Spin Cycle
If you are stuck remember that we are merely 8 billion atoms in a body suit on a spinning rock circling a massive star.
Appreciate that you have the capacity to recognize the feelings you are feeling.
If you are stuck remember that we are merely 8 billion atoms in a body suit on a spinning rock circling a massive star.
Appreciate that you have the capacity to recognize the feelings you are feeling.
The only reason it appears to work is because others have been doing it.
The “winners write history” as the saying goes.
But it doesn’t mean you have to do it that way.
This New Year let’s not say “New Year, New Me” because change doesn’t happen like that.
Change happens by moving intentionally and incrementally forward.
It’s building one good habit after another.
Age is just a number. It’s meaningless.
If we believe that then we can push ourselves to the limits every day.
We can expand our minds.
We can become who we’ve always wanted to be.
There are many ingredients that go into building a foundation for a happy life.
One of those must be living in the now. Living in the present. Not worrying about moments past or moments promised.
It’s all about now.
What are we doing to squeeze every ounce out of this moment?
The cataclysmic discovery that can change the course of our life is the realization that almost nobody is thinking about us almost all of the time.
At first, it appears devastating until we realize that this is the same for everyone.
When this “aha” moment appears it begins to free us of the shackles that hold us into place and don’t allow us to start.
Failure fucking sucks
Being told no sucks
Rejection sucks
But maybe those “No’s” are exactly what we need. They focus us more inward. They shake us up by telling us we haven’t quite tweaked the dial just right.
I rarely recognized how the noise around me was cluttering my mind and distracting me from creating the life that I wanted.
Have you ever felt this way?
We’re about to do something but the “buzz” in our pocket takes us away from focusing on the things that really matter.
That “buzz” can be a metaphor for any distraction we come across.
Before we use a telescope make sure we look into the microscope.
Our thoughts shape our mindset.
Our mindset shapes our actions.
Our future, although unclear, is being shaped by each one of our decisions today.
I remember walking my son to kindergarten and being amazed at how much he’d grown and how fast those first few years of his life went by.
It reminded me of when I was in kindergarten, over 30 years ago, and how quickly the time seemed to pass. I still remember the fifth-grade classes being on the third floor and thinking, “I’m never going to get up to fifth grade. It’s going to take so long. I have so many years ahead of me.”
We all have things in the category of “easy to do” but we choose not to do them. It’s not that we don’t want to do them, what it comes down to is the priority assignment we put on that thing to actually do it.
Whether that is to take 10 minutes to go for a walk, read a book, meditate, sit in thought, etc or other things like; sitting and talking with your spouse in the morning, reading a book to your child before bed, sending a note to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, etc.
You can’t turn back the clocks.
Days can pass slowly but years sometimes feel like they’ve flown by. That’s how our minds look at the past. More highlights versus seeing a whole rewind of the game.
We step up to bat in the bottom of the 9th. At the goal line with seconds on the clock. One putt away from victory.
These are the glory moments. The ones that catch the attention of everyone. They are etched in our memories and in history.
Going into this year the main storyline had been that Jimmy Garoppolo was probably in his last season as the 49ers starting quarterback. They drafted his replacement. Trey Lance was eager. They were just waiting things out.
Despite all of that distraction, his perseverance to stay focused has been something to admire. Even as they were going into must-win games over the past three weeks, one to make the playoffs and the last two to stay alive, the main storyline that remained was “could this be Jimmy Gs final time suiting up in a 49er uniform”.
We must be thoughtful about where we want to go as that will help plot the next few steps down the path. The direction is much more important than the speed at which we arrive.
One of the most difficult parts of starting anything is if it feels like it’s going to be a long and arduous process with no end in sight. We get discouraged right out of the gate.
We might convince ourselves that the next “life hack” or shortcut will get us to the next level quicker or that speeding up and working harder will be the key to our success.
When was the last time you quit something? Like realized it wasn’t fitting into your life and just quit it. We all want to do more. Workout more. Make a few more calls. Spend more time with family. If you’re not doing more its said that you are falling behind or missing out.
We all need an “Accountability Mirror” to look ourselves straight in the face and force us to deal with our shit, whatever that happens to be at the time.
That mirror for me happens to be my bathroom mirror. I get to glance in it many times a day and it offers up a lot of brutal honesty especially when I’m down on myself.
It’s a new year, a new decade, and a clean slate to get it all right this year. “This is going to be my year”, It seems is the type of thing we say to ourselves each orbit around the sun. Why will this year be any different? What have you learned in the past 12 months that will make you believe you can change?