What I Love to Do

Right now, at this moment, I'm struggling with the byproducts of stress. What that means for me is my mind is flooded with thoughts; after all, I'm a thinker -- it's one of the things I do well. It's natural for me, then, for my stress to manifest that way.

It's a problem, however, because when my mind is flooded with thoughts, all sorts of "bummer" side effects tend to follow. I have a harder-than-normal time staying focused on a task or conversation, which makes day-to-day interactions and duties feel extremely burdensome. As a result of that, I tend to withdraw, which, while intuitive to me, is highly counterproductive; for when I withdraw, I am left alone with -- you guessed it -- my roiling thoughts.

Even writing this is a chore. (Reading it might feel like a chore right now, too!)

At any rate, I'd been really amped up about some work stuff, and in the aftermath of said stuff, I found myself thinking about my goals and vision for my life; I also found myself thinking about my purpose. It was a very post-modern discussion with myself, which was both exhausting and counterproductive (my love-hate relationship with post-modern critical analysis is a different topic -- read: Pandora's Box -- altogether).

What I came here to write, then, was something simple, namely, to address the question: what do I LOVE to do?

-I love it when I find the tipping point in a conversation or train of thought, or when I bear witness to, or participate in, a breakthrough. It doesn't matter if they're big or small moments, incidentally -- I love 'em either way. This "what do I LOVE to do?" question was one such "ah-ha!" moment, for example.

-I love it when I identify a solid working metaphor that helps illuminate a problem, idea, theory, or process for myself or another person. For example, I've used baseball as a metaphor -- a vehicle, really -- for lots of problems, processes, etc. in my life. And it doesn't need to be a formal metaphor, incidentally -- it can really just be any instance of successfully and appropriately applying one set of rules and circumstances and ideas to another for the sake of illumination and furthered understanding.

-I love to manage money when I'm operating with a clear or semi-clear vision of what my goals and/or endgame are. I love it. I also love thinking about managing money, and, really, money in general. I love visualizing cash flow models; I love visualizing and dreaming up models for generating increased cash flow, and visualizing the factors and variables that detract from cash flow.

-I love achieving deeper understanding of things I find interesting.

-I love speaking to groups and crowds of people about ideas.

-I love facilitating conversations among people about pretty much anything.

-I love digging into new and unconventional ways of doing things -- I love moving past, through, and around conventional wisdom.

-I love the New York Mets. I love baseball. I love consuming information about the New York Mets and baseball.

-I love to sit and read.

-I love to listen to really good speeches, or conversations, or podcasts (hello, Radiolab!). Similarly, I love to watch really well-written, acted, and produced movies, TV shows, and theatrical productions.

-I love to listen to really good and interesting music. (Totally subjective, of course, but we're talking about me here.)

-Other things.

I think there's real value in articulating these sorts of things to oneself. To my way of thinking, they make up some of the most important "stuff" of personhood. And besides -- going through this list has been a huge boost. My mind is clear, my mood is lifted, and I'm "unstuck." Sweet.

Link: "The Difference Between Setting Boundaries and Shutting People Out"

The title of the article describes its content very well, so I'll just say it's excellent, and well worth a read. Thanks to Tiny Buddha and author Holly Hurban. Click here to check it out. 

Tiny Buddha Published One of My Articles!

I am delighted to share that Tiny Buddha (www.tinybuddha.com) published one of my articles yesterday. What a thrill! If you aren't familiar with Tiny Buddha, I highly, highly recommend it -- add it to your bookmarks, RSS feed, etc. It's chock full of excellent writing and invaluable insight. I'm honored and humbled to have had one of my articles published in that space.

I hope you enjoy it! Click the title below to check it out:

"How We Can Reduce Our Suffering by Feeling Uncomfortable Feelings"

Yeah!

(I found this image on a Tumblr blog, but I believe the image originated at joycemeyer.org)

I love that quote. I love the image, too. Something about it all just resonates with me. It's a simple truth, captured by a simple image.

My initial response to this image, aside from downloading it, was to think, "Yeah. I need to be careful about letting my ego get in the way of accomplishing what I want to accomplish." That isn't quite as succinct as the quote and image above, is it? No, it isn't. Follow along anyway.

Think about what I just said from the plant's perspective. The plant sprouts from a seed and starts to grow. It does what it knows it's supposed to do: grow in an UPWARD direction. It expects to keep doing that, and knows it to be correct.

But suddenly it can't grow UPWARD any longer. Something is in its way. 

Think about arriving at that juncture in your own life. There's this thing you know you're supposed to do or accomplish. You're passionate about it; you feel it in your bones; you might even sense it as a calling. 

And then factors entirely out of your control come to bear on the situation, and things get complicated.

In such a situation, it's natural to feel frustrated, disappointed, angry, etc. After all, things aren't working out like you thought and felt they would. Your ego -- the piece of you that processes, mediates, and interprets your experiences in the world -- is working overtime, trying to make sense of this terrible injustice. This is unfair.

I'll bet you see where this is headed. It probably feels a little cheesy, like we're watching the movie "Rudy" or something. The thing is, though, it's true. 

The plant in that image had a decision to make. It could go on raging against that unmovable rock. Or it could just stop. Either way, it wouldn't get anywhere, even though its purpose is to reach the sun. In either case, the plant would become increasingly stressed, and eventually wither and die.

Or, it could do what it did: hold onto its purpose (to get to the sun), make a critical change (grow sideways), and resume growing UPWARD when the coast is clear.

Link: "12 Tools for More Mindful Living"

This is a great article. Big recommendation!