The Global Conversation

Tag: Graduation

  • Spiritual Swag – Yes, it does exist

    In the past few weeks, I was given the opportunity to be one of the two student scholar speakers at my commencement ceremony. I knew that giving the speech would be easy, but writing it would be extremely difficult. Through The Global Conversation, I have been used to writing to a very aware, very attuned audience. However, I knew my graduating class hadn’t been as into their greatest version of their greatest vision of themselves. So how to compromise? With some spiritual SWAG.

    For many of the teens reading this, swag is probably the last thing they would associate with spirituality. Besides being one of the biggest culture slangs of this decade, swag has taken up many different meanings. But in its simplest form, all swag means is “the way one presents oneself”, which sounds A LOT like “the way one projects their state of being”. Does it sound spiritual now?

    The point of swag is to outwardly display that inner state of oneness and beingness. And, it’s totally easy. So easy, that it can be broken down to a four letter acronym (using s, w, a, and g, of course). And here it is:

    First, S for Style. We are all unique souls on our own unique journey with our own unique purpose. There is no single ‘right’ way; there is only the way that we choose. So, choose to make it yours. Personalize it with your own elaborations. Feel more attuned to Taoism than Buddhism? That’s fine. Feel like science explains spirituality better than metaphysics? That’s fine too. No matter how or what you believe, have your own personal spirituality, because with it, you will always be closer to your source.

    Next, W for Wonder. We never stop wondering, even when our traditional classroom setting may end. For when we wonder, we question; and when we question, well, that’s when things really start to happen. When was your greatest expansion in thought, when you decided to just take on distorted beliefs or when you wondered if there was more to the picture? Always expand the boundaries, of consciousness and awareness, to understand even more of Who You Are.   

    Also, A for Accept. On our spiritual journeys, we will encounter challenges and obstacles that hardly seem ideal, but are aligned with our greater purpose. Sometimes we don’t understand why we don’t get the perfect grade, get the perfect job, get the perfect relationship. Once we accept that there is a deeper reason for what is happening, we can explore why it is happening and how this happening contributes to our spiritual evolution. For when we accept the fact, we can detach from the fact, and then understand the fact from an entirely new perspective. As long as you accept that new perspective.

    Finally, G for Go. Go out there and never stop finding out who you are. Go explore, go discover, go out and constantly recreate your greatest vision. Some have said that staying in a static state is the closest thing the soul can experience to death. Go and expand your vision, and expand your awareness. You will never regret it.

    With these ideas, we can project ourselves and our own spirituality in a way that truly promotes our unique journey. Once others recognize your ‘swag’, they will find it in themselves as well. And so the spiritual process goes on and on and on.  

    Using the same acronym, I presented these ideas to my graduating class, though using a bit more ‘Fenton High School’ oriented ideas and themes. Regardless, my final paragraph rings true here the same as it did in my gym:

    “So, with a little bit of Style, Wonder, Acceptance, and Go in our steps, we are ready to walk out of here and rise as leaders of this brave new world with S-W-A-G swag. Though our emergence may not be as monumental as The Harlem Shake, it can be just as dynamic. It is now our choice, of whether the world will rule us, or if we will rule the world. So let’s go out there, let’s emerge with our heads held high and our spirits even higher. We ARE the class of 2013, and we got swag.”

    (Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • In High School I Wanted To…

    For many of us, this Sunday (and the Sundays yet to come in May) marks the end of a very significant chapter in our life. Graduation for many of us is right here, giving us the promise of new hopes, new dreams, and new visions. In this very, very exciting time, though, we not only look forward to what is yet to come, but also remember what has come to pass.

    Though it may seem a little nostalgic, take some time BEFORE graduation to remember what your greatest version of your grandest vision you had about Who You Are was in high school. For when we look forward, it is just as important to remember where we came from to continue to create and enhance that vision. We all had a dream, a goal, an ideal, and along our journey, we fulfilled them. So, think to yourself, “In High School, I wanted to…” and see just how far you have come.

    For the sake of getting started, I have posted my own response below to the statement above. Though everyone’s journey IS different, I would LOVE to hear what you all have thought of your journey in high school in the comments below. For when we create a vision, AND share that vision, things really start to change. So without any further ado:

    In High School I wanted to….

    Learn to love it all. I love math, but I also, above all, love writing. Creating a sense of balance AND understanding of both the concrete and the abstract has been a pivotal point of my high school experience. As many believe that the arts and sciences remain in completely different domains, I have found the Middle Path. Incorporating both scientific analysis and artistic solutions has expressed many opportunities that would have gone unseen and unnoticed. By knowing both sides of the spectrum, the latent potential to be great and do great is forever being manifested. With great guidance from all those who have helped me along my journey (family, friends, teachers, coaches, etc.), I learned to create that balance. With this equilibrium, I will be ready for all the challenges of creating a New Cultural Story. For an example on how I have achieved that, I included a poem that I wrote in 2012, called The Human Element:

    They say that matter

    cannot be created

    nor can it be destroyed.

