I’m Not Jumping on the ‘Let’s Dump on Charlie’ Kabuki Dance

It is my belief that artists hold the highest expression of the human spirit and communicate that through their art. When they aren’t creating art, we all suffer

This post isn't joining the "let's dump on Charlie Sheen" kabuki dance.  

If you want more of that, you have plenty of other places to go for amusement. No one gets out of bed in the morning determined to screw up their lives. The sad truth is, we're all just doing the best we can with the light we have to see.

Oh yeah … many of us are bumbling around in the dark. We've all wandered down the wrong path a time or two.  

So this post comes from a place of compassion. In my opinion, judgement of any kind is wasted energy. That time and effort is better spent lighting our own journey, learning a few lessons, and rising above. It's what we're here to do.

Sheen is not at the point where he is willing to take responsibility for his role in the s*** storm he's created around him. He's still playing the blame and shame game. Clearly it's not working for him. It's not working for anyone caught in his destructive path. Venomous anger doesn't come from someone who is happy with his or her circumstance.

I have no way of knowing what's going on in Sheen's head. I have not spoken with him. What I do know is this: To hang onto resentment is to place yourself firmly at the heart of victimhood.

Those with a victim mentality tend to view their world from the perspective of being attacked. With everyone seemingly out to get him, Sheen's weapon of choice is to rage at the machine spewing heinous babblecrap like a rattlesnake on PCP.

Apparently not willing to consider his role in creating this bizarre story, Sheen's words hold him as some sort of supreme being that we just don't understand. I encourage him to look within to figure out what is it that he himself does not understand.

His self-proclaimed "addiction to winning" is generally the ego needing to be right more than wiser. Vomiting hatred and indignation at everyone and everything is, for many, a woefully misguided attempt to numb the pain within.

He's not alone. To look at Sheen with a sense of shadenfreude is to be a hypocrite.

His flame-out is stretched across every global media platform. It's a stressful spotlight under which to find yourself. The burden of this kind of stress only serves to exacerbate a spiraling collapse.  

And Sheen's certainly not the first, nor will he be the last, to go spiral down in such a glorious display of fireworks.

We all know someone, including ourselves, who have had the luxury of privacy as we mindlessly sign up for whatever metaphor suits our particular fancy:

  >> burning our bridges
  >> slamming into walls
  >> having egg all over our faces

Getting knocked on your ass is often a wake-up call to hold on a minute. Hopefully, Sheen will take a time-out to search for truth, clarity and understanding. I encourage him to take a hard look at what's really going on — not from an external perspective but from within.  

Those who've risen above such setbacks reached for another perspective when the one they had evidently didn't work.

Not working means that your life is worse off than it was before the upset. The lives of the people around are worse off as a result of your actions. And through all the blaming you don't feel good deep down inside.  

You're not at peace.

Not being at peace within yourself is painful.  

We're brilliant at self-medicating. We don't even need pharmaceuticals. Bitching, blaming, complaining and shaming is only one prescription.  

Shopping 'til you drop soothes for an hour or two. Feeding our belly instead of our soul works only while we stuff our face. We have a vast array of "comfort drugs" in our medicine chest and none of it works over the long term.  

We've all been in that place of darkness. I invite all of us to hold the compassion for others as we would want held for ourselves. Stop pointing fingers at others and clean up your own house. It begins with you. It begins with me.

It is my belief that artists hold the highest expression of the human spirit and communicate that through their art. When they aren't creating art, we all suffer.

I look forward to Sheen's extraordinary turnaround.  I'll tune into that story each and every day.

Comments