We are social beings. We feel best when we are able to be uplifted and supported by community. However, being “social” can feel extremely stressful when we feel like we are judged, excluded, or othered.

In order to be great at being social, we each must become great at being in solitude. When we cultivate space within ourselves to retreat to, we can do the deeply personal work of reconnecting to our intentions, desires, and purpose; releasing what keeps us heavy and focusing on what we choose.

Solitude is essential for thriving community. How can you create space for that relationship with your Self today?

I rush to get there, thinking it will make me happy when all I have done is miss my day, week, and life.

I rush through the motions, thinking I need to get through it all to keep it all together when all I have done is create a mess of partially completed tasks.

I rush, thinking there is better than here and now, yet I never get there in my rush.

What if I try presence, patience, and wholeness instead?

Focused, dedicated work is not a means to an end; it's the portal to the heart of present-moment happiness. In a world teeming with distractions, the art of focusing is not a tool for productivity but a conduit for joy and fulfillment.

Immersion into a task is what transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Deep engagement is akin to a meditative state, where the noise of the external world fades away, and we can tap into our power beyond our reasoning mind. This is where creativity and innovation flourish, nurtured by undivided attention. The benefits of such focused work are not fleeting; it's a profound experience that elevates our lives.

Our happiness stems from a deep alignment between our actions and inner knowing. When we can stop resisting the intensity of hard work and instead surrender to it, we allow the friction we experience to generate the heat we need to transform.

Where is it time for you to go to work so you can be happy?

We are so obsessed with resisting things that we have to choose to hold pictures in our minds of things that may not even happen and then worry about them so we can spend our energy resisting them.

We keep pictures of the past ready and available in our minds to prove that the new opportunity we are blessed with today is not as good as it seems. If we can resist, we can stay “safe” in the known, which is the riskiest place to be if growth and contribution are essential to us.

The way out is simple, yet it takes profound dedication. When you notice yourself resisting, make a new choice and come back to the freedom of the present moment by relaxing in your body and asking what you would do if you had no resistance. Do that thing and allow your creativity to begin to flow. Do this as often per minute, hour, or day as needed.

Productivity is doing the correct work, not a bunch of work.

Words associated with productivity in the dictionary are creative, generative, and fertile. When connected to our essence, these words are gifts inherent to the human spirit. They are qualities we lose our ability to harness when we become busy, stressed, or disconnected from our intentions and greatest desires.

To be the productive, prolific contributor you are meant to be, where do you need to stop believing you are just a cog in the wheel, a victim of your to-do list, or a lost possibility? What if all of your “responsibilities” were lifted off of you, and you could focus on being creative, generative, and fertile? What would you be excited to produce then?

Your circumstances and titles don’t even need to change for your productivity. Your context can change everything.

I have the ability to be inspired because I am human.

When I want to be moved from the inside out to take action rather than force myself with sheer willpower, it is an opportunity to become still and let myself feel what breaks my heart. And if I want to let my soul ache, I don’t have to look far. There is suffering happening everywhere.

As I allow the sorrow or anger to enter through the cracks of my broken heart, I can feel powerful sensations in my body, urging me to find a better way. My mind starts to narrow in on what I should fight against- violence, division, hatred, apathy, oppression, or maybe fear. Having something to fight against can be powerful, yet not as powerful as having something to stand for.

When I want to fight against hate, I am being inspired to fight for love. When I want to fight against apathy, I am being inspired to fight for compassion and empathy. When I want to fight against division, I am being inspired to fight for creativity, collaboration, listening, and wholeness. The inspiration allows me to keep my eyes and energy focused on what is possible and what is life-giving, moving me into action that leaves me feeling fulfilled in the long run. It sometimes feels easier to rely on outer forces to motivate me because then I don’t have to feel the bigness of life, yet it is only in my willingness to let my heart break and go deep within that I can be truly content.

To be inspired, let your heart break, which is the essence of being human.

The moment you become mean you become just as “wrong” as the other person.

Wisdom and discernment can help us see the truth without needing to go down there by becoming mean.

Stay kind and give your energy to what serves you and others.

Mediocrity always tries to tear down potential and excellence.

As you work to create something meaningful, people will try and stop you. Please embrace this as a sign that you are moving into a new level of your contribution, not as a sign to question your conviction.

The only way mediocrity can win is if you give up or lose your cool. Stay focused, trust what you know, and keep going.

If you failed, something about what was happening wasn’t working, which is great to embrace. Seeing the errors is vital and, therefore, a considerable success if you are playing a long-term game, which we all should be. You now have the opportunity to rebuild, knowing what you know now.

Our experience of long-term success is dictated by our willingness to course correct as soon as we notice something is off. As we grow, our ability and willingness to pivot and make new daily decisions becomes second nature. If we choose to, we can have fun scanning for failures and using them as opportunities to become stronger. When we do this, we give ourselves chances to reset again and again.

In every moment, there is potential for value or detriment.

The key lies in clarifying what you desire and how you aspire to grow. When you know what you want and you choose to believe it can happen, opportunities and pathways reveal themselves abundantly. Conversely, a hopeless outlook paints life with only challenges.

Living with this trust is fun. As your dreams and learning opportunities evolve, embrace your exact starting point and trust in your journey. Align with life, and it will align with you.

