We’re always going on about the magnificent uniqueness of each one of us.

Sometimes, though, universal and oft-repeated truths can begin to sound a bit trite, or a lot like hoo-ha.

Yeah, yeah, we’re all unique, we’re all different, there’s no one else quite like me, blah blah.

Forget, for a moment, how one human being is incomparable to another.

Get closer than that.

Think of your own body.

Think how much difference and how many particulars exist within your body.

Think how many pairs compose your being: two feet, two arms, two hands, two eyebrows, two ears, two pointer fingers and two eyes, two knees and two legs and two baby toes. So many chances at perfect symmetry—each one of them missed.

I mean, my left foot is more than a half size bigger than my right, and I can’t ever remember which, but one boob is definitely bigger than the other one. My eyebrows each have a completely different shape.

And it’s not just me; the more you study people, the more you notice that the symmetry of the human body is merely the suggestion of symmetry. We aren’t even perfect mirrors of ourselves.

That can’t be an accident. That can’t be an eternal coincidence. Rather, it must mean that the very nature of the world is to reproduce, to recreate, to reimagine ideas and entities that bear resemblance to that which engineered it, but to always be slightly different. New. Never yet before and never again.

So the next time you go doubting yourself, your brilliance, and your being the sole bearer of a unique voice and message and ability to convey it, forget how you may be unique from others. Focus on the uniqueness that forms you. Look to your eyebrows, those dual arcs that are like sisters, perhaps, but not twins. Examine the mysterious map of folds on your knuckles as you outstretch your fingers. Enjoy the way your left breast never quite fills out the cup like its right compatriot. Steady pointer finger with your other hand and study the patternless pattern of your fingerprint. Realize the endless ways you are a singular entity based on your physical body, alone.

You are a being of one belonging to a global family.

No one else can do the job of being you.

Shine on.