The title of this critically acclaimed novel by Zora Neale Hurston came to mind yesterday, seemingly out of the blue. In my relatively subconscious quest for column topics, I’ve learned to trust thoughts that come out of “nowhere.” And I had a hunch this one would lead me, well, somewhere.
Lo and behold I happened upon a TED Talk by Caroline Casey, an Irish woman and social entrepreneur who is legally blind – a condition of which she was not fully aware of until the age of 17 when she was advised she wouldn’t be able to learn to drive a car or (her preference) a motorbike.
When she was on the verge of entering preschool, her parents made the unlikely and bold decision to not tell her she was blind! They did not want labels, limitations or special schools. Casey has led an amazing life – full of higher education and various as well ambitious career paths. She says with great passion, “It’s extraordinary how far belief can take you.”
She simply believed she could do anything she set her mind to.
It wasn’t until her late twenties when her limited sight deteriorated further that she confessed to her boss at the time, “I can’t see. I need help.” This proved to be a turning point in her life – away from trying relentlessly to be perfect as well as something she was not –which she found to be utterly exhausting.
Soon after her confession, she went for a run on a route she had taken many times before, having memorized every numbered step, landmark and potential hazard, but she crashed onto a rock and wound up bloody, sobbing and figuratively broken. At this critical juncture she lost belief – in herself that is – and for the first time could not see the way before her.
Her brokenness led to a decision to simply yet completely be her true self for the very first time. She says effusively, “When you make a decision at the right time in the right place, the ‘universe’ makes it happen for you… being yourself is freedom.”
To that I would add: I believe the creator of this universe wants us all to be who we were meant to be, “extraordinary, different, wonderful people.”
And yes, broken as well.
I am reminded of what my nephew Jason from Queensland, Australia told me around a campfire at a family get together. While facing a difficult decision during the previous year he said that he had “consulted” his heart.
This is consistent with a Psalm which resonated deeply with me this week in which David writes,”…even at night my heart instructs me.” And with Helen Keller’s reflection, “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”
How about you? Are you at a cross roads – maybe even in the mire, a mess, a muddle? Why not consult YOUR heart and/or do something as radical as what Caroline Casey did – which was to offer thanksgiving for the victory she found only in defeat? German author Otto Betz writes, “Whoever gives thanks for all circumstances receives new eyes and discovers things never seen before.”
If you are stuck and desperately trying to see a situation with new eyes – or your path or place in the world – I humbly suggest the eyes that need to be opened are the ones not in your head, but in your heart. And gratitude is the first best step in unlocking its chambers.
Along with belief, of course. Not belief merely in yourself through sheer determination and by which you will take your “proper” place in this world – but rather belief in someone larger than yourself by whose shattering grace you will become all you are created to be in this world – and the next.
Believing is seeing, my friends…more than you could ever ask for or imagine.
– Caroline Watkins
