Taking what's NOT mine...

I think that since my formative years, I've had a strong sense of what is mine to use as I wish, what is shared so to be considerate of, and what is other people's, so to treat with the utmost respect.

Apparently, others don't have the same sense of morality or live from a similar ethical code to mine though. I was taught that because very little is genuinely original thought, that 'creative swiping' was absolutely ok, as long as I credited the original creator.

My team reminded me recently that I always credit others who quotes I have used, or whose ideas have inspired me.

That is a code I live by,

and no,

it's not mandatory, but it is honourable.

In a world where that means very little, where deep fake is a reality and it's everyone for themselves, honour can be difficult to find.?

But, that doesn’t mean I throw my principles in the trash.

In fact, exactly the opposite.

They become even more important, but not in a moral high-ground kind of way. That's just slipping into superiority complex territory.

I'm talking 'interiority' as Caroline McHugh puts it, where I am entirely myself and without competition. All I have to do it get better at being myself, day-on-day.

So when someone swipes without credit something they picked up from me, as has happened recently, I reflected on my own code of ethics and after some initial anger and frustration, I chose to let it go.

More than that, I blessed them.

Quietly.

Privately.

Sincerely.

Now, I'm no angel so I will declare to you that I cursed them to begin with, until I remembered that all that would do would lower my positivity and increase my stress levels.?

I will also share that I'm a bit more sentimental than usual at the moment, having just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. I'm surrounded by so many memories popping up of social media, reminding me of our magnificent 25th wedding anniversary trip in August 2019.

We splashed out and included 2 days on the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff, close to where we got married, and travelled through to Vancouver. After a couple of nights in a beautiful hotel, we then boarded a small cruise ship (we really didn’t want to be on one of those huge vessels) for a week journeying through the Inside Passage and into the Glacier Bay National Park, part of Alaska's 25-million acre World Heritage Site.??

There were so many things that made that trip memorable and one in particular that is never far from my mind were the words of the indigenous Glacier Bay Ranger when she quoted a passage from Robin Wall Kimmerer's 'Braiding Sweetgrass.'

She shared this

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us,

giving us moments of wonder and joy.

I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand,

but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

I cried when she read it to us back in 2019 as she'd already talked about how the glaciers and earth are dying. And I cry now when I read Kimmerer's words and feel the intention behind them.

All words come with intention, particularly for we introverts as we prefer to think things through before we say them.

That's one of the reasons we're not so adept at off the cuff, spontaneous interventions.

But if you don’t think all words comes with intentions, think again.

Choosing to use someone's phrase because it inspired or ignited something in you came with at least one intention. Was it honourable though?

Many introverts have had their work plagiarised, their efforts claimed by someone else, and their quietness deliberately misinterpreted.

Why?

Because we're less likely to kick up a fuss, take a stand in the face of interpersonal conflict or hold people to account.

I'll share a few more passages from 'Braiding Sweetgrass' that are relevant to me in my current emotional state.

“...all flourishing is mutual.”

I cannot flourish as an introvert at the expense of another. I will not do wrong to another in order to 'win' either a battle or the war.

You may have and use my words for we both know from where they were inspired.

I can't deny that we share a collective consciousness and as Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Big Magic says,

"…ideas are constantly floating around our universe looking for a worthy home: a creative who will be able to take the idea and present it to the world in their own beautiful way."

And, when you see the beauty in what someone has created, someone who invested their time and unleashed their own brand of magic in order to act on the idea, applaud them.

Credit them.

Advocate for them.

Don’t take what isn't yours and get defensive if challenged.

We are not devoid of ideas, but we do need to notice what is floating around and decide which to let pass us by and which to play with.????

Kimmerer says “Isn't this the purpose of education, to learn the nature of your own gifts and how to use them for good in the world?”

I invite you to nurture your own gifts, to hold high the work of others who have inspired you and to give credit where credit is due.

It costs you nothing and rewards you many times over.