Personal Meditation No. 142

“Your beliefs are your actions. What you say is just what you think.”

Embrace the Within

There is a whole world out there of folks just running their mouths and not getting anywhere. One of the most difficult things about being someone that is working on change is that those folks comprise a lot of the population and they are also typically the loudest. If you’re working on change then you have your hands full with many other things like change.

So, it does get kind of difficult to find yourself around folks constantly talking about things that they aren’t doing. I struggle with this problem as well. How do you handle all these folks that are just content to live a less than life? I guess you just have to accept the fact that most folks are never going to change. Their bodies might grow old and wrinkled. Their bodies might grow fatter and shorter. Their health and function might decline. BUT, their minds will remain rooted in the same thoughts because they are not open to growth and change.

So, this may be the most difficult thing for those of us with a growth mindset to accept. That folks are rooted and rotted by confirmation bias and won’t look at any new ideas, new arguments, new data, new facts, and incorporate them into their view of life and the world is rather difficult for those of us growing and changing to accept. And that is something we’re going to have to struggle to accept. It is never going to be easy to watch folks get distracted and off track. It is never going to be easy to allow folks to make the same mistakes we have. It is never going to be easy to just let them go and make a mess of life. BUT, it is going to be our choice to allow those things to happen.

I have to remind myself many times a day that I don’t get to make those decisions. I am not the authoritarian making choices for everyone else. I don’t get to save anyone other than myself. And that is probably the most difficult part of each day. Watching folks make unhealthy choices I cannot control and having to accept that those things are not within my circle of control.

I think that is why I spend a lot of time off this social media machine outside of my posts in the morning. The more time I find myself around all these bad choices, then the more I want to intervene. And that never works out in my favor.

Folks don’t want to change. Folks just want to be reassured that their mistakes are not outside of normal. They want to know other folks are in the same misery because it sure loves the company. The great news about the opposite is there is less misery on the healthy side BUT it sure is lonely. Being healthy, learning daily, living abundantly, those practices are not going to get you a lot of friends, a lot of congratulations, a lot of adoration and caring. And that is because the friendship, the gratitude, and the love is all contained inside the choices made to make yourself better. You get to be your greatest cheerleader, you get to love the path you are travelling, and you get the friendship of a mind and body that is no longer fighting you. You no longer need to seek externally what are you getting internally.

So, when you see all the noise, when you get sucked into the drama, when you are assaulted by the external . . . Remember to embrace your body, your mind, your life . . . Embrace the within. The within is all you truly control in your life.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain

Personal Meditation No. 140

“It’s not all in your mind but if you don’t control your mind, then the rest doesn’t matter.”

Embrace the Within

Choose life. It’s not just a slogan for abortion. My body, my choice. It’s just not a slogan for abortion. These two slogans are on opposite sides of the abortion debate BUT they are both key components of my philosophy about life. I don’t see the two ideas as opposites. What I see are two great ideas that are being used to influence emotion and reinforce beliefs.

I choose life every day. I wake up and choose to live my life. I didn’t always choose to live. I sort of just existed for the longest time. I would struggle through the morning routine to get to work and dose up on caffeine to make it through the day so I could drag myself back home and continue the routine of existing. I thought that was what life was because I was surrounded by folks doing exactly the same thing. Complaining about their jobs, their income, their families, their lives, everything. It was normal to feel like garbage because I was consuming garbage and treating myself like garbage.

I began to realize that a lot of the folks that I thought were getting ahead in life were just miserable. They just hated everything about their lives. Then, I started reading more and more about the liberty movement. And then I got involved with folks that talked a lot about owning themselves and their lives. And that was really exciting for me. BUT I did come to the realization that they were typically miserable people as well that weren’t living their values.

So, if it is my body and my choice, then my choice every day is to choose life. I could choose to be miserable BUT I have already been down that road before. I could choose death BUT I do like living and all the opportunity that offers. So, I do choose to live every day. I live grateful for another day to work on being me. I visualize where I want my life to go and work on getting there every day. I couldn’t do that if I was miserable or dead. So, I guess my only other option is to choose life.

And since I am choosing to live, then I get to choose what happens to my body. I get the opportunity every day to start my day getting my body and mind healthy and ready for the day ahead. I get to work out physically and mentally as I start my day. I get to tap-tap-tap-aroo here every day and tell my story. I get to choose to go into work and spread the good news of the importance of learning. I get the opportunity to live a life that is an example of what getting healthy looks like. I get the opportunity to be positive about life amidst a sea of miserable folks complaining. I get the opportunity to solve problems and use the scientific method and data analysis and influence techniques to try and get the best out of the world around me. So, since I own my body, then I am going to choose to live with that body.

So, even though media wants the idea of choosing life and owning your body to be diametrically opposite slogans over abortion, they are not in opposition. They are aligned in every person, every day. You get to choose what you’re going to do with your body, your mind, your life every day. What is your choice?

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain