Are you an Alchemist or a Leopard.....by Gretchen Rubin

I enjoy the happiness project blog by Gretchen Rubin so very much and I had to share her latest which is:

A passage written by critic John Ruskin:

The little pig was so comforting to me because he was wholly content to be a little pig; and Mr. Leslie Stephen is in a certain degree exemplary and comforting to me, because he is wholly content to be Mr. Leslie Stephen; while I am miserable because I am always wanting to be something else than I am.

Alchemists seek ways to change or re-direct our fundamental natures; we're dissatisfied with ourselves; we're often tempted to behave, and make choices, that don't comport with who we really are.


Leopards don't try to change their spots. They know who they are, and they don't worry about everything they aren't.

I realized that my whole life up until this point I was the alchemist; trying to change every aspect of myself to live up to a perfect standard that I am not even sure who set for me? Myself maybe? I remember thinking, I like that but I don't want to share that because it's not the "popular opinion" but who says. The world that I existed in was such a small chunk of the mass display of creation that God surrounded us with, and so I realize it wasn't I who was small, it was actually the bubble I existed in. Once I found I had the ability to pop that proverbial bubble, the whole world was waiting for me to be who I am. As I get older I find that being happy ie. finding the true center of peace in my life is that I am finally finding my spots. My spots may look different than others, but to deny my spots is to deny my heritage of being a leopard. To cover up being who I am is in fact.....anguishing. So thank you to you Gretchen Rubin for categorizing it as such. Knowing that there were actually two different ways to live makes one realize when you choose to be a leopard, you can embrace yours spots and truthfully when you don't' hide your spots and begin to show them off, you find there are more and more leopards out there just like you..living as alchemists♥