Your Beauty is the Truth

August 24, 2018

Have you ever done something beautiful?

Have you ever hit a perfect, untouchable forehand that exploded off your racquet? Have you ever hit a perfect drive right down the middle of the fairway? Have you ever turned in a report so brilliant it should be framed?

On the other hand, have you ever shanked a ball so hard it hurt several small children?

Or snap-hooked a drive into someone’s kitchen window? Or turned in a stick figure instead of an intricate drawing for a Greek mythology drawing assignment? (funniest moment of my high school career; I’ll never forget you, Jeff Allen.)

For all of us, the answer to all of those questions is yes.

We’ve all done something beautiful, and we’ve all done things that are embarrassingly ugly.

Which brings us to a very important question: Which of those things is the truth?

Are we actually beautiful or are we actually ugly?

The cop-out answer is that we’re both. Hey, we’re human, aren’t we? Ha, ha, chuckle, chuckle. Now where’s my cheeseburger?

But that’s not really true. We can’t be both. One of those statements is a lie.

The problem is: we tend to believe the wrong one.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone hit a gorgeous groundstroke and then say, “Yeah, but I can’t do that in a match.”

Really? Why not?

“Because I always miss it in a match.”

Not true. You can always have the beautiful stroke at your disposal–because the beautiful forehand is reality.

At your most relaxed, at your most calm, at your most open-minded moment, you’re gorgeous. That’s what you’re capable of. That’s who you truly are. You’ve seen it.

For a forehand to miss, someone else has to intervene. Some other judgmental evil overlord has to step in and change things. Someone has to tighten your grip on the racquet, stop your feet moving, and alter your follow-through.

Without that intervention, what would happen?

It would be beautiful all the time.

So why does that barbarian ruin it all?

Because we believe his lies. Because, for some messed up reason, we believe the barbarian should have a say.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. And, frankly, I’m tired of the barbarian.

If we believe we’re beautiful, the door slams shut. If we believe in our brilliance, the barbarian has no power here.

And the ball goes right down the middle of the fairway.

So the next time you get into an argument with an intruder about how beautiful you are, know this.

Your beauty is the truth.

My book is called The Inevitability of Becoming Rich, and you can find that here.