When negative brings positive
You can remain positive while talking about what didn’t work, what isn’t working, or what might not work.
All three of these are essential for getting where and contributing what you want, so bringing these things to light could be joyful as they often lead to discoveries.
And to stay connected to your best self, it’s essential to know the difference between dwelling on something and having insight. The former can be harmful, and the latter can be life-changing.
Priortize the inconvenient
A Monday reminder:
Create time for the things that support you in being your best. They are likely more inconvenient than the things that drain you.
Remembering is a practice
Your main job is to remember- remember how you are meant to feel, what you came here to contribute, how our planet wants to feel and partner with us, etc.
Your body is designed to help you remember. So as your body speaks to you, whether it feels pleasant or unpleasant, listen to what it’s saying. It’s partnering with you to bring you back to something you may have forgotten.
What are you demonstrating?
In every interaction or expression, you demonstrate and model something that uplifts or discourages the folks around you.
As you speak and make choices, can you practice demonstrating self-care and self-compassion, as well as care and compassion for others? When you do this, everyone sees a new possibility and wins.
Obvious or hard?
Can easy and obvious be two different things?
Just because the solution or the pathway isn’t obvious doesn’t mean you can’t make the discovery process feel easy.
It might only feel hard because you expect it to be fast and formulaic. Obvious is overrated. Discovery is where all the good stuff lives.
Believing or noticing
Believing all your thoughts is not useful. Noticing them is more valuable.
Noticing is your access to choosing which thoughts could be valuable. Thoughts are just thoughts and you can change them, upgrade them, mold them, and release them.
Start with noticing. Not every thought is worth promoting to a belief.
The foundation of creating
A simple reminder as you move towards a goal:
Work backward from a successful future rather than forwards from a “lacking” present.
It will almost feel like you don’t have what you need now to make it happen. Travel to the future, where you have everything you need, and it has already come to pass. It’s all there for you to source from.
It’s what you tune into
Suppose you want to make your life about faith, patience, and creativity. In that case, it will take incredible energy to focus your energy on tuning out what is obvious and tuning into what is essential and true. However, it is the type of output that has immeasurable, energizing returns.
Just like the news station you aren’t listening to right now- the station is still broadcasting; you simply aren’t tuning in. You have agency over what frequency you dial into and what you choose to ignore. The other station likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, especially if you continue to tune in, so best to use your energy on what is supportive of what you are up to.
You are powerful beyond measure. So keep your attention on what supports your potential.
Dang, I did that
To set yourself up for a successful day, start it with something that has you say, “Dang, I did that!”
Or, reset your your day by stopping eight now and doing the same. Practice looking to yourself for energy and inspiration.
Patience helps us see
Patience is not just waiting.
When you think you have done all there is to do and aren’t where you want to be yet, choosing to be patient instead of giving up might help you see new possibilities or opportunities you haven’t seen yet.
The patient pause is the opportunity to allow your creative potential to be stretched in a new way.
You don’t have to wait; you can create. The key is you don’t give up. Hold the picture.
The sensations of commitment
Genuine commitment will require you to expand, which is why you give your word to it ahead of time.
Growth brings up all sorts of sensations you need to be okay with feeling if you want to grow. Some of these sensations may be associated with resistance, fear, or doubt, and they are incredibly valuable to create space for. When we make space for them, we can take actions that feel new or wildly uncomfortable instead of being stopped by any unpleasantness of what we think or feel.
Discomfort is different than pain. Pain does not have to be a part of growth, and discomfort usually does. You are powerful enough to feel the sensations of commitment. What is it time for you to say yes to?
The space of uncertainty
Uncertainty is neutral at least and ideal at best. Possibility only lives in uncertainty. However, we have been taught to fill the space of uncertainty with doubt and worry.
Uncertainty is a space and we get to choose what we fill it with. Hope, faith, patience, and resilience will serve you better than what’s become most habitual.
As you feel the tension of uncertainty again and again, because it’s always present, go straight to that space and choose faith in yourself. Faith will lead you to the right, and even joyful, action.
When to modify
What if you gave yourself permission only to modify (the plan, the yoga pose, the goal) based on awareness, and not on doubt?
What would become available to you if you used your body and wisdom to help you discern the difference between doubt and self-awareness?
Doubt will never help you reach your potential. Loving awareness will.
Discovering and knowing
“Not knowing” from a place of curiosity is fantastic and essential. When someone is pressuring you to know, or you are pressuring yourself to know, declare that you are in a time of active discovery. Discovery is not idle; it is an act or a process. You aren’t doing nothing; you are discovering.
On the other hand, avoiding action and focusing when we know is entirely different. When you know, go, and go for it. The fuel behind knowing is total commitment.
When you know, go. When you don’t know, consciously discover.
It’s about shifting not staying
It is not an empowering goal to be clear and connected all of the time because it is impossible.
A more exciting and valuable goal could be to get great at noticing when you are unclear and doing the work to get there. This practice is more valuable because it is more practical and because your most important and most energy-intensive purpose is to be yourself, which you can only do when you aren’t judging someone else or processing someone else’s judgment. And you can interchange the word judgment for many other things.
Having the discipline to return to yourself, especially when it seems others aren’t being personally responsible, is the work. That’s why forgiveness is so powerful.
Purpose needs space
People will always disagree, have a different perspective, or not get it. Your job is not to gain their approval to continue down your path. If you spend energy trying to convince, you will be distracted and not make it very far down your way.
Being open to useful feedback is different than waiting for permission or agreement. Your purpose needs you to stop engaging with distractions, so it has the space to be felt and expressed by you and others.
The same goes for others; you don’t need to understand their purpose, and your judgment and opinions can be damaging too. Our work is to give space to one another’s purpose and learn to give useful feedback as needed.
Fluid > Rigid
We are taught incorrectly that the way to succeed is to be rigid. However, this doesn’t work out in the long run because life is fluid, especially as you put more on your plate.
You didn’t fail just because it didn’t go as planned. Please don’t give up because life surprised you; it always will.
Stay committed by staying fluid.
Action sets you free
You are not stuck. You might feel stuck, and you are not stuck.
Your nature is freedom. Your access to your essence is action aligned with your higher purpose. So go right to where you feel stuck and get a sense of what there is to do that would allow you to move forward. Then be courageous and do the thing.
The truth will set you free. The truth involves your correct action.
What’s your body telling you?
Your body is your key to creating a life that feels aligned with your source and purpose. That’s what your body does, it feels.
Unuseful stress and unfulfillment arise when you make plans without consulting your body or you override or ignore what it is telling (and often yelling) you.
What might happen if you surrendered to the wisdom of your body? Especially where it feels the most inconvenient?
Say something new
A simple reminder that in order to create something new, you have to say something new.
If saying the new thing feels uncomfortable, that’s only because it’s new. What’s new and uncomfortable eventually becomes familiar and comfortable.
Today is the day to love the discomfort and start some new conversations.