Expand & Expose
Hi Friend
What an amazing week! I got to be in OKC for most of it. Being back amongst friends and in my old stomping grounds is always fun. I jammed my schedule with meetings day and night. I pretended I still lived there and did all the things I used to do. Movies, dining, running, breakfast, church, scrambled, ice cream, walmart, arcadia and lots of driving.
I am a wealthy man. Rich with deep friendships, meaningful conversations and rejuvenating experiences. All my bank accounts are full - mental, spiritual, emotional - the deposits others made in me this week were such a delight. Of course, they just thought we were talking, but I was absorbing the interactions to refuel my soul.
As usual, sitting here, thinking back over the week, I can't help but smile. The diversity of conversations covered in just a few short days was wild: Running marathons in Berlin & Big Sur, alien observatories, cookie sales, deception tolerance, website building, lighted sand sculptures, real estate... and the list goes on.
I was with so many different people, yet consistently felt loved and a part of their world. How satisfying is that?
EXPANDED UNIVERSE
After I finish writing you today, I'm going to watch the last three episodes of Andor and then indulge in Rogue One, later this weekend. They are part of the Star Wars galaxy. Like the addition of all the shows after the original movies, my life feels like an expanded universe. The variety of characters who are so uniquely different from one another, yet I'm enmeshed in each of their stories is quite an adventure.
My heart goes out to you introverts. I draw so much strength and energy from these relationships that it is a magical force. It's a reminder to keep enlarging my relational universe. With the loneliness epidemic sweeping America, how do you find and make meaningful friendships?
MINDSHIFT
What would happen if you intentionally made three good new friends this year?
EXPOSED ME
What I so enjoy about the different people in my life is what they bring out of me. When we're with the same folks all the time, the same us shows up. There is no requirement to access different areas of ourselves. Yet, when engaging with those we don't normally contend, different aspects of ourselves show up.
I wonder if those dormant areas of our personality, intelligence and desires contribute to negative feelings we sometimes encounter. Like they are within us, yearning to come to the surface, yet we don't have opportunities for them to be exposed. New environments and new people create that possibility.
MINDSHIFT
What steps could you take to put yourself in new environments that might unlock some joy in you?
People do this in unhealthy ways regularly. There are so many counterfeit offerings that are a cheap, microwaveable replacement for the sincere significant interactions new people and places create for us. My wife uses this phrase "my heart is full" which accurately describes what transpires with good people and good conversations.
What's funny is that the subject matter of the interactions are secondary, when the people you're with share a mutual regard for each other. The exchange of energyoccurs through the love, not the content.
SHIFTING
I hope this week your universe expands in a way that exposes amazing attributes about you! I hope you get to be with people who love you and create the opportunity for random conversations that fuels your soul. #ShiftAway
