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I live for the moments when I realize that what I thought was true was in fact a story in my head. This had previously happened for me with love. I'd put love on a pedestal, saw it as this Big Serious Thing, Very Serious. And so I'd gatekept it from myself. I'd thought that if I didn't feel a Big Serious Feeling, then it wasn't love. But then I relaxed about it and understood that love is simply a state of being. It's in my thoughts and my words and my actions, big and small. Love is a part of our nature, no effort needs to be made. Love will be expressed. I've had a similar realization recently around intention. I'd thought that I needed to have a Big Legible Intention for my life, an elevator pitch, a thesis statement. Something explicit that I could tell people so that they could decide to opt in or opt out. But I've relaxed about intention, and I've found clarity. I don't have to have a sexy thesis statement about my intentions when I express them so clearly through my actions. I looked at what I do, and I assessed: Clearly I care about the flourishing of art and creativity. Clearly I care about understanding people. Clearly I care about articulating frameworks for living well. I did an exercise to understand my authentic code, a distillation of my core values and soul essence. A compass to show me what is and is not in alignment with my authentic self. The words I landed on were creativity, connection, freedom, and play. And so while I don't have an explicit statement of intention, I know that I've remained true to myself through my actions that honor those core values. I am an intentional person. I live intentionally. I trust that I will continue to do the actions that are aligned with my authentic code. I'm thinking from the end: I have the job. What did I do to get there? How did I stay true to myself along the way? As I keep moving forward, embracing uncertainty and loving the process, one thing remains clear: Keep creating. Keep giving. Things I made:
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Hello! In the throes of a lower mood I try to remember how much I have to be grateful for, how much I have in my life that is worth celebrating. Today's newsletter is me doing that! It's remarkable how simple and effective this practice is at shifting my mood from gloom to bloom. Here is my gratitude list: Receiving appreciation for The RAMP Mindset and the dots method on a video call. Running into some new connections at a friend's birthday party. Hearing Nine In The Afternoon on the radio...
In any situation you can take a moment to notice whether you could enjoy it more - maybe a lot more or maybe a little more - and then take action to raise your enjoyment. Turning the act of noticing into a habit yields huge gains for lifetime enjoyment. This has been the message for me lately and so it is my solemn duty to pass the message on to you. Some examples: During a conversation someone asked me out of 10 how comfortable I was in my seat and I said 7. Once I was aware of this it was...
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