Everything we lose in life leaves with it a space.
…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.
The key that unlocks a more beautiful outer reality is cut within… Never without.
You can keep trying to jab the current key (that is your perception) into reality and try to force it to turn—but, I’m afraid it’ll be about as useful as shoving your car key into your house’s front door lock.
The only key that’ll open the front door to your house is the key that was specifically cut to open it.
And until you get a new key cut, one that can open a different door to a different house (reality), it’s the only reality you can count on seeing.
How do you cut a new key, you ask?
Well, by doing inner work, of course.
The kind of work that cuts through the noise, distractions, and busywork—and with a fine blade of attention, challenges the rigidity of our current conditioning, beliefs, and thought patterns against those of others (found in books/ podcasts/ videos)… until a new edge on the key is created.
…And a new key is formed.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.
You thinking that somewhere else in the world is more interesting than where you are right now is precisely what’s making here… uninteresting.
When everybody becomes uninterested in everything else—of course everything becomes uninteresting.
All it takes is one person’s spark—one person’s interest—to change the way all of us see something we thought we’ve already seen a hundred times before.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.
Being optimistic doesn’t mean you have to be happy all of the time.
In fact, trying to be “happy all of the time” and denying or suppressing all other emotions is a great way to not be happy all of the time.
The real power of optimism comes to light when it’s strategically used to confront the heavier/ tougher emotions that undoubtedly will arise.
Because what optimism gives us is the assurance that things can be improved—that there’s hope for a better tomorrow. And it’s precisely what makes the confronting tolerable.
Much more tolerable than looking at the heavy/tough/hard emotions from a lens of pessimism and telling yourself that it’ll never get better… that it’s hopeless… that there’s no point.
Suffering is a reality. Trying to live as if it’s not is emotional avoidance. Calling emotional avoidance “positive thinking” is toxic for your mental wellbeing.
Deploying an optimistic perspective upon emotionally tough situations is the first, most-important step to solving/ improving upon any undesirable situation. Because it’s precisely what gives you the belief that the problem can actually be solved/ improved upon.
Pessimism won’t do that. Hopelessness won’t do that. Avoidance won’t do that.
And from that solid foundation of a hopeful future, you’ll be able to finally take the deliberate, patient action that’s required for any kind of change to take grip on reality.
Not so that you can be “happy all of the time,” but so that you can contribute all of the time to a better and more enjoyable future: for you, for me, for us.
Bad news SHOUTS.
Good news grows quietly.
Remember this when all of the news feels overwhelmingly bad.
It’s not that it’s all bad, it’s that your good is humbly growing while your bad is temper tantruming.
Don’t let the SHOUTING deter you from seeing the good in your life.
Yesterday, my hometown got 18 inches of snow.
All at once.
And when I looked out the window—all I saw was work.
But, when I looked out the window later that day, I saw a boy across the street jumping and playing in it.
And I didn’t see work anymore.
I saw magic.
A “boring” life isn’t a byproduct of doing the same tasks every day.
A “boring” life is a byproduct of thinking the same thoughts every day.
Boring is a state of mind—not a state of tasks.
Sure, adventurous lifestyles might beget an “exciting” life—but, that’s only because it forces new, “exciting” thoughts. It’s important to remember that this is not the only path to an “exciting” life.
If we can learn how to excite our state of mind, we can learn how to excite our lives—period.
And the prerequisite for this is not financial freedom, plane tickets across the globe, and #vanlife.
The path to an exciting mind (and life) is only limited by our curiosities and resourcefulness. Are we willing to invest the time required to identify our curiosities? How about explore those curiosities? How about write about/ talk about/ create stuff about those curiosities?
Don’t make an “exciting” life into something more than it is.
The “exciting” life is available to each of us, right where we are—now.