Honor the place where your tail grows crooked

Ever notice how perfectly centered and symmetrical the tails of cartoon rabbits are depicted? For most of us that's our first exposure to the fluffy, nose-twitching creatures. I know it was for me. In fact, I never gave any thought to their tails.  I accepted those animated renderings early on without discretion and they became my ideal, albeit an inaccurate one, that I held in thought and even projected outwardly onto the real life rabbits I encountered. Recently however I began to notice something very interesting about my most-frequently-encountered-critter, the jack rabbit, during my greatly loved southern California trail runs.  Their tails grow crooked!  And it's the most adorable thing to see...watching them hopping along with that little off-centered tail, each one slightly different. The first time I was present enough to notice this phenomenon, the thought immediately came, "We're like that. We all have a place where our tails grow crooked and it's the most interesting, adorable, and brilliant thing about us too." Unfortunately this fear-based world we inhabit isn't very welcoming of crooked tails. Like those cartoon bunny rabbits, it wants to straighten everything out, make it fit into some well-defined category created by someone who knows better than we do. If we're not alert, we fall for it:  get the face lift, the implants, nose job, botox injections, go on the diet, buy the sports car -- fill in the blank. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with these things, but if they're done as an "in order to", they can be very disappointing because they rarely deliver what they promise. And all the while, that crooked tail, the thing that if acknowledged and developed, not only would bring us the most lasting satisfaction as an individual, but would also be the greatest blessing to mankind as a whole, goes neglected, under nourished, and unexpressed. How we go about discovering this beautiful, brilliant uniqueness will differ for each of us and it may be quite challenging at times. Yet I'm convinced that it's absolutely worth it and if you simply open to the idea, the "how" will follow. So today, right now, please, please, please honor the place where YOUR tail grows crooked. The world is waiting for it and so am I.