Make Room To Say It Out Loud

This thought would not leave me alone. It was one of the most tenacious and constant uses of brain space for what felt like days on end. It was the weed growing through the crack in the concrete. This one thought found ways to interject its presence into my morning meditations and journaling, my afternoon ice coffee walks with my dog Hudson, and even into the unofficial final check list before bedtime.

It had gone from being persistent to being a pest.

So I said the idea out loud, and I heard what the words sounded like when they came out of my mouth.

And they were believable.

On my weakest day and, if I was feeling beat down by life, they were incredibly believable.

But then there was a rumbling and a holy anger that surged through my soul, and something to the effect of "Not Today Satan" came out of my mouth.

The energy of that moment is something I can still feel as I type it out a few days later. It was my internal truth stepping up for me in a way it hadn't been able to, or had not yet done when the thing I said out loud was just a thought banging around in my head.

My favorite poem is If by Rudyard Kipling, and it begins like this:

If you can keep your head when all about you   
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

But this time, when I reread it, I saw that the one losing their head and blaming me was me. The one who did not trust me and doubted me was me.

It had to call in reinforcements.

It was time to do The Work. These process of using these four "liberating questions" from Byron Katie have been one of my most recommended tactics for my coaching clients and it was time to bring them out for myself. So I said the thing out loud again and responded with each question:

1 - Is it true?

2 - Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

3 - How do you react when you believe that thought?

4 - Who would you be without the thought?

These questions are so simple that I sometimes find them insulting when I first pull them up to do The Work. But if answered honestly and intentionally, they break through just about any situationship you have with a thought that no longer serves you.

They get to the truth really quickly and paint a picture that is very different than the reality you are living before asking them.

Truth is to an unconsidered thought what wind is to fire, it extinguishes the small and kindles the great.

So next time you find yourself plagued by that thought or idea that you just cant place, pour some truth on it. It has merit, if it needs to be considered and acted upon, it will stand up to the truth. But more often than not, the truth will drown it and life can begin again.

Words I Needed To Hear

 “A Franciscan Blessing”:

MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.

-Sister Ruth Fox

Something That Made Me Think

The founder and former CEO of Twitter spoke at Rick Rubin's festival to discuss how things have not gone as planned, why he has hope for the future of technology, and what must be done to turn the tide from the forces at work to keep things the same.

New Inspiration For A Project I Am Working On

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I hope this email finds you doing well.

And if it doesn't, I hope you feel better after having read it.

And if you don't, shoot me a note and let me know how I might be able to help brighten your day.

We're all in this together.

Andy