The sincere life

I woke up with the reminder in my mind that nothing in this life is a big deal. I’ve caught myself lately starting to take life seriously again. I will admit, for much of my life, I took everything pretty damn seriously. Sometimes it didn’t appear like I did, but internally, I was screaming. Not much good ever came out of me being so serious. I’ve learned slowly to take life less seriously but I still stumble occasionally back down the rabbit hole of seriousness.

My yoga teacher always talks about being serious verse being sincere. He says there is no need to be serious but it is important to be sincere when approaching life. Anytime I think of the word sincere, my mind wanders back to second grade when sincerely was one of our spelling words. Or maybe we learned how to write formal letters and sign them, Sincerely, Jenna!? I’m not sure why that memory still sticks in my mind, but it does make me giggle every time. It doesn’t help me clarify the point I’m trying to make, just a sweet little memory.

But let’s be serious for a moment. What does sincerity even mean? To be sincere is to be genuine, heartfelt and free from pretense or deceit. To meet life with a sincere attitude means to meet everything with honesty and integrity. To not embellish or entertain exaggerations of reality.

The Latin root of sincere is sincerus which means clean or pure. In a sense, it is meeting life in its most unadulterated form. Seeing life as purely life and not the stories we attach to everything.

This truly is the opposite of taking life seriously. When I take life seriously, I tend to assign value to everything that happens. I immediately judge everything as good or bad according to my beliefs. But do we ever actually know if things are good or bad in the moment!?

How often has something that felt so terrible in the moment, turned out to be exactly what you needed? When we dwell on something we think was bad, most of the time we lose the lesson it is attempting to provide for us. This is the difference between seriousness and sincerity.

Any time I am attempting to control my life, I fall into this trap of seriousness. I think that if I focus harder and make everything a big deal, then I will be more able to control the outcome. This usually weaves its way straight to anxiety, frustration and worry rather than anything productive.

The counter to that approach would be taking everything with a dose of sincerity. To be able to see everything clearly and genuinely rather than assigning value to everything. This requires a remembering that most things are not that big of a deal!

To meet life with sincerity means we allow life to be life without all the attempts to control it. Meaning we can let life happen and learn from it rather than judge it constantly. Sincerity leads to more ease, calm and understanding. All things I will always take a bit more of in my life.

At the end of the day, life is a silly thing we all have the joy to experience. It is not as serious as we make it out to be. It isn’t a game we are competing in because there is no way to win. When we live life with sincerity rather than seriousness, we are constantly remembering this. As cliche as it is, life is about the journey and not the destination. Sincerely appreciate the journey rather than seriously strive towards the destination.

When we can hold everything lightly, see everything genuinely, life feels softer. I’m here for a soft life. I am over taking everything so damn seriously. Those things that seemed like such a big deal a year ago barely register in my mind today. Even shit last week that felt so important, is simply a lesson I experienced. Next time you feel the heat of a situation rising within, get curious about whether you are approaching it with a serious mind or a sincere one.

I whole heartedly believe this world could use a few more sincere folks these days. Taking life so seriously is much over rated and honestly, quite exhausting. I will no longer be taking myself or life seriously. So when I wiggle my way back into a serious state, I sure hope someone can snap me out of it with a healthy dose of sincerity.