Category: Inner Travel

I took my car into the shop today.

It’s due for it’s annual inspection and I have to get my winter tires on… not to mention it’s squeaking when I drive which is more embarrassing than I want to admit.

I’m fully expecting the mechanic to find plenty wrong as he does the inspection—it’s been a year of use with no check-ups, after all. Things will likely need to be tightened, replaced, refilled, changed, loosened, etc.—it’s the way of the world. Things will always move towards entropy. My 10+ year old car most certainly included.

…You know what else always moves towards entropy?

You.

Especially in this day and age.

And my thought today for you is simple: when’s the last time you did an annual inner self inspection? When’s the last time you did a full audit of your mental/emotional state and took inventory of at least some of the things that need to be “tightened, replaced, refilled, changed, loosened, etc.”? …Because if it’s been more than a year (hopefully not as long as you’ve been alive), it might be time.

Get an updated inspection sticker on the windshielf of your mind.

This next year of your life would be better as a result.

The more your mind circles a thought… the more it’s asking you to do something about it.

I found myself thinking this week that I should send a specific text to a specific person.

The thought kept popping up randomly throughout my day… and again the next day… and the day after that…

Until I finally thumbed it out, turned invisible and abstract to black and white and then to blue bubble.

…And found myself exhaling this sigh of relief from somewhere deep.

I haven’t thought much about it since.

On the surface it seemed so trivial. A text. One that maybe took me all of 3 minutes to draft and send.

But again, what your mind continues to circle is a signal that there’s more to it than what’s perceived on the surface.

After some inner work, what I suspect that text was really about was being vulnerable and choosing to take a risk. About doing something that my greater version wouldn’t hesitate to do. About doing something that was aligned with the who I wanted to be—today.

And so I pass the question off to you: what does your mind seem to keep gravitating back to? What does it keep circling? Once you have that figured out… take a closer look… there’s probably more to it than what appears on the surface.

It’s weird.

When I’m stuck, thinking about what to write but can’t think of anything good to say… a word will whisper itself into my mind.

Like a mantra of sorts. A focal point for my awareness. A prompt from my meandering muse.

And it’s never at the outset. Only after I’ve struggled for a bit. Maybe 15 – 30 minutes into a good staring at the blank page session that it’ll suddenly appear…

Unprompted. Unpracticed. And weirdly unconscious.

“…Build.”

For years, this word speaks itself into existence in my mind.

And to this day, I’m not quite sure why or where it comes from.

But what I choose to believe is that whispers that come from somewhere deep, somewhere unconscious… are oftentimes far more powerful, and carry much more weight than anything the conscious is screaming, spiraling, and yapping about in the forefront.

• Struggle to meditate.
• Struggle to dance.
• Struggle to love.

At our core… these are truth. These are nature. These are pure.

Everything that causes us to struggle is lies… nurture… tainted.

After I upload a quote to MoveMe Quotes, it’s important I tag it with the appropriate topics/themes.

For example, I uploaded a quote today that reads, “You start dying slowly if you do not travel, if you do not read, if you do not listen to the sounds of life, if you do not appreciate yourself. You start dying slowly when you kill your self-esteem; when you do not let others help you. You start dying slowly if you avoid to feel passion and their turbulent emotions; those which make your eyes glisten and your heart beat fast. You start dying slowly if you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love, if you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain, if you do not go after a dream, if you do not allow yourself at least once in your lifetime, to run away from sensible advice…” ~ Pablow Neruda

Now, obviously this quote is about death—and how not to die slowly—so I tag it “Death Quotes.”

But… more importantly, this quote is about living—and how to truly live before you die—so I tag it “Living Quotes.”

And this duality is an important concept to understand when dealing with insight.

If you want to understand life—study death. If you want to understand death—study life. If you want to understand self-love—study self-hate. If you want to understand self-hate—study self-love. If you want to understand connection—study solitude. If you want to understand solitude—study connection. And so on.

Are you studying the duality of the problem(s) you’re facing in your life?

Don’t waste time alone.

Society might have you brainwashed into believing being alone is a bad thing. Like, “Why are you still single?” or “Did you go there alone?” or, you know, the looks and tones.

And social media might have you trained into believing that turning it on and scrolling is socially connecting you—so as to distract you from the alone.

And the feelings of boredom might make you cringe and restlessly pace in circles over doing anything still and meditative when your calendar appears blank and your battery charge goes.

But… being alone is not a bad thing.

Don’t… waste time alone.

Time alone is time that can be spent turned inward… exploring the inner landscapes… uncovering the hidden gems of insight buried within the depths of your mind.

Time alone is time that can be spent healing… unpacking and reflecting on pains of the past… bringing clarity to thoughts tangled by writing them down… absorbing information from the most brilliant minds to have ever arranged words into practical, life-changing ideas.

Time alone is time that can be spent present… slowing down from the rush of the modern day wave… soaking in the information that’s touching your senses in the here and now—that may never again touch again in the same way… being grateful for the experience of life—despite all of its ups and downs…

Being alone is not a bad thing.

In fact, it may very well be precisely the thing that more of us need.

Don’t… waste time alone.

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P.s. If you enjoy these 1-min messages, would you reply with a 1-line testimony that I can add to this landing page? :)

Why do we look at ourselves in the mirror so frequently throughout the day?

Like, we just saw ourselves 10 minutes ago after getting out of the shower… why must we check our appearance again after getting dressed? And again after getting into the car? And again after getting to work? And again in the store mirror? And again and again and again…?

Maybe it’s because we know things change—and can change rather quickly and unexpectedly.

Like, what if we got a piece of food stuck in our teeth? Or our hair got messed up? Or our clothing malfunctioned and a little more skin was showing than we intended?

…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t check for these things throughout the day.

…And there’s nothing wrong with this.

My followup question however, is how often do you check the mirrors that reflect your inner state?

People are much more likely to mention a piece of food stuck in your teeth or hair standing up or a wardrobe malfunction than they might be to mention a sour mood, an unusually short temper, or a judgment malfunction…

People can help us with our outer reflection, but our inner reflection is mostly on us to check-in with.

…Which we do by meditating, reflecting, writing, and mindfully walking or conversing.

If this isn’t already a part of your day, maybe it’s time to make it a part of it. And, like physical mirror check-ins, maybe it don’t have to be so formal… after all, “look in the mirror” probably isn’t blocked into your days… yet you do it all the time.

…What if you did the same with your inner mirror?