Self-Generate Refreshing

Dear friend,

This past week I started a "Best Day" campaign. Every single day I am shooting a video in the morning declaring the best is NOT yet to come... it is NOW. I have heard that statement "The best is yet to come..." for over 30 years. I appreciate the sentiment. However, I'm also like "can it finally get here?" I think I saw or heard it again last week and just snapped. 🙂

It's been fun. I intend to do it all through the month of September. So far it's been easy to rant about why TODAY is the best day of our life. I love vision and future thinking and planning, but without us making good choices today, it doesn't matter what we hope to see realized. Of course, I believe vision drops an anchor in the future that draws us to it.

IWith these videos I've done the usual Insta/FB/LinkedIn social regiment, but also added YouTube and TikTok. I have no aspiration of being an influencer, but am curious to see what pathways open through those doors. And really, I'm simply enjoying myself. It's possible I won't stop after September. There's no rehearsal, script or prep, so it's a natural flow from my heart and mind.

What comes natural to you? How often are you spending time there? These little quips I'm generating have an ease and joy to them. I look forward to seeing what gets emphasized when I open my mouth. It's an interesting idea, that in the midst of our challenges, frustrations, efforts and work, we can self-generate our own burst of refreshing.

A LOT

My big-hearted, big-smiling wife started classes this week with students. She has the great privilege of teaching third grade. I'm so jealous of the daily impact she gets to make. She has assured me it's not all fun and games. She actually has described it as being "a lot" to put together and deliver on a daily basis for seven hours a day. (She's rather amazing at it.)

I suspect you too feel like the load you carry is "a lot". Honestly, who feels like their life is "a little?" Don't you and I consistently think we have lots going on, both professionally and personally? When you or your friends, family or colleagues feel overwhelmed, it's related to the amount of life they're carrying. I propose these moments of rejuvenation we can create, don't make the load lighter, but strengthen and enlarge our capacity to bear them.

MINDSHIFT

What if this week you purposed to daily give yourself a jolt of joy?

CREATE

Ironically, I am fasting consuming social media this month. There's an illusion that getting quick hits of dopamine from the 60 second-at-a-time inputs offers the very thing I'm referring to. It's an illusion. A fake. A forgery. An imposter of relief, that shrinks our soul, instead of enlarging it. More irony, creating, not consuming, is what expands us.

The resistance of course is that to create, feels like MORE is required, when we're trying to lighten our load. Most are looking for less to do in life with the hope of achieving peace. It's not a more or less issue though, is it? That's the deception. In reality, It's an alignment function. How much are we aligned with our own natural strengths, purpose and identity? That's the enabling source. You can shed all the responsibilities from your life and still feel overly burdened when out of alignment.

MINDSHIFT

What if this week you absconded from the wishing-for-less-in-life and attuned to producing more from your unique sense of self?

INTEGRITY

I want more from life. These little daily video shoots give me that. How funny. Once I upload them, I get on with my day and don't think much more about them. Yet, there is a positive residue that lingers in my soul, adding a layer of satisfaction to my sub-conscience. Somehow it impacts me differently than my morning routine of reading and prayer.

When we create we establish a pathway to the sacred part of ourselves that generates integrity - which is the ultimate peace producer.

The freedom that peace enables can't be faked. Despite the weight of responsibilities, when we live aligned, we keep pace with what matters. The friction of life is a constant wearing on the soul. The lubricant of love not only makes it bearable, but thrilling. In the a-lotness of your week, love well, live integrious and create beautifully.

SHIFTING

I hope this week instead of trying to diminish your life's responsibilities, you practice expanding your peace and joy through some sort of creative endeavor. #ShiftAway