Practice and Progress

Othello Moments. That's some insider language one of my clients and I use together.

Othello is a strategy game, and it's tagline is this:

“A minute to learn…A lifetime to master!”

It’s so easy to find inspiring quotes and words of wisdom. (Our social media feeds are full of them.) Many of them take only a moment to learn.

Ah, but mastery. That takes time.

The path to mastery is practice. The access to consistent practice is discipline.

There are a few spiritual texts I study at different points throughout my day. More and more, I move slower and slower through these powerful texts. I find myself thinking to myself and saying to others:

"A single line in this text may take me a lifetime to master!"

And I mean it.

Mastery isn't a destination, it's a path.

Practice is the way we walk along that path.

Disciplined is the state of being that keeps us practicing.

With practice comes progress. It's sometimes noticeable right away, like learning a new melody on an instrument. Usually, though, progress is only noticeable after we've practiced for a little while.

What practices - that you know would be valuable for you - have you not been engaging in as much as you'd like to?

Where in life could you be more disciplined?

Get on the path to mastery that matters to you. Your life and the world are better off for it.

Much Love. ❤️

"I'm Addicted to This Game"

I let myself scroll through Instagram a couple times each week, and each time I come across ads that say something like this:

“I’m addicted to this game.”

“I’m addicted to this page.”

“I’m addicted to this app.”

Is that supposed to entice me? That their product is addictive?

No thanks! I'd rather not get addicted to whatever you're trying to sell me.

I’ll admit, there is a part of me that does get attracted to those ads. Other people’s passion can be attractive and inspiring!

But do we really want more addiction in our lives?

Here’s why we like being addicted to games, shows, substances, people, food, etc.: 

Our addictions help us avoid the uncomfortable thoughts and feelings we don’t know how to be with.

What if instead of scrolling longer, or streaming the next episode, or having a glass of wine, we instead decided to just sit with and be with the uncomfortable thoughts and feelings within us?

What if we got addicted to bringing wholeness to the parts of us that are uncomfortable? Or if we got addicted to listening to the parts of us that are whispering truths and integrity, the parts of us that know better, want better, and want to be better?

This week I reached for another date (the fruit, not a human) to eat after dinner - and there was a voice inside: “That’s enough.” So I put the date back in its package.

I listened and honored that voice.

It was powerful. It was freeing. It was authentic. It was Grace.

Also one evening this week, as I made dinner, I turned on an episode of a show I’ve been into lately. Again, that whisper inside: “Just be with the meal you’re making.” So I closed the laptop and focused solely on the meal.

I listened and honored that voice.

Here’s what I’m building up as a habit and an addiction: welcoming, embracing, and loving all parts of myself, including the uncomfortable ones.

When we let those parts be, they’ll let us be. And then there’s no longer any need to hide from them with our addictions and distractions.

"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."

- Blaise Pascal

Thank you for reading. ❤️

The Inside Job That's Safe From AI

Because I teach computer science, every week or so someone says to me, “Did you know that computer science used to be the top field to go into, and now AI is taking all the jobs?”

AI is coming for more jobs than just computer science. Most white collar jobs, in fact, are replaceable by AI, especially the AI that is yet to come.

My default, pessimistic thinking tends to catastrophize and think the worst about the future of our economy and well-being as individuals and society. By Grace and by practice, however, I am not limited to my default, pessimistic thinking.

We are always creating with our thinking. We cannot help but create. And in every moment we have a choice:

Constant unconscious creation with our default, defensive, protective thinking… or Constant conscious creation from the deeper, more authentic part of ourselves - the True Self, the Spiritual Self.

I am consciously envisioning a world of abundant health, well-being, love, peace, and enjoyment - for all life. My life, in fact, is a commitment to the well-being of all life.

My pessimistic and fearful thinking are trailheads - trailheads into healing and wholeness for myself, and trailheads to the path of creativity and inspiration for a world that works for all life.

Know thyself. Free thyself. Consciously create thyself. These are our forever jobs. 

Humanity has tried outsourcing them to machines and algorithms already (Instagram and YouTube), to drugs and alcohol, to degrees and jobs, to lovers and children, and even to religion and gurus. 

But our happiness and fulfillment are an inside job. Yes, an inside job supported by grace and inheritance, but someone else’s wisdom and revelation can only lead us to the water - we’ve got to drink.

So the most important aspect of being human, our inner life, cannot be outsourced to AI. Sure, it can be supported, but only so far. 

For when any of us chooses the machine over another human - as so many of us have done and continue to do in this Age of Distraction - we move even farther from ourselves and who we really are.

Like happiness, healing and wholeness are an inside job. Peace and well-being are an inside job. Relationships and leadership (of self and others) are an inside job.

The more of us who are willing to do that inner work now will make our coming transitions easier, more enjoyable, and more effective. Join me on the path of healing, wholeness, peace, enjoyment, and unconditional love.

It's your job to give you that, and no one else's.

🙏❤️