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connect spirit, mind, body, and money w/ Justin Castelli

I'm on a mission to help more people find and live their authentic life. Check out my Daily Notes where I write a short note each day about the connection of spirit, mind, body and money on the Pursuit of your authentic life.

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two words

Two words. (I so badly wanted to turn the beginning of this into a new verse of Kanye West's song Two Words, but those creative juices weren't flowing tonight.) Patience. Epitome. These two words will be my guides for ‘25. I will have goals and other things motivating me throughout the year, but these two words cover any and everything I might decide to pursue this upcoming year. I didn’t plan on having two words for the new year–I originally was only going with patience, but over the last...

This morning, I finally read an email from a close friend announcing a major milestone for his business. I’ve had the opportunity to sit back and watch him build–and build, being a great example of someone living his authentic life; I can’t wait to have him on LifeDesign+ to share his story. At the end of my response to him, I told him I was excited for him and loved him. Society has taught men to say everything but those words to each other, and it has only been within the last year that...

Today, two years ago, I wrote and shared my first Daily Note. I didn’t set out with any goals other than to start writing to reflect on my mediations during our end-of-the-year vacation. I had no idea how long I’d keep writing—I’ve been known to try something, do it for a while, and then move on to the next creative idea. But, here I am hitting publish on Daily Note #730 with only one “miss” in the last two years…January 2nd, 2023, which was the day I drove nineteen hours straight to get home...

My apologies for this Note coming so late in the day—back when I started writing these, it was in the afternoon for the same reason today is late, and the next few days will be as well; we’re on our annual vacation for New Year’s. My routine is different while we’re away this week, and my Note writing shifts to the afternoon after we’ve returned to the room to rest and prepare for the evening. But, this year’s trip almost had a delay, or worse, it didn’t even happen–as I alluded to in...

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” - Epictetus We got to test our ability to choose how we react to inconvenient circumstances this morning; I’ll share more in tomorrow’s Note because I want to see how the remainder of our travels go today. Let’s just say we SHOULD be halfway to Jamaica as I write this, but we’re still at the Baltimore airport. We get to leave in a couple of hours and will have a little less time on the beach today, but we’ll still be there...

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn It’s fitting that this quote showed up on my Open app (meditation and breathwork app) this morning; tomorrow, we head to Jamaica for New Year's in what will be our last warm New Year’s trip for a while—next year, Roman will be in high school and his basketball season will keep us homebound for at least the following four years. I’m excited for this next week—this time two years ago that I started writing the Daily Note...

“Unless you address the root causes: the way you think, the way you approach the world, the way you approach adversity, right, you are going to struggle to make these changes that last in the long term. I believe everyone can make changes that last in the long term. I feel I can do that in my life. I feel one of the problems with behavior change, Rich, is that we are trying to overcome the person who we are. The change which I want to make is in conflict with who we think that we are. So, you...

“The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.” - Ram Dass See you tomorrow and keep pursuing, JC

No, that’s not a typo in the title. It might be Christmas Eve, but I’m not talking about presents…I’m talking about presence. The holiday season is upon us, which hopefully means more time with family, friends, and other loved ones. While exchanging gifts and presents, don’t forget that the greatest gift you can give someone is your presence–being there with them in the moment without distraction. I’m guilty of not always being present in family settings…scrolling my phone while being...

Today’s Note is an assignment. I want you to pick a word for ‘25 that will act as your North Star for the year. I know it’s the time of the year for short-lived resolutions and half-assed commitments–I speak from experience, but I’ve found that having a word, or a theme, for a year has helped me stay focused for the entire year. Your word could encompass your resolutions; for example, my word for last year was “discipline”. If your goal were to lose weight, work out more, etc., discipline...