It was summer 2020 and I was alone on my way back home from a short stay at the coast with family and friends. I often listen to podcasts while driving so what a perfect opportunity to listen to a new one by the author of a book I had been reading at the time: John Kim’s The Angry Therapist, a no BS guide to self-improvement. I’ve been reading self-help / personal-growth books casually since I was in my teens for reasons I am unable to express eloquently....
I started running again recently. After taking a solid eight month break after successfully running my first 100 miler last November I no longer felt great in my body. And I felt my thought patterns sliding back into a time in my twenties where I was surviving through life rather than fully living. No thank you. I don’t care much about surviving by itself. That shit is soul-suckingly boring. Life is for the living....
The thing about radically changing your reality is that it is likely out of your present awareness. And that’s okay because the journey getting there is the best part anyway, living in the present moment. So after you figure out what you want in life, you gotta get out in the world and do something that you feel will lead you there, being open to receive and having faith in the process itself....
… and to find them takes consistent practice, consistent inner work to tap into the universal energy where the answers are dancing around in space like feathers, waiting for you to get still enough to gracefully fall into your lap. This requires quiet. Quieting thoughts – the endless, mindless chatter of the ego self. The goal is to connect with the higher Self, thereby connecting with the universal energy of the universe....
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not. – André Gide I need you to really, truly believe that you are unique and possess precious gifts to share with the world. Why? Because it’s true. And. Because the world becomes even more gorgeous than it already is when you do. Let go of negative self-talk. Let go of comparison with others....
I’ve been in a mental funk the past few days and was hoping things would improve on my drive out to Huntsville State Park yesterday. Things didn’t pick up for me mentally until I set foot on the trail, albeit slowly. As much as I wanted to be completely in service to everybody passing through the #Damnation aid station for Rocky Raccoon, I wasn’t. Not at first anyway. I put on a show, yes....
I drove down to Huntsville State Park today (Saturday, 2021.02.06) to volunteer for the Rocky Raccoon 100 with NTTR at the Damnation aid station. The photo is from nine years ago, the last time I was there, and the morning of my first 50 mile race. Nine years ago was a slugfest of a day – the first two of three 17 mile loops went ridiculously well for me. The third – oh man, I slowly, painfully victory lapped it into one of the last 50 mile finisher spots of the race....
A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life. – Christopher K. Germer A practical example: be sweet to yourself. Remind yourself as many times as you need throughout the day, every day. I met a yoga teacher a few years ago who would say this in nearly every class. It was such a wonderful thing to hear spoken out loud even though it was a lesson I had already taken to heart years ago....
A human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy. – Viktor Frank, Man’s Search for Meaning True happiness for me comes in connecting deeply with people. Through watching people really come into themselves. To see them living authentically, to live in integrity with themselves, to be as much of themselves as they can possibly be. And to see them getting out there, and fucking getting it....