Sunday, January 31, 2021
New Music Meditation for Week: At the Center is Love: Liquid Mind – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQneawxy0pQ
Question: What is it like being you today?
Answer: For the most part, I’m a pretty simple guy. I’m mostly a homebody, prefer reading a book than watching TV. I love intellectual, deep conversations instead of idle chat-chat. I have a pretty simple diet, only eat certain foods, and have a pretty set routine. Having a simple lives provides me the opportunity to really stay focused on making me a better me and profoundly serving those I serve. My wife would say that I have a lot of minimalist tendencies – and OCD tendencies. Other than my books, most of the things that I have/own can burn in a fire and I wouldn’t be devastated. I have back-ups of files both at home, at work and in a fireproof safe, so if our house burns down or if my office was destroyed, I would be okay. (That’s the former tech person in me.) I’m pretty active; I think that’s what keeps me somewhat sane. It’s like my escape from the real world.
So, it’s the last day of January – and I’ve meditated and journaled every day for a month. Seems like a great daily practice to include in my life. Reading at least one article/chapter in a book, meditating, and journaling, to go along with my movement/exercise, appears to be working really well in my life right now. As far as my target of 5.5 million steps for the year by averaging 15,000 steps per day…in 5 weeks, I have around 710,000 steps, which has me averaging a little over 20,000 steps per day. As you can see, I don’t do most things half-assed; if I set a goal – especially a fitness goal – I will go all in! A couple of years ago, as part of a 8-week fitness challenge, I decided that I wanted to really challenge myself! As a really, really, really insane goal, I set (and achieved) my goal of 2,000,000 steps in 8 weeks! That’s 35,000+ steps a day for 8 weeks! Insane…OCD…obsessed…call it what you want. But that’s how I roll…
For the end of January, the author shares several reflection questions to ask yourself:
- What did I learn about myself this month?
- Which of this month’s prompts were most challenging?
- Which of my answers most surprised me?
- Based on what I’ve written, one action I want to take over the next month is…
What did I learn about myself: How connected I am with my values. January is about identity…and my identity is really about how I live, connect, and engage with my values on a daily basis. I also learned that there LOTS and LOTS of room for me to learn, to grow, and to become a better version of myself – one small, simple step, every moment, every day. I need to live my #1 rule: Striving to be 1% better every day.
Most challenging prompts: (1) What is one thing you secretly hope other people don’t discover or find out about you? (2) What is one thing you would like to change about your present self? For the first one, I didn’t want to share that I sometimes feel like an impostor. For the second one, I couldn’t limit to just one thing, there are several things I’d like to change about myself.
What surprised me: I don’t think there was any one answer that surprised me, but when I answered the question about an unpopular opinion or belief, I started a rant about my thoughts about higher education. I didn’t think it would lead to a potential article, but it was just something inside of me waiting to come out! I also didn’t think that I would be so passionate about it, although I know that it’s been something inside me for a long time. The prompt just made it come out, just at the right moment.
One action I want to take over the next month is…to continue meditating and journaling. I’ve noticed that I seem to be a lot more at peace with who I am and very focused on what I need to do to profoundly serve others. The meditation is helping me stay focused on the task at hand, the writing is helping me clarify my thoughts. February will be about “The Past,” so I’m sure that’s going to bring back some pretty traumatic memories, but as a transparent guy that sees the extraordinary value in being vulnerable, that can only be a blessing. Bring it on!
Other Stuff
After completing the first month of journaling – and seeing how much it has helped, I thought I would share these two articles about taking control of your life. I didn’t know which would be better to share…so I decided to share them both. Think about the first month of 2021 – how did it go for you? If you made New Year’s Resolutions, are you still on track or did you quit? Regardless of the outcomes so far, check out the articles – you might find one or two tips that might be useful:
- How To Reboot And Restart Your Life: 12 Steps To Take – https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/15169/how-to-reboot-restart-your-life/
- How To Take Control Of Your Life: 8 Effective Tips – https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/15205/how-to-take-control-of-your-life/
The first article is focused on starting over, getting rid of the crap and creating a “picture” of what you want you and your life to look like. The second article identifies things you could right now that could take your good life and make it great. They aren’t significantly different, but I think the first is really about starting over and the second is about improving. The other option is to read both and find something you can incorporate into your life right now from both articles!
Enjoy!
The Dream Dean 