💎 Friday Gems (Enjoy your problems, Imagination, Be More Present)

If you can learn to enjoy your problems, that’s enlightenment

Happy Friday Saturday, dear readers!

I apologize for being a day late; life happens, and I wanted to share these gems with you as soon as possible.

Here are the gems I gathered this week:

1. How to Enjoy Your Problems

2. Pure Imagination

3. A Simple Hack For Being More Present

4. Quote by Henri Miller on listening to yourself and believing in your own powers

5. Song: Quintessential Trips To Bergen by Mungolian Jetset

Enjoy!

💎 How To Enjoy Your Problems

We all have problems that are difficult to explain and make us think our lives are uniquely messed up. These are the parts we don’t see in the curated Instagram feeds. The truth is everyone has unique problems, but that does not mean there is anything wrong with us, you or me. Those parts that we hide are the parts that make us uniquely human.

The good, the bad, and the ugly all combine to make us who we are and help us see the world in a unique perspective we can own and be proud of. It’s a lens no one else has; how amazing is that?

there are some problems that are considered OK to talk about and some that aren’t. There are problems people put on the front page of their memoir, and problems they, well, edit out. But regardless of whether other people get your problems, you have to get them. You have to accept your life, absurd as it may be, and try to find some joy in it.

What if we enjoyed our problems and owned them instead of denying they existed? Each moment has something to teach us, and how we look at our problems can provide, as author and psychotherapist Chelsea Harvey Garner says in her guide, “a kaleidoscope of sensations that both set you apart and join you with the universal strangeness of being human.”

How amazing is that?

Source: Psyche.co

💎 Pure Imagination

I finally watched the new Wonka movie, and this song, Pure Imagination, brought me back to my childhood when I was in awe of the chocolate factory in the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie.

By leaning into your imagination, anything is possible! Our challenges and obstacles can be overcome by coming together and using our imagination to develop solutions.

Here are the lyrics for Pure Imagination:

Ladies and gentlemen
Boys and girls
The chocolate room

Hold your breath
Make a wish
Count to three

Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin
Traveling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be

💎 A Simple Hack For Being More Present

Photo by Windows on Unsplash

No matter how much I try, there are moments during a meeting when I suddenly find myself lost in thought and not paying attention to the conversation. Maybe it is a worry demanding my attention or a notification that has distracted me, but the result is the same: I am distracted and not fully in the moment.

In her latest newsletter, a leadership and executive coach, Teresa Brazen, shares a simple hack for being more present:

Just ask yourself, "Am I here right now?"

Once a day is fine. Once a week, even.
Because the more you ask it, the more you'll remember to ask it.
It's a self-perpetuating loop.

This is a good reminder for us to get back into the conversation, the meeting, our work, and our lives instead of getting lost in thought or distracted.

Just like in meditation, our thoughts distract us and take over. We can gently guide ourselves back to being fully present. We can practice this question repeatedly without judgment to make it a habit.

And what is the benefit of being present? Teresa put it beautifully:

the rest of us get
a little more of the amazing you 🌈
with us, here, now.

Thanks, Teresa!

Source: Teresa Brazen

💎 Gem of Wisdom

Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty.

Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths.

- Henry Miller

💎 A Gem of a Tune

This week’s exciting new addition to the Low Fidelity Spotify playlist is Quintessential Trips To Bergen by Mungolian Jetset. This song is like a warm Friday afternoon full of energy and excitement for the upcoming weekend. I also love the cover art, with its mesmerizing views of a city.

Enjoy!

That’s it for this week’s gems. Do you have a gem you would like to share? Send it my way.

I’m thankful that you read this far.

Have a fantastic weekend!