A jeweled crown of gold spins in the nimble hands of the youth. Rubies, diamonds, and emeralds catch the light of the sun casting a rainbow onto the white marble floor. Alone in the great hall, curtains of purple velvet piped in gold draped on the walls, the young monarch ponders life. A head full of questions. "Questions that would frighten the people," the young monarch suspects...for monarchs are to be all wise and all knowing. "It is better they don't know of my ineptitude, my fears. But how fair is that to them? But that is neither here nor there, for I am a monarch and must do what I have been chosen to do. But what is that? How do I know what is right or good? How will I know or judge my success?"
The troubled youth sits tall and sighs to the universe. A long, slow, intake of breath that fills the lungs and surrounds the heart...that what exhaled fills the room with concern and bewilderment. There is a building cacophony of voices and movement just on the other side of the large wooden doors that open into the great hall. The court, the people, are gathering. There is no more time for doubt.
But what of the questions and the ever so evasive answers? The young monarch places the crown back upon the royal head...and with that comes a flood of memories. Memories of lessons taught by those who went before; Queens and Kings, teachers, friends, parents, grandparents, animals and plants, anyone and anything that had a morsel of wisdom to offer. The youth smiled. What needed to be done was to remember...remember the lives, experiences, lessons, and wisdom of those that came before. That, combined with generativity and compassion, should lead to wise thought and action. The youth knew that it was not possible to please everyone. The youth knew that whatever was done would be evil for someone. But the youth also knew being a monarch was a given...and all that could be done was one's best.
THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING
What is success? How do YOU measure it? How will YOU know when you have achieved success or can be labeled successful? So many of us measure our success by what others think, believe, desire, expect. If "they" say we are not a monarch then it must be true. How sad.
We live in a society of critics...where everything anyone composes, writes, performs, sings, says is critiqued by some expert. Who says they are experts? We live in a society where the most beautiful, the most valuable, the most improved, the most watched are actors, actresses, or athletes. We say to ourselves, "I am not a monarch because I am common. I am a failure because I will never make People magazine's special edition, 'Twenty Most Popular People.'" What a crock. We live in a society where people are shamed...shamed if too fat, too thin, too eccentric, too conservative, too this or too that. We live without kindness, gentleness, and trust. Monarchs become dictators when there is little gentleness and little trust.
Each of us has a monarch within; each of us is the center of the universe and the universe is our kingdom. The true monarch wants the kingdom to thrive. Wise monarchs live a life of generativity and fertility, treating everyone around them as if they are monarchs. And they are. Help your monarch to reveal itself by taking some time for introspection. Take some time to discover what you value, who you are, what you stand for, what you are fierce about. Decide for yourself what success is or will be. Treat all things around you with kindness and generativity, as monarchs, and help others to discover their monarch. Too many people are standing alone in the cold and the dark, in the rain...discover how true you are, how ready.