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Category: Thinking Clearly

Tangible Confidence

Published on January 25, 2023

If you lack confidence, it’s not something you can just pull from thin air or positive thinking.

Confidence is something that is built tangibly—in reality.

It’s something that requires a stacking of little successes that slowly… slowly… build a track record we can start to believe in.

If we have never done a thing successfully—ever—even in a small way, of course we’ll have a crippling lack of confidence.

Confidence comes when we get out of our head and get focused on doing more in the world—one small, aligned success at a time.

P.s. I asked: What gets you to do the thing you know you need to do when you REALLY DON’T want to do it? I hope the replies help. :)

Pay Yourself First

Published on January 22, 2023

You will never be able to give others enough of your time/energy/attention—they’ll always gladly demand and accept more.

This is where prioritizing others over yourself crashes and burns.

There will never be “left over” time/energy/attention. “Extra” is an illusion. The demands of others is a bottomless pit.

Pay yourself in time/energy/attention FIRST. Then, when full, give extra or what you have left over to others.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Easing Into The Unfamiliar

Published on January 8, 2023

Regardless of how awful your current reality is—you’re likely going to stay in it until you can find a way to make a different reality familiar.

Because even though our current reality might be awful, it’s what we know… which, in a weird way, makes it comfortable.

The scary thing about the unfamiliar is that it could lead to a far worse reality… greater discomfort… and even more awful. You have no idea, right?

But, it could also lead to the opposite.

What helps in transitioning from awful to better is a patient focus on simply showing up, gently trying new situations out, and giving these unknowns a generous chance.

The more we can familiarize ourself with a new, potentially better reality—the less likely we will be to settle into a reality that’s life suffocating and far below what we know we deserve.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

The Opportunity In Loss

Published on January 7, 2023

Everything we lose in life leaves with it a space.

  • Lost love
  • Lost work
  • Lost friends

…For a while, it’ll probably be an uncomfortable space.

But slowly… eventually… you’ll start to see that space as something of a blank slate.

And slowly… eventually… you’ll realize what you have inside is everything you need to paint a new (even better) masterpiece.

Stretching The Mind

Published on January 5, 2023

We don’t move toward flexibility in life—we move toward tension, brittleness, and restriction.

The more time we invest in stretching and mobility work, the more we move in the opposite direction.

The same is true with our inner states.

The default is to move toward tension, stress, and chaos.

The more time we invest in meditating, writing, and reflecting—the more we move in the opposite direction.

The other reason I love this analogy is because the same steady discomfort you feel while doing deep stretching is the same kind of steady tension you might feel in your mind while doing deep inner work.

The goal shouldn’t be to force the stretch to the point of agony or injury. The goal should be to find a place of tension that’s uncomfortable, but bearable—one that is sustainable.

Because the real benefit of stretching and inner work comes not from quick, sporadic sessions… but from steady, extended ones.

You won’t find inner peace after a few inner works sessions just like you won’t achieve a full split after a few stretching sessions.

But, with patience and a firm resolve… you just might move in that direction. And any inner peace gained, just as any flexibility gained, is always a win. This is the path.

The Upcoming Present

Published on January 4, 2023

We don’t start acting like our highest self once we become them… at some distant and arbitrary point in the future.

We visualize, channel, and call upon the thoughts/ beliefs/ actions of our highest self NOW and slowly, slowly…

After having acted like them for long enough… embody and become them in a not-so-distant and deliberate point in the upcoming present.

Not Feeling Like Yourself?

Published on January 2, 2023

Try removing yourself from ALL current sources of outside influence (e.g. media, friends, parents) and write.

Write like hell.

Write everything that’s circling in your mind.

Then, re-read what you wrote and write whatever else comes to mind from those writings.

Then, just sit in the quiet for a while… pay attention to your wandering mind.

See if anything else comes up.

If it does, write all of whatever that is out, too.

Continue this process until the sediments of your mind have settled—maybe not completely… but, enough. Enough to have gained some clarity over the situation.

Then, look with fresh eyes at what was causing you to not feel like yourself.

And act accordingly.

Lesson: it’s hard to know what’s affecting you when you’re in the middle of the affecting environment. You need to remove yourself and purge your mind so that you can look back at the environment(s) you were in with fresh eyes.

P.s. I also published: Feeling Lost? Phil Stutz Says Don’t Try To Figure It Out. Here’s Why: