Personal Meditation No. 139

"You're not going to get healthy concerning yourself about what other folks are doing. You only get healthy by concern for what you are doing."

I have spent a lot of time concerned with other folks. I had concern for what they thought about me. I had concern for what they were doing. I had concern for what they were saying. I had concern for whether they thought they were better than me. I had concern for whether I thought they were better than me. I had concern for whether they cared and loved me.

I think it is quite a natural way for folks to grow up concerned about the things outside of them. We are social creatures and we are concerned about the survival of our community BUT today that community expanded way more than the basic and rudimentary requirements for surviving. Now folks live so much externally that they forget themselves.

This selflessness is celebrated in society. BUT a lot of folks are beyond selflessness. They no longer have a self to call their own. They are so given over to killing their self that the individual no longer exists. They are a collective thought. Folks have sacrificed their individuality for society. That is the contract they have decided to sign.

And we see the ramifications and repercussions of this all around society. Folks are mentally unstable and unhealthy. Folks are giving so much of themselves to external things that they no longer have a sense of who they are. Folks feel lost, without direction, under water, drowning in the noise of caring too much about things outside of them and forgetting to take care of themselves first.

Until you get yourself together, until you get yourself in a healthy place, until you can provide for your own needs, then you are not much use to other folks. You’ll only be destroying yourself in order to save another. And you’ll be teaching that same unhealthy mindset to other people. Maybe even your children.

That is why I am a strong advocate for getting your life together first before reaching out a hand to others. I wouldn’t be broadcasting this message to other folks if I didn’t feel like I had a grasp on controlling my own life. Sure, I am not perfect and I hit speed bumps as documented over the past few weeks BUT I am at a place where I have the basics under control. Now it is all about achieving mastery, becoming highly effective rather than just effective at controlling my body, my mind, my life.

And I know you can get there as well. It isn’t magic or luck or superstition or anything supernatural that got me here. It was choosing to change and putting in the work. At times I had to embrace the suck of the whole transformation BUT I got through to another level with the same choice, determination, and work that set me on this journey. And you can get there if you choose to get there too.

You’re not doing any good to anyone else if you’re not doing good for yourself first. So, work on getting your body, your mind, your life, healthy? You owe it to yourself and those for whom you care.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain

Personal Meditation No. 138

“Courage is choosing to change.”

Embrace the Within.

There are a lot of things to change in my life. And I have slowly worked on changing those things over nearly five decades of being on this planet. The first twenty-five of those years were childhood and the past twenty-three were young adulthood. Trying to find a sense and a meaning for the first twenty-five. So, that the most profound changes are still on the horizon for me is undoubted. Over the past two years, I have finally started to hit a groove and a semblance of being an adult. Taking ownership of my life and putting things into perspective.

Nothing shows the difference in my behavior than getting out on the highways of America where everyone is in a rush and very few have civility. I used to get angry at the way folks drive and their inconsiderate actions BUT now I understand that they’re just not healthy people. I live in a world full of unhealthy people. And I have to remember that, not so long ago, I was just as much a mess as they are now.

That gives me the perspective to teach my children, my students, my peers, my friends, my family, and myself about how important getting healthy truly is for living an amazing life. I am constantly looking for new insights into physical and mental health and I am quite certain my kids and wife are tired of hearing podcasts on health, nutrition, and behavioral science. I am sure that my family is tired of seeing seeds, spores, books, and the like on my present lists. I get the question, “Isn’t there something else you want besides seeds and books?”

And that answer is quite simply, “If it isn’t on my list. I don’t need it.” I gave up on wanting a lot of things and started simplifying things over the past fourteen days. Outside of wrasslin t-shirts, my wardrobe is getting much more sparse. I don’t see the need to buy a lot of things that aren’t moving me forward with my goals. I don’t get distracted by something flashy and sparkly and new. I am rather focused on my path in life right now.

And all it took was deciding I wasn’t going to live the life I was living anymore. Everything else was the work to get me toward that goal. And every day that I took those steps, then those steps got easier and easier. They got me this far and I await where they will lead.

The courage is in the decision to live the life you want. I have always been outside the normal. I was living outside the normal for nearly three decades BUT I never quite found the path for me. I found the paths of other folks that went before me. I found folks to emulate and idolize BUT I never really found me until I had to spend a lot of time around me. I had to have a conversation with myself about what I wanted.

That takes goal-setting and problem-solving and metacognition. And a lot of sometimes scary questions about how you are going to become what you want to be. That takes courage. I hope you find the time to have the conversation with yourself that you need. I hope you start solving your problems and moving forward. I hope you find the knowledge of what you want to become. And I hope you find that courage as well. That courage to change.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain