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Category: Archives

The full collection of explorations.

On Seeking vs Attracting

My aunt has this young, 1-year-old black cat.

She’s curious and playful, but more often than not, uninvolved and off doing her own thing.

My aunt and cousins would call for her, play with toys to attract her, and try to entertain her frequently throughout the visit. And she would usually oblige for a few minutes… but then would carry on her way and unassumingly find something else to do.

I’m allergic to cats so I didn’t give forth that same kind of energy.

Well on the last night of my visit to my aunt’s house, I was sitting in meditation after everybody else had gone to sleep when suddenly, I hear the cat poking around. I opened my eyes and there she was, staring straight at me from the staircase.

It was strange because even when I was blowing her face trying to get a rise out of her, it felt like she was looking through me… or thinking carefully about something else while her eyes rested in my direction… never at me.

And yet… on this last night… as I sat there in a crossed-legged meditation position… she stared me down… unwaveringly… intensely… deliberately… and approached me slowly… slowly… until she was directly by my side… on the couch where I sat… sniffing… eyeing… evaluating…

…Until she eventually settled onto her legs, swallowing them up into her own meditation position of sorts, and closed her eyes.

It was strange that in that moment when I was still… un-seeking… and unassuming in a way myself… that it attracted the very cat that was being pursued… sought out… who seemed to have spent most of the weekend fleeing…

Become The FOMO

The secret to not having FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is to bring all of your presence into the moment you’re already in.

Lean into courage. Find the curiosity. Fill yourself up with everything already around you. Create and emit the energy you find yourself looking elsewhere for. Get others to jump on board. Become the FOMO others think about—not to make them feel bad, but because that thought will guide you forward towards the time you most want to have. You’re only missing out if your mind is elsewhere of your body. Keep the two together and suddenly, your spirit will start to shine unconditionally bright.

On Practicing Death

We practice death every day.

Every time something comes to an end we’re given a chance.

A song. A dance. A day.

We can practice kicking and screaming or ignoring and suppressing or distracting and distancing…

Or we can accept that what made it so beautiful was that it ended after all. And we can cherish… savor… appreciate…

…And try to more fully receive all that’s packed inside the moments that come next.

…In those moments where we so fortunately get to practice again. And again. And again.

…All the way until The End.

Worrying Can Be Productive… Until It’s Not.

Worry can be productive so long as it’s turned into strategy.

If you’re packing for a trip, for example, and you’re worried about forgetting something… that energy can be converted into building a list that you can check and double check before you leave.

But understand this: once the strategy is done, worry is no longer productive.

…It becomes an energy leak.

One that drains you of one of your most precious life resources—especially before and during a trip. And it’s here that you should shift strategies away from building lists and focus that energy on plugging leaks.

What I tell myself, for example, is that I’m resourceful, I’m flexible, and I trust I’ll find a way to figure things out—even if I forget something. Heck, I’ll try to even turn forgetting into an adventure and lean into serendipity.

This past weekend, for example, I left my $600 music show wristband at home. Which was probably one of the most important items to NOT FORGET. And, yup, I didn’t even realize it until I was already 1,000+ miles away, driving to meet up with my friends for the event.

But… guess what? …After a quick freak out and some calls… I figured it out.

Things won’t always have a neat and tidy and exciting ending. But, excessive and unnecessary worry won’t help that either.

…When you can learn how to plug energy leaks, though? And how to let go of worry? And how to trust in yourself? …I suspect things actually WILL turn out in the aforementioned ways WAY more often than you might think.

Hot N Cold

I saw some of the best DJs in the entire world play music this past weekend.

And yet… one of my favorite moments was the last night when a friend was driving a group of us back to an Airbnb and right before we went inside… Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” came on the car’s stereo…

And I told everybody to wait… to stop… that we couldn’t go in until we sang it as LOUD AS WE COULD.

…And we cranked it all the way up and sang our little hearts out.

This is the energy I was trying to lead with all weekend: we can’t wait for the event to give us the energy… we have to give the energy to the event.

…And that happens long after the event ends too.

Takeaways And Insights Unshared

One of my tasks as a writer is to convert experiences into words.

…Share some of the takeaways and insights of life in a way that others can utilize and download into their own worldviews.

And in this way, the tide that raises the boat of my understanding gets shared into the tide that might also raise the boat of their understanding as well.

Because in some ways, takeaways and insights unshared become water held on board the boat. And rather than getting added to the tide that raise the boats of all, it becomes a weight that pulls the level of their boat down.

…Which isn’t to say every takeaway and insight needs to be shared.

It’s simply to say, being the only person around with takeaways and insights becomes a sort of weight rather than achievement.

Takeaways and insights are meant to be shared so that those around can, not only deepen their understanding (and ability to connect more deeply with you), but contribute back takeaways and insights of their own (and add back to the tide you both share).

The tide won’t raise on its own.

We’ll Never Know

I found out yesterday my 90-something year old neighbor passed away a couple weeks ago.

It was apparently of natural causes and while she was asleep.

And while I was just writing about how Lisa Lux was devoting all of her energy towards healing and squeezing every drop of presence out of life with what little time she had left… my 90-something year old neighbor apparently was frequently wondering what was taking so long.

Her husband had apparently passed away in the late 1970s and she eventually got to a point where she would ask her daughter… why do you think I’ve lived as long as I have? Why me? Why not my husband? Why not my grandchild—who died in his 20s? Why not somebody else?

And the truth is: we’ll never know.

What makes this life so very special is that we’ll never know.

And it’s the knowing this… the keeping death close in our minds… and not the opposite… that turns time into memories… energy into experiences… life into legacy…