     

    They gave us these rules

    to bring supreme logic

    into our world of chaos.

     

    They called it science

    and wrote all of life

    as stated definition.

     

    But there is far more

    than conscripted degree

    and laboratory principle.

     

    There are the moments

    that can break its course

    and tear fabric of reality.

     

    For when conscience

    enters the equation

    all parts are variable.

     

    The human element

    arises from the hot heart

    and melts cold discipline.

     

    It challenges time itself

    to see if our emotions

    travel the speed of light.

     

    This new reaction

    removes the rational

    and adds the relational.

     

    It bends our very limits

    Serving not to be bound

    by any delicate formula.

     

    This compound isn’t new

    but has been here longer

    than science or man himself.

     

    For this part stems back

    to the original periodic table

    where both fire and water once ruled.

     

    A time when nature

    could bring men together

    even in their darkest hours.

     

    A place where love

    had stopped wars from starting

    or from sides being drawn.  

     

    A thought which soared

    not from calculation

    but from within the soul.

     

    For then men listened

    to their hearts and their spirits

    to govern their actions.

     

    But when man found law

    he forgot to order humanity

    in his hierarchy of desires.

     

    And so he blindly mixed

    compounds of fear and conceit 

    into imbalanced solutions.

     

    There is much man has done

    in the cold name of science

    that has cost him his brother.

     

    But when science is warmed

    by the element of humanity

    all is at balance again.

     

    For in this modern day

    we ourselves must emote

    as much as we do examine.

     

    Aware of the new order

    we realize that our mind

    is over our matter.

     

    So as you complete your high school career, remember that vision what you wished to be, and how that has now created Who You Are. Share your journey, share your vision, and share your story. All it requires is a little time to look back.

    (Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)

  • So that’s what that feels like…..

    Forgive me, teens of the world, but as May 19th approaches sooner and sooner, I and every other senior in high schools across the world have become fixated on one day alone: graduation. With a little more than 6 weeks left and the bulk of my activities coming to a close, I cannot help to wonder: What am I going to miss? How much have I changed? Do I have any regrets?

    The most daunting of questions on my mind, however, is the simplest: Have I had a fulfilling high school experience?

    At this point, I begin to feel old. For this question is not just asked at the end of high school. The same question applies to the other senior, the one who has faced far more than our comparatively juvenile lives. For in our elder years, we also ask that same question, and hope we have the same answer. At the end of any great journey, be it of high school or of this physical stage of life, the necessity of optimizing that journey becomes of chief concern. We ask whether we had a fulfilling life. Did we, or did we not?

    So when dealing with that experience – the experience of fulfillment – we often are led to second, third, and quadruple-guess ourselves. Fulfillment seems to be such an elusive concept; it is something that is supposed to happen naturally, yet seems to require a lot of effort to be achieved. Fulfillment also seems to be very paradoxical; it appears to only be felt after the experience, yet requires us to be living in every moment to be reached.

    The very dictionary meaning of fulfillment is abstract enough, as it is listed by Merriam-Webster to mean “to execute, realize, and satisfy.”  Is fulfillment really just some intangible ideal beyond our recognition or attainment? To answer that, fulfillment is defined by its spiritual definition. In a broader perspective, fulfillment simply means “to realize one’s potential.” To many, realizing one’s potential means they have done something worthwhile with their time in this life. With the majority, we are led to wonder whether we did change the world, make a difference, or even just make the world a better place overall.

    The problem with fulfillment does not come from understanding it, but rather our judgment of it. Potential – our ability to be the very best version of ourselves – is something that does not have universal standards. We are all unique spiritual beings, with different purposes that aren’t even entirely known to us. Our soul desires to experience the full range of life, of loss, of love, so it may know itself. What our soul wishes to accomplish in this life cannot be quantitatively judged on a scale of 1 to 10. What one might call a complete failure may be success to another, all depending on the perspective of our soul.  The nature of our soul is simply too intricate and complex to be considered so artificially.

    Further, fulfillment of potential is not just something that happens retrospectively.  We don’t need to wait until we are old – in mind and body – for us to recognize our fulfillment. We can experience it in this very moment. And this one. And this one. With any spiritual experience, the fulfillment of our potential truly does not happen after the fact, but is happening NOW. Fulfillment is living in the moment – being in tune with our spiritual purpose at all times. When we look backwards, we fear the feeling of regret. If we simply BE the greatest vision of the grandest version of ourselves, then there is nothing else we have to do. Though we may feel the regret that it wasn’t enough, it is exactly where we are at the part of the journey – right where our soul leads us. Within the spiritual journey, there is no right or wrong, there is only the way our spirit takes.

    So that’s what that feels like. At any age, we worry and wonder about our fulfillment. If its high school or life itself, all we need to do is just let our soul do the work, and let ourselves follow. By living life from the highest point, there is nothing that goes unseen or undone. And it feels wonderful.

    (Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)