'hugging the cactus'
Mel Gibson told Robert Downey, Jr. , at a time when RDJ was at his lowest in his career because of alcohol and drug abuse, 'hug the cactus'. This was related by Downey in one of the awards night he was presented with one, of course, by Mel Gibson. I loved the story told by Downey in a video I saw a few days back, because aside from the fact that Downey is the man of my dreams, the phrase 'hug the cactus' caught my attention.
Now this self-flaggelating blogger is writing about it, well, because the thought of inflicting pain to oneself to learn lessons in life, is appealing. Now that might send off the wrong signals here and I am at risk to being thought of as having this genetic fumble somewhere in my brains, but nonetheless I cannot help but share my thoughts about it.
What Gibson meant, according to Downey, was that people need to acknowledge a mistake, embrace its truth, take responsibility for the mistake, and then do something to right whatever was made wrong. To me, each day, every person is faced with choices, and to have chosen one must also mean that the choice was thought of, the consequences recognized, and the self is readied to live with the consequences of that.
I always tell my kids that. I say, 'don't be like mom, you make the right choices, for yourself, because you will have to live with the consequences of that choice'. Should the consequences be so bad, then 'hug the cactus'. We bleed, we feel pain, we suffer, we ask for forgiveness, then we pray that we do not make the same mistake again. Unless, we want to 'hug the cactus' again and again that we bleed to our death. Which makes one a candidate for 'nutsville' residency.
When I bleed, I feel pain, we suffer, I seek comfort from the random entities present in my life, like band-aids. I want to rid of the pain as soon as we can, so I either use other people as cushions on which I lay down my whole battered being, or I indulge myself with the material things there are, for instance, eating non-stop. Anything to keep the pain away. Then I realize, the bleeding stops but I am covered with half-healed wounds. I have them now, still.
So after listening to Downey and his 'hug-the-cactus' story, I now resolve to start healing the wounds I inflicted on myself. I am done with the acknowedgement, of the embracing the truth, and taking the responsibility for all the mistakes I have made, the poor choices I took. I must, and this is the hardest part, begin to seek that balm for my bruised soul, not that of my body. To achieve that, I vow to love myself more with all my weaknesses and stupidity and arrogance and all that makes me the witch I am. And project (that's the term my daughter always uses on me to slap me across the brain) that love for others, to ask for forgiveness, to pray for another shot it, and work on this nth chance if privileged to be gifted by God that, to be a better person. After all, 'hugging the cactus' is all but a phrase simply to say, himility is the key to all that is valuable in life, if you want to give it meaning.
Now this self-flaggelating blogger is writing about it, well, because the thought of inflicting pain to oneself to learn lessons in life, is appealing. Now that might send off the wrong signals here and I am at risk to being thought of as having this genetic fumble somewhere in my brains, but nonetheless I cannot help but share my thoughts about it.
What Gibson meant, according to Downey, was that people need to acknowledge a mistake, embrace its truth, take responsibility for the mistake, and then do something to right whatever was made wrong. To me, each day, every person is faced with choices, and to have chosen one must also mean that the choice was thought of, the consequences recognized, and the self is readied to live with the consequences of that.
I always tell my kids that. I say, 'don't be like mom, you make the right choices, for yourself, because you will have to live with the consequences of that choice'. Should the consequences be so bad, then 'hug the cactus'. We bleed, we feel pain, we suffer, we ask for forgiveness, then we pray that we do not make the same mistake again. Unless, we want to 'hug the cactus' again and again that we bleed to our death. Which makes one a candidate for 'nutsville' residency.
When I bleed, I feel pain, we suffer, I seek comfort from the random entities present in my life, like band-aids. I want to rid of the pain as soon as we can, so I either use other people as cushions on which I lay down my whole battered being, or I indulge myself with the material things there are, for instance, eating non-stop. Anything to keep the pain away. Then I realize, the bleeding stops but I am covered with half-healed wounds. I have them now, still.
So after listening to Downey and his 'hug-the-cactus' story, I now resolve to start healing the wounds I inflicted on myself. I am done with the acknowedgement, of the embracing the truth, and taking the responsibility for all the mistakes I have made, the poor choices I took. I must, and this is the hardest part, begin to seek that balm for my bruised soul, not that of my body. To achieve that, I vow to love myself more with all my weaknesses and stupidity and arrogance and all that makes me the witch I am. And project (that's the term my daughter always uses on me to slap me across the brain) that love for others, to ask for forgiveness, to pray for another shot it, and work on this nth chance if privileged to be gifted by God that, to be a better person. After all, 'hugging the cactus' is all but a phrase simply to say, himility is the key to all that is valuable in life, if you want to give it meaning.
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