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Tag: Analogies

To All The “Rocks” Out There

Published on July 27, 2021

To all those who act as a”rock” for others in their lives—thank you.

Being a rock in the middle of a raging river is never easy.

And many times, it can feel like a thankless job.

People spew their problems, burdens, and drama onto those who they consider their “rock” so they can slow the rage that’s going on in their mind.

And once they get it all out, they slowly maneuver their exit, rejoin the raging river, and only return when the rage is, yet again, too much for them to handle.

And that’s okay.

Keep being the rock.

Keep yourself grounded into the riverbed. Keep doing what’s hard and stay true to the rock’s course: here. Present. Undisturbed by what’s rushing and immediate. Focused on bringing calm and ease to the raging world all around.

Joining the ever increasing speed of the river and raging with the rest is tempting—it’s the path of the many. Being the rock is the choice and the gift given to us by the few.

The world doesn’t need any help speeding up. It needs help slowing down. And that’s precisely what the rocks in the world do. And for that, and once again, I thank you.

It’s Not The Axe’s Fault

Published on July 24, 2021

Not needing anybody to motivate you is one of the most liberating feelings in the world.

  • You get to exercise—without needing a trainer, accountability partner, or motivational video.
  • You get to eat clean—without needing a meal-planner, slap from a loved one, or body goals video.
  • You get to work—without needing external incentives, pushes from your peers, or threats from your boss.

Having self-motivation saves time, money, and energy.

But, it also takes time, money, and energy—particularly at the outset. At the times when all you want to do is utilize the motivation that can be taken from surrounding external sources. When all you want to do is dive in while you’re hot.

But, here’s the trick: you have to resist that urge.

The same way the lumberjack must resist the urge to chop the tree with a dull axe.

See, most people just grab the axe and start hacking away. And they burn themselves out, fail to make much progress, and curse the axe for not being good enough.

When what’s really required isn’t hacking—but sharpening.

When you take the time required to sharpen the mind and internalize principles that are intrinsically motivating, you’ll be free of the external needs altogether.

And you’ll start chopping through days worth of trees while everybody else is still cursing their axe.

The Ocean Of Emotion Within

Published on July 13, 2021

Deep within each of us is an ocean.

An ocean of emotion collected over a lifetime of exchanges that sits at the core of our being.

When suppressed, our emotions, as water, run their way down our inner landscape from the heights of our conscious mind to the deepest parts of our subconscious. From the top of the clouds to the bottom of the ocean. From source to storage.

And with that storage comes a heaviness, like the ocean, that can’t be denied.

Many people look at that heaviness as a burden. As a collection of undesired, painful emotions that do nothing but weigh them down and cause them suffering.

But, what if I told you that all of that emotional water that you’ve collected was the very substance required to sustain and nourish inner life?

What if I told you that what the arid, drying, and dying landscape of your mind was craving was some of the very water that you backwardly have been suppressing and vilifying?

What if that ocean of water wasn’t a burden at all? What if it was the very source of your power, your insight, your wisdom, your creativity, your individuality—your life?

What if all you had to do was tap into it, like a well, and start pumping the water out to both nourish surrounding life and alleviate the weight that’s been holding you down?

Shoulders Of Giants

Published on July 10, 2021

If I have seen further it’s because I have spent a lot of time climbing the shoulders of giants.

Giants being the people who have grown into bigger, better versions of themselves. The people who can offer a perspective towards life that’s deeper and more developed than my own.

Humility check: none of our perspectives are perfect—each has its flaws.

But, there are people with less flawed perspectives. People who have spent a considerate amount of time carefully analyzing their thoughts, dissecting the thoughts of others, quieting the chatter, training their minds, and seeking the appropriate help.

And it’s those perspectives—those shoulders—that we must seek to climb.

And let’s be clear: climbing is no picnic—it’s always hard. But, gaining access to their shoulders isn’t.

Heck, many giants want to have their shoulders climbed. They write books featuring their best perspectives, share insight on podcasts and videos for those who don’t (want to) read, heck!—many of them even answer well positioned, thoughtful questions for no other reason than to help.

If you want to see further—if you want to gain a bigger, better perspective towards life—start by climbing onto the shoulders of someone who sees further.

It’s there—from that elevated perspective—that you can start developing your own elevated opinions towards the surrounding landscape.

Until then, you’ll just have to settle with what you see from down here.

I Believe In You

Published on July 7, 2021

“I believe in you.” Is the water to the planted seed.

Disbelief, in all its forms, is the desert heat that stunts the seed’s growth.

People tend to perform in proportion to how much (or how little) people believe in them.

Their seeds are there, maybe all they need is some watering—from you.

The Best Seed Collector

Published on July 5, 2021

Idea gathering is addicting. It’s motivating. It’s exciting.

…It does nothing for you.

Gathering ideas is about as useful as gathering seeds—and I’m not talking about the kind you can eat.

Most of us have an incredible store of seeds that are doing nothing more than taking up space. And yet, what so many of us continue to do is carry on collecting more seeds for our store.

For what? Why? Because you want bigger ones? So you can collect them all? This isn’t Pokémon.

The thing about seeds is that they’re wildly inexpensive and abundant—like ideas. But, even just one seed planted and cared for well, can lead to something valuable. Certainly more valuable than the seed itself.

And it’s in the process of nurturing seeds and bringing plants to life where you learn the most and get the biggest return on your invested time anyway—not from seed collecting.

So, before you go searching for other seeds to collect, how about you plant and begin cultivating some of the seeds you already have?

What if, instead of being a well known collector of inexpensive seeds, you became a well known grower of increasingly valuable plants?

We Fear What We Don’t Understand

Published on July 3, 2021

My dog will BARK and YELL and RAGE and fearlessly advance towards even the most vicious looking dogs.

But, pops, cracks, and whizzes from the fridge?

Terrified. Whimpers. Needs to be held.

These noises, of course, don’t scare us because we understand them.

But, failure, aloneness, suffering?

Leaves most of us terrified, whimpering, and feeling like we need to be held.

Maybe it’s the case that these things aren’t inherently scary, but we’re just scared of them because we don’t fully understand them.

Maybe if we spent more time learning how to fail forward, enjoy aloneness, and channel our suffering—we wouldn’t be so scared?

Things become less scary once we understand them.

This post became the introduction for: 13 Rousing Delia Owens Quotes from Where The Crawdads Sing on Abandonment, Love, and Self-Reliance