Finding Your Own Gold Box
A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar. “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger. Then he asked: “What’s that you’re sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I’ve been sitting on it for as long as I can remember. “Ever look inside?,” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point, there’s nothing in there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar, reluctantly, managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold. I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself. – From The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle (found on Peaceful Daily)
This great little quote popped up in one of my daily newsletters (source above) and resonates with me in more than one way — I am a true believer in finding your own strength in life and paving your own path, but in terms of applying this to more of a personal style/fashion standpoint (so as not to completely yank this blog into too spiritual of a direction), it reminds me of when I never was truly happy with my own way of dressing until I stopped desperately looking for too many cues elsewhere. I, like most, went through many stages in high school — think goth, then grunge, then punk, then glam, then experimental, then a little more preppy with the beginning of my American Eagle obsession in college, to…now. I’m just me, which might or might not be a mesh of all of those past tastes. I remember having a few personal tastes, but I worried too much if they’d be “accepted” or “good enough” so I never listened to them (actually the goth one I did truly enjoy for awhile). With the myriad of fashion blogs, commercials, e-newsletters and all the awesome Fashion Week coverage out there, we are bombarded with so many ideas on what’s “cute” or “hot,” but I think it’s important to not take any of them to literally. Let them be great ideas, give them the ohh la las and double takes, let them inspire you, make your magazine cutout collages to your heart’s content but stop trying so hard to be something you aren’t, dangit. I think we’re all sitting on a gold box, but we’re too afraid of what society will think if we open it. I’ve never really been one for trends. I don’t beg for style advice (although I LOOooooOOVE ideas and inspiration), but it did take me some time to discover that gold box I was really sitting on for so long.
Either way, life is too short to go through life not realizing that you are awesome, so go flaunt it.
