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.
learning to surf
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“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 while down in Marco Island, Florida. It’s crazy to reflect on that decision to start writing to process my morning meditations and then the random decision to publish them on my website. Looking back, I realize it was an intuitive decision to start writing, and while I had no idea at the time what the Daily Notes would lead to, it just felt right. Fast forward to today, over 2,000 people are getting my Daily Notes via email and LinkedIn, and 200 are getting the Weekly Notes via email. Those numbers blow my mind because I haven’t promoted my writing–I just write, hit publish, share it in the morning, and let the Universe handle the rest. It’s been so cool to read the replies that come in when a Note resonates with someone–I’ve shared this before, but the Notes have evolved into writing to my Self (either to tell my Self something I need to remember or to process what I’m learning) and hope that they might resonate with someone else from time to time. I’m excited to have a little more time for the Notes while we’re away—there will be no morning rush, I’ll be able to meditate by the ocean, and hopefully will be able to share some really insightful thoughts with you. I didn’t intend for today’s Note to become a trip down memory lane and a little celebration, but that happened when I started writing. As I get back to Jon Kabat-Zinn’s quote, it’s important to keep in mind that your Pursuit is going to provide challenges, surprises, and obstacles along the way, but if you can keep the perspective that each of those is merely a wave and that you’re going to use them to learn to surf, you’ll be able to eventually smoothly ride any wave that comes your way. I’ve tried surfing in California a number of times and have never stood up on a wave; I’ve been beaten up by the ocean, and yet, I’m excited to go out and try every chance I get because I know I’m eventually going to figure it out. Waves are going to come. Don’t let them beat you up, or if they do beat you up a little, at least let it be as you are learning how to use the wave to help you back to safe waters. JC |
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.
I don’t do this often, but today’s Note is actually an Omen I posted last night. The Omens, which you can find on my website, are meant to be discovered on their own, are only distributed in my Weekly Note, and are more like the blogs I started with when I first started writing. They are meant to be observations and interests of mine. Last night, I wrote one to my Self but feel it might be meaningful to others. Every once in a while, I think to my Self, “Why do I keep doing all of this?” Why...
I’ve struggled to fully understand how the world is a reflection of my Self. I kind of understood it and believed it was true, but I was looking at the statement from the wrong perspective. I have always looked at it as the characteristics of the people I see, or the world I see, are supposed to be similar to or represent me. And while I do think individuals reflect aspects of our Selves that we like and even don’t like, this morning I developed a new understanding of this mirror phenomenon....
Before you can become the version of your Self you desire, you have to first believe you are already that person. At a minimum, you have to believe you are capable of becoming that person, but truthfully, I don’t think that is strong enough. I think you need to actually believe that you are the version of your Self you are before you actually see it. Once you believe, you will naturally begin to draw on that future version of your Self, feeling as you would, doing what you would, and...