💎 Friday Gems (Repair & Remain, Self-confidence, The Guest House, Colonoscopy, and much more!)

Endure. Wrestle. Suffer. Struggle. Keep working. Your heart is restless, my heart is restless, all our hearts are restless.

Sep 27, 2024

Begin again!

One of the most powerful benefits of meditating is the idea of beginning again. When meditating our minds get distracted by thoughts and we fall into them but a sound or a sensation will wake us up and we have an opportunity to begin our meditation once again. This happens multiple times in a session so we keep getting the opportunity to begin again building up our muscles of returning to what we started without judgement which is also key.

This practice of beginning again transfers over to our daily lives as well.

Sometimes when we have gotten off track form our goal and think too much time has passed since we stopped so we tell ourselves what’s the use and we abandon our goal. Instead of giving up what if we decided to begin again and pick up where we left off.

Of course this is not just for goals but any situation where we feel like we have stopped and the right thing to do is to continue.

We can let go of thoughts that get in the way of doing what’s right and begin again without judgement.

Take a moment to reflect on something you have stopped and take a small step to begin again, to get back to it without judgement.

✊🏽

On to this week’s gems!

In this edition of Friday Gems:
🧠 Mindset: Repair and remain
🙌🏽 Self-confidence: When vulnerability ceases to be a problem – Three levels of self-confidence
✨ Mindfulness: The Guest House
🩺 Advice: What should I eat after my colonoscopy?
🌞 Wisdom: Creative Reclamation
🎵 Music: Knowing We’ll Be Here by Daniel Avery

Mindset

💎 Repair and Remain

Repair and remain. Work with what you’ve got. Sit still for a moment, take stock, make some changes. Big changes, if necessary.

Last week I shared my thoughts on the futility of running for greener pastures instead of making the necessary changes within ourselves. This essay caught my eye because the message is the same.

In this essay, Kurt Armstrong shares his experience of listening to people share the problems they are having with their spouses and how they are thinking of cutting and running instead of doing the hard work of looking at themselves and what they need to improve. His advice is “repair and remain”. Stay and make the changes you need to instead of dreaming of a new spouse without any problems.

Because however it may sometimes seem that circumstance, fortune, and your exasperating spouse are conspiring to sabotage your happiness and peace of mind, the one certain, irrefutable common factor in all your circumstances is you. You are the bearer and carrier of grief, disappointment, frustration, and heartache, just as you are also the source of much of the same.

Kurt may be speaking of spouses but I believe his advice applies to all types of relationships. Relationships at work, with our jobs, or with objects of desire. When we thing a new thing will solve our problems we overlook the opportunity to look within and make the real and lasting change so we don’t need to keep looking for greener pastures.

Endure. Wrestle. Suffer. Struggle. Keep working. Your heart is restless, my heart is restless, all our hearts are restless.
Repair and remain sounds simple because it is. But simple is not the same as easy.

Repair and remain.

Source: Comment

Self-confidence

💎 When Vulnerability ceases to be a problem – Three levels of self-confidence

When vulnerability ceases to be a problem, we start to thrive on the possibilities that it offers us

Each time I go for a group run I feel vulnerable. Thoughts come rushing in such as “Am I a good runner?”, “I’m not as good as the others so people will laugh at me.” Of course these sound silly as I am writing them but in the moment they feel real and my vulnerability is triggered causing me to either contract or expand, depending on just how self-confident I am feeling.

In his post Toby Ouvry sharess three levels of cultivating a mindfully positive relationship with our vulnerability to help us “develop our self-confidence and playful creativity every time it arises.”

The three levels of self-confidence are:

Coping - In this level we shut out the feelings of vulnerability so we can still move forward.
Accepting - In this level we accept our feelings of vulnerability while being in the moment and enjoying what we set out to do.
Thriving - In this level we are comfortable with the feelings of vulnerability and are relaxed enough to improvise in the situation and feel excited for the opportunity.

As with most things, awareness is key. By bringing awareness to our vulnerability when it appears, we can identify which level of self-confidence we are working with and then adjust our approach so we can move forward with confidence.

Moment of reflection: What are the moments when your vulnerability is triggered the most? Pause for a moment and sit with this question to see what comes up for you.

Source: Toby Ouvry

Mindfulness

💎 The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

– Jalaluddin Rumi

Advice

💎 What should I eat after my colonoscopy?

There is one important piece of pertinent information though: before your colonoscopy you can’t eat. You have to drink some horrible shit to empty you out that tastes like Project 2025 if it were a liquid. And while you may not exactly be hungry beforehand, you will be afterwards.

By Mike Monteiro, when asked the question, What should I eat after my colonoscopy?

Source: Mike Monteiro

Wisdom

💎 Creative Reclamation

This inspiring message helped me see the down time I recently experienced as a time of renewal, creative generation, and a time of quiet instead of being in a funk.

Everything happens in its season.

Music

💎 Knowing We’ll Be Here by Daniel Avery

With a mellow continuous beat the vocals get you hooked and moving. Enjoy a journey through the mind with the latest addition to the Low Fidelity playlist.