Find Your Fit in the Universe by Simply Being Yourself

“From now on I’m just gonna be myself,

because when I’m myself

I’m more like me than anybody else.”

Gracie Allen, College Swing

Gracie Allen always played the role of the “dumb” one in comedy routines with her husband George Burns. But sometimes the dumbest characters in a film are given the wisest lines in the entire screenplay. Gracie’s line toward the end of 1938’s College Swing is a case in point.

As the character Gracie Alden, she is the great-great granddaughter of the founder of Alden College and she is shouldering the burden of returning ownership of the college to her family. All she has to do is pass a proficiency exam and the college belongs to her. Unfortunately, she’s already failed the exam nine years in a row and this is her last chance. Gracie is then manipulated by Bob Hope, Martha Raye and a host of other characters who want a piece of the property. She manages to pass the exam with the shady help of Bob Hope, but then finds herself opposed by the school’s current administration which is horrified by her mildly crazy ideas for revolutionizing the college.

By the end of the film, Gracie (dumb as her character might be) has wised up. She’s tired of trying to be something she’s not, and she’s decided to simply be herself again. In the process, she wins self-respect and a sweetheart, and opens the doors to real happiness through her self-acceptance.

Self-acceptance is the key to lasting happiness. Once we choose to accept ourselves just as we are, once we choose to believe we are lovable no matter what anyone else says about whom or how we “should” be, we regain our serenity and our place in life. We fit again. Everything eventually starts to feel right.

In many ways we are each like a puzzle piece. When we fit into our rightful spot of being exactly who we are and living our unique purpose, we help to fill-in the bigger picture of a Universe intact, just the way God created it to be. But when we attempt to be something or someone other than who we are, we become a missing link in the puzzle. We never quite fit right and we are never truly happy with ourselves or life.

Whenever we are feeling like we don’t fit, it’s a warning sign that we aren’t being ourselves. We then need to remember the words of Gracie: “When I’m myself, I’m more like me than anybody else.” Hopefully we can then work at getting back in sync with ourselves and thus allowing our souls to shine!