STEPPING BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF TRADITION

What forms a boundary for you? Is it your life experience? Things you did (or did not do) as a child? Your respect for the past – for the way things have always been – or your desire to run from what once was in your upbringing? Your hesitancy to abandon the comfort you feel in predictability – or your fear of the unknown that accompanies each new reality?

Perhaps the time has come for you to overcome your limitations – regardless of what helped to define them in the first place. If you would prefer not to explode the walls that surround you, could you at least open the windows and doors wide enough to escape the room that contains your every move?

Many find so much comfort in what has been they refuse to begin the journey that might lead them to things not yet considered. Tradition is good and meaningful yet it can inhibit our growth and throttle our progress if we allow the past to envelope our lives. We should cherish our heritage as we continually seek new and better ways to do things – actions and activities that may become another’s future tradition. If we recognize and acknowledge several “truths” about our past, we should be “released” to better move forward in a new direction:

1) TRADITION IS BUT ONE BASIS FOR YOUR ACTIONS. It should never become the destination you seek but rather a firm foundation from which you may begin your journey. Far too many individuals mask their fear of advancing beyond their present reality – and some even to face the reality of their present situation – by hiding themselves within the richness of their traditions and the heritage of their past. Holding on to the past is not a bad thing. When holding on causes you to hold back, however – when retaining traditions and deep cultural heritage becomes the goal rather than the historical perspective from which we find our strength – we keep ourselves from moving forward by burying ourselves in the past.

2) WHEN ONE TAKES MORE PRIDE IN WHERE THEY COME FROM (whether it be national origin, gender, race or religion) than in where they are going they become disconnected with their reality and often fail to contribute to their society. When one holds so tightly onto their past that there is little room left to enter their present – that their expectation is one of accommodation rather than assimilation – then they become a millstone around society’s neck rather than an enhancer of its continued growth.

3) WHEN ONE THINKS OF WHO THEY ARE AND LEVERAGES WHERE THEY COME FROM, expecting more to be given them than they hope to contribute – asking for more than they are willing to share – they have stepped beyond the boundaries of traditional pride into the realm of entitlement. One must continually give of oneself in order to gain – knowing and expecting another to refill them through a reciprocal sharing – in order to expand their sense of past into a hope for tomorrow.

Traditions are the “glue” that hold our lives together – the framework upon which we build our lives. Striking a balance between where we came from, who we are, and what we wish to become will help us move from what once was through what now is to what might possibly be. Remember your past – your traditions and heritage – but do not allow them to prevent you from moving forward. Let go of what you feel entitled and make your way into a world not yet imagined!