it’s better to take advice when we are not being objective. But we should never forget that we do not always need to look outside ourselves for the truth; for our truth. We don’t need an epiphany moment, the answer was before us all along. Sometimes it is not that we do not have the answer, its that we are afraid to disrupt the falsehood we have been operating under, we have gotten so comfortable behind our mask, that we think it is really who we are. And believing this is when we begin to fail ourselves. If you can only console/build and see the good in others, you may ending thinking that everyone deserves saving but you. So how can you be sincere in telling others that they are worth it, but you cannot tell yourself that?

Don’t be deceived into thinking that the advice you give to others was not also intended for you. Know that you are where you are not only to facilitate the growth of others but also your own. How can you hope to inspire change if you remain the same, if you feel there is no more room for improvement or hope for you? And when we see someone who seems to have all the answers fall, extend a hand to help them up. Even the most optimistic among us need a word of encouragement every now and then.

Verse to consider

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him