mindfulness | gratitude | hustle
Reading as a child was a beautiful thing. I would take adventures to other worlds through The Magic Treehouse, nod off with my friend Artemis Fowl and cozy up before bed with my brothers, listening to the tales of a certain famous wizard who need not be named. Continue reading “10 books that made my year”
There is a moment of turmoil between my alligator brain and my conscious brain each and every morning. I feel I am not alone.
The turmoil occurs at the precise moment my alarm clock begins to sound and I am to make the decision on whether to get up immediately, press snooze or spend 20+ secs thinking about how crazy my day is going to be and then press snooze.
I am fascinated by this moment. It is such a primal event, fight or flight in its most basic representation. This morning my dilemma was this:
fight: face the day, get up early and seize the opportunity before me.
or
flight: put off the suffering of vertical life and retire further into my warm, safe bed.
I think the application of this principal is huge. If I cannot control the simple decision to wake up early and have a more productive day, over sleeping in, how can I trust myself to make difficult decisions when more than sleep and sunken eyes are at stake.
Think about this the next time your alarm goes off, own your morning routine and become the master of your daily decisions.
When given the choice, will you fight or flight?
Marcus Aurelius says to be grateful when you rise each day.
“to think, to enjoy, to love.”
Seneca speaks of living each day like it is its own life.
“begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
Trying to live full, honest and mindful every day seems daunting to me still. It has been the better part of a year since I made the conscious decision to wake up each day with a purpose, wake up each day wth presence and to wake up each day with as much gratitude as I could muster. Though it has been a great personal triumph these past few months living a more positive, stoic lifestyle, it is easy to be drawn back into the rat race. Negativity and barriers in thought are almost unavoidable.
How do you cut out the negativity? How do muffle your mind from the noise?
I think the answer is, you don’t. Not entirely at least. Negativity will always be there, the noise of society will always be there. To me, it is about taking steps each and every day towards recognizing these obstacles of negativity. When a car drives by as you wait to cross the street does that stop you from eventually crossing? No, that is, unless you go out to greet it. Let the car pass, let the thought pass, let the external negativity pass, and then cross the street.
Take steps each and every day towards your personal and professional goals. Wake each day and try to be more mindful and grateful for just a second more than you were yesterday. It is these steps that are the way. The journey is the destination.
I am always ‘here’.
What does it mean to have an original idea?
How do you cultivate originality?
Lately I feel my best thoughts and ideas are a patchwork of knowledge gained through reading, listening and questioning others and then repurposing that knowledge to my own liking. Using inputs to create my outputs.
Originality and creativity comes with my interpretation and repurposing of these inputs. If this is true, and quality original thoughts are the desired output, are quality thoughts and ideas required as input? OR can quality of thought be created?
I hypothesize that good inputs = good outputs.
It is for this reason I have made it a goal to read more (even more) and begin to think of learning as an occupational passion. The best ideas are the product of good inputs.
LIFE GOAL: Be in search of good inputs. This will not lead to a wasted life.
I write, poorly but purposely every morning and some evenings. I write down purposeful thoughts, ideas, goals and tough questions to help me have a more focused day, a more mindful day and a more grateful day.
With this inaugural blog post, I think it fitting to share my first ever morning journal entry from my now well used moleskin journal (because Hemmingway used one).
06/25/2016
Not sure what this journal will become, but it will start as a collective of thoughts and goals and dreams. I will consistently remind myself of what I want to achieve and the steps I will take to reach those goals. So, today, June 25th, 2016 – my long-term goals
*Also, read at least 25 books a year (CEO’s do it so it can’t hurt)
Quote I am pondering: ” Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.” – Seneca
happy hustle 