are you creating your life? | vol. 23
Hey there,
You might have noticed me sharing pages from The Adventure of I lately on social media--I've really been enjoying the book as it has been connecting many pieces of the spiritual puzzle I've been working on over the last couple of years. I joked with a friend that The Adventure Of I is a graduate level book. There are a number of other books I would recommend reading before picking it up, but when/if you are ready for it--wow!
When I first started sharing what I was learning spiritually about myself and the world, I was always nervous to offend someone else or come across as "crazy". However, the more I studied I realized:
I could not control how someone else would receive the information I was sharing and since I was sharing the information out of the goodness of my heart, I should be at peace with the opinions of others.
Although faith and religion are personal and often sensitive subjects, the spiritual lessons I was learning applied to all faiths and religions and in fact actually show up in most of the holy scriptures. What I wasn't sharing was not new information, just presented in a different way.
My goal was not to change anyone's mind but spark conversations and thoughts to help people better understand who they are--that could be confirming what they already believed or an awakening to new ideas.
Finally, so many present these ideas in unrealistic ways and interpretations, giving me the opportunity to share them highlighting the benefits but also the drawbacks or work that goes into them (I realize I'm being vague but there are too many ideas to share in this email).
Since I'm not an expert, I've found sharing quotes from the books I'm reading as a meaningful way to put new ideas and concepts in front of people and let them run with them if they want. An important part of the Pursuit is to get to know our true Self...if we're pursuing a life filled with happiness, minimal regrets, and the freedom to follow our passions then it's imperative we know what we really want and who we really are. I believe the quotes I'm sharing, podcasts I'm recommending (and recording), and conversations I'm having will lead to more people asking "why?".
"Why I am in this career?"
"Why do I believe what I believe?"
"Why am I afraid?"
"Why don't I do 'x'?"
Asking "why" is scary because it can lead to a realization that change might be needed in your life and as human beings, most of us avoid change. We don't like it. It's uncomfortable. We find safety is what we know, even if it's making us unhappy. The beloved Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said, "People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar."
So many of us continue on the path we've been spent on, not necessarily unhappy (although far too many are) but not as happy and fulfilled as we could be.
"Self"
I grew up Catholic going to Catholic school during my K-4 years and when we moved and I started school in the public schools, I still went to Sunday school all the way through 8th grade and then church with my family until I was off to college. I still consider myself Catholic but if I'm being honest, I've always had questions around God and my faith. It wasn't that I didn't believe in a Higher Power that created this beautiful world...I mean look at sunsets, nature, and all of the amazing events that are not man made...but I struggled with the concept of my God being the "right" God, along with how much of the scriptures that we were reading had been manipulated along the years to push the agendas of the business of the church or others in power? So, I maintained a spiritual relationship with God but never fully bought into everything that was taught or discussed in church--I listened to the overall message but tried to to get lost in the literal interpretation of the details.
The intent of this is not to get into religion but I felt like I needed to share some of my personal background to share where I came from in contrast to where I am today. Over the last year I have dove deeper into my spirituality, which shaped the importance of the 'S' in PRST. As I've spent more time getting to know who I am, what I really enjoy the most in life, and how I want to spend my time in this life I discovered a strong connection to the belief that we are "souls with a body, not a body with a soul" and that by tapping into my soul and listening to my heart I had the perfect compass for my Pursuit.
Tapping into your soul allows you to better understand your Self and with a better understanding of who you are, what you believe in, and where you want to go it becomes easier to control your thoughts, actions, emotions, and behavior which ultimately directs your experience in life. We've all heard the saying "your perception becomes your reality", which is hard to deny. I've been dropping tweets around this concept lately to help people recognize the control they have to receive what happens to them, see the world around them, and choose the influences they allow in their life. These factors have a direct impact on how we feel, think, and ultimately live our lives. We can control our perception which will shape our reality and unfortunately, too may people give this power to someone else---shaping their reality the desires of others.
controlling your thoughts and emotions
The underlined passages below come from The Adventure of I...I have no commentary on them--I just wanted to share them with you to see how they move you.
Are you creating your life?
If you are not, then who is? And more importantly, how do you take back your creative director role in your Pursuit?
Start with getting to know your Self through your soul (or potentially vice versa, I'm not sure) and the only way I know how to do that is to revisit your own spirituality. I don't believe there is a right spiritual practice for everyone--there's a right spiritual belief and practice for YOU. From the variety of reading and listening of the different religions I've done, I've noticed there are a lot of fundamental beliefs that are similar or even overlap. I don't think they are that different when you get to the true messages they are trying to deliver-- this is where my skepticism of man's influence on religion comes into play. So whatever your religion/faith/spiritual beliefs might be, lean more into it.
Rich Roll mastering the mystical podcast
Friday afternoon I drove Leo to Cincinnati for a soccer training and on the return drive I listened to a Rich Roll podcast that caught my eye because of its title. "Mastering The Mystical: A Deep Dive On Spirituality" is a collection of different conversations Rich has had on his podcast. I didn't plan on sharing the podcast here, again falling back on my concern of offending people with talks about spirituality, but as I listened to the different guests I realized there was something for everyone in the episode. The guests all had different backgrounds, stories to share, and covered a range of ways to view spirituality. This episode was not a lecture but an exposure to different ideas and views that are certain to spark some great internal dialogues and hopefully help you on your Pursuit.
Listen to the episode:
Spotify
YouTube
I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. I plan on listening to it again to take notes and spend time journaling about the notes I take. For me, and I encourage you to think about the episode in the same way, I'm not being taught by Rich and his guests, instead I am being presented with ideas for me to consider and reflect on what I believe. You don't have to agree with anything in the podcasts but allow the conversations to act as a starting point for self reflection.
the PRST collective
We're about to wrap up the first PRST Collective this upcoming week. I came into it extremely optimistic about it and the 6 weeks with the small group of beta participants blew away my expectations. I'm going to spend some time after we wrap up revisiting the recordings, taking inventory of the outcomes we reached, and share what we were able to accomplish in the group and individual sessions.
I'm excited to learn how I can make the program better and get ready for another Collective in early 2023.
Let's get to The PRST...
a quick teaser
Another great episode coming up on On Our PRST thanks to another Instagram DM for the win. This week I had the opportunity of spending over an hour with Boxx The Artist, a talented local artist and brilliant mind. On Our PRST is stepping up its game and I could not be more excited. Here's as a short teaser:
something to meditate on...
Keep Pursuing,
JC
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