Snapshots
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I've been seeing cardinals on walks. Red is my favorite color. It feels like a sweet gift from the universe. Remembering that I am not entitled to anyone's attention, and remembering to do my part. Ship it, send it, make the ask. And if there's silence in return, know that it is a gift. It's 85 degrees on December 30th. Sometimes I wonder what it's like to live in a seasonal place. I think I would appreciate the reminder that I am also cyclical. Whatever is natural and resonant to me needn't be second-guessed. This incarnation does not want to be verbose. May every word have that much more impact. I give myself a lot of grace and love with my renewed epiphanies: THIS is the thing... okay no THIS is the thing... no no THIS is the thing for sure. But I do think this is the thing for real this time. She told me she thought I was the cutest guy at the party. I have an ongoing dialogue with myself around vanity and ego, ways and means. I think an open secret is an especially interesting stable state for any information, perhaps the most interesting. My standards for myself are the highest they've been, but there is vanishingly little self-imposed worry or criticism. The resistance thoughts are always worse than the doing. I show up and I do it with detachment. I've enjoyed hearing myself tell people that The Service Party was a highlight of my year. I can view myself with as much curiosity as anyone. What will he say and do next? My consumption fuels my creation. Everything I see and hear is a resource for me to sift through. In this way I live in a state of creative abundance. Japa meditation really does go crazy. I just sit and say "God" as a drawn out syllable and my arms lift up of their own accord. That is a meaningful phenomenon! My theme for 2024 was blossoming. I created a lot, I planted seeds and helped them grow, I let myself be seen. I'm glad I put my focus there. My theme for 2025 is sovereignty. To me this is a deep internal security that is independent of my circumstances, it's responsibility and self-authorship and empowerment, it's an awareness that I am the ultimate authority of my life. I know who I am better than anyone else, so I trust that being myself as best as I can serves the highest good. Things I made:
I have one extra copy of Pronoia to give away from this giveaway I did a few months ago. If you want it and you have a U.S. mailing address I will send it to you. Happy New Year! May 2025 bear witness to the gifts that only you can give and to the music in you. Thank you for reading! You can share this post with this link. If you want to support my work, you can check out my 1-1 coaching service or explore my website. |
@strangestloop
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...
"Get back here!" I find myself shouting at my focus at times, but that's just a story. The internal tug-of-war isn't real. I could stop giving my attention to the distraction at any time, but I instead let the avoidance process run its course, and then I am resourced to do the task. Let me just run eight miles first, thinking intermittently about the message I want to send, and then I will feel resourced to send it and possibly receive a response that is not to my liking. I am practicing...