Clarity is scary because we must take responsibility and commit to a big life of growth, guaranteeing failure.

The good news is that the way to make it fun is to do it because it is fun. Nothing is more enjoyable or rewarding than becoming more focused and more effective at what brings you joy and the ability to contribute. You don’t need to do much to make it fun besides staying in it through the failures.

So, how do you get clear? It is a lifelong practice that unfolds inside of the courage to listen to yourself and get support from people who have been on the path longer than you.

Your most powerful adversary, and really the only enemy you need to face, is fear.

Fear is an expert shape-shifter, emerging to block us in unexpected ways. Fear is the thing that keeps you from exerting in that last five percent of work, the difference between leaving 100 percent on the field and falling just short. Fear is the thing that keeps us from ever even beginning, leaving our potential still inside of us. Fear is the thing that steals your focus and reroutes it to judgment of yourself and others, doubt of yourself and others, or worry about yourself and others. Fear tries with all its might to pit us against one another and hurt one another for fake versions of power, and it works because it is so sneaky.

However, our most potent weapon against fear is faith. Faith in our true essence, resilience, perfection under the imperfection, gifts, wisdom, and the unseen support around us. Faith is different than mere belief. Having faith means we take action in alignment with what we believe no matter what, regardless of circumstances. It is this unwavering steadfastness that can render us unstoppable.

The question is, are you willing to overcome the enemy by taking action in alignment with the Truth no matter what, regardless of the challenges? Or are you going to let fear’s sneaky tactics win?

The first phase of new can feel inspiring, exciting, and energizing. Momentum is on your side, and the hope of a new future propels you forward.

The second phase of new, however, is the one where you have begun, yet it starts to feel challenging or inconvenient, or you experience your first or fifth failure. This is the awkward, heavy, demotivating, and potentially frustrating stage of new. Your response at this critical juncture is pivotal; it reveals your potential for success. Giving up now means shutting the door on success, yet persisting through this challenging phase paves the way for eventual triumph.

Sometimes, completing something is a good choice. However, never do it during this transformational stage. Developing the will to stay committed when it's tempting to withdraw is key. If you can make it through this phase again and again, almost nothing can stop you.

You have already failed by not trying, not going for it, not doing your thing. Hesitating, letting your opportunities slip away, and staying comfortable do not compound into success.

You will still encounter failures when you venture into new territory – that's an inevitable part of your creative journey. However, the only way to elevate your chances of success is to take action.

You already have failure. Why not give yourself the chance to succeed?

New goals will only work if you are willing to do one of two things or both:

1. Look at what is underneath what is evident that is keeping you from having already succeeded at the new thing. It would have already happened if you had addressed everything in the way.

2. Take action in alignment with your goal no matter how much you don’t want to, knowing that the reward (being more of your true self) only lives on the other side of the action.

Not only do we need to do these things once, we need to do them every day and multiple times a day. We will only be happy if we embrace our human design, which is continued growth. Growth is both the journey and the destination, and a loving relationship with worthwhile discomfort is the access to the path.

Is understanding how many times you will need to recommit.

The reason we need to commit to things is because they are things we don’t often feel like doing and are easy to stray from. They are things that bring up our resistances and move us to the edge of what we already know. They are things that are easy to rationalize our way out of in favor of old patterns. They as us to be bigger than we already are, which is inevitably confronting.

As you resolve to move towards what’s important to you, what you are truly giving your word to to is becoming someone who recommits.

If it were easy, or we always wanted to do it, we wouldn’t need commitment.

There is no such thing as the past and the future. There is the known and the unkown; the experienced and the unexperienced.

You don’t have to wait until the future to grow. This moment itself is unfolding as a completely new phenomenon. This is the unknown where you get to create. The only thing that can block you is believing you’ve already experienced this; which you haven’t.

Your fears and resistances are always showing you what it is time to be complete with.

To keep going and growing, you have to be light enough to move forward. Each resistance and fear that you notice is trying to pull you back into the past, yet you have the power to let go of them so they cannot drag you toward the old and comfortable.

The body sensations you feel when these forces try to stop you are your somatic intelligence, communicating that it is time to have the courage to let go and move into something new. As you notice the feelings of your body alert you to what’s limiting you, thank them and let them help you have the boldness to let those old doubts go.

Being complete is a state you can live in, and it takes presence and the willingness to be in a perpetual practice of letting go. You are not meant to hold on; you are meant to flow.

We know from Isaac Newton that every power has an equal or opposite force. As you become more expressed in your mission and purpose, you will notice more opposition from others, and potentially even yourself due to doubt and other forms of self-sabotage.

These things are not a sign to stop. They are a sign you are expanding.

As you plan for the year ahead, include how you will respond to adversity when it arises, as it helps you grow even more if you handle it well.

Imagine Joy is a person you can spend time with. What would she say? How would you feel afterward? Imagine Peace is a friend you can call on to visit you and comfort you. Consider Grace is waiting for you to give her a call and invite her over for a good talk.

If you yearn for a sense of wholeness that comes with a spiritual practice yet don’t know where to start, try imagining these experiences as people you can spend time with and gain counsel from. They all have wisdom to share and love to give and are waiting for you to invite them in.