Daily Motivations - Matthew McConaughey's Life Advice Will Change Your Future ( BEST MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH )

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

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Starting point is 00:01:29 please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. The sooner that we become less impressed with our life, with our accomplishments, with our career, with whatever that prospect is in front of us, the sooner we become less impressed and more involved with that and these things, the sooner we get a whole lot better at doing them.
Starting point is 00:01:55 So I'm going to talk to you about some things I've learned in my journey. Most from experience. Some of them I heard in passing. Many of them I'm still practicing, but all of them I do believe are true. Now, they may be truths to me, but don't think that that makes them mine
Starting point is 00:02:09 because you cannot own a truth. So please think of these as signposts, approaches, paradigms that give some science to satisfaction. They're yours to steal. They're yours to share, likened to your own lives, to personally apply in your own lives, in your own steal, they're yours to share, like into your own lives, to
Starting point is 00:02:25 personally apply in your own lives, in your own way, should you choose to. So here we go. Number one, life's not easy. Life is not easy. It is not. Don't try to make it that way. Life's not fair. It never was. It isn't now and it won't ever be do not fall into the trap the entitlement trap of feeling like you're a victim you are not get over it and get on with it and yes most things are more rewarding when you break a sweat to get them number two I love this one unbelievable is the stupidest word in the dictionary. Shouldn't ever come out of our mouths. Think about it. To say, oh wow, what an unbelievable play.
Starting point is 00:03:10 It was an unbelievable book, an unbelievable film, an unbelievable act of courage. Really? It may be spectacular, it may be phenomenal, most excellent or outstanding. But unbelievable?
Starting point is 00:03:24 Uh-uh. Give others and yourself more credit it just happened you witnessed it you just did it believe it what about the other side of unbelievable you know that that side when we humans underperform or act out of our best character for instance man flies a suicide jet into the world trade center millions die from diseases every day that we have cures for bob the builder swears that he's going to have your house built by thanksgiving and you can't move in until christmas the next year our best friends lie to us and we lie to ourselves all the time. Unbelievable? I don't think so.
Starting point is 00:04:07 Again, it just happens and it happens every day. Nothing that we homo sapien earthlings do is unbelievable. And if there's one thing you can depend on people being, it's people. So we shouldn't be surprised. We, us, are the trickiest mammals walking the planet. I'm not worried about the monkeys i'm worried about you and me so acknowledge the acts of greatness as real and do not be naive about
Starting point is 00:04:33 mankind's capacity for evil nor be in denial of our own shortcomings welcome to daily motivation where you get motivated and inspired happiness is an emotional response to an outcome if i win i will be happy if i don't i won't it's an if then cause and effect quid pro quo standard that we cannot sustain because we immediately raise it every time we attain it you see happiness happiness demands a certain outcome. It is result-reliant. And I say, if happiness is what you're after, then you're going to be let down frequently, and you're going to be unhappy much of your time. Joy, though. Joy is a different thing. It's something else. Joy is not a choice. It's not a response to some result.
Starting point is 00:05:25 It's a constant. Joy is the feeling that we have from doing what we are fashioned to do, no matter the outcome. Now, personally, as an actor, I started enjoying my work and literally being more happy when I stopped trying to make the daily labor a means to a certain end. For example, I need this film to be a box office success. I need my performance to be acknowledged. I need the respect of my peers. All those are reasonable aspirations, but the truth is, as soon as the work,
Starting point is 00:06:02 the daily making of the movie, the doing of the deed, became the reward in itself for me, I got more box office, more accolades and respect than I ever had before. See, joy is always in process. It's under construction. It is in constant approach, alive and well in the doing of what we're fastened to do and enjoying it. Number four, define success for yourself. Define success for yourself.
Starting point is 00:06:33 Now, check this out. I'm in south of New Orleans a few years ago, and I went to a voodoo shop. And they had this wooden partition against the wall with these columns. And in these columns were all these vials of these magic potions, right? And the headings above each potion defining what they would give you were things like fertility, health, family, legal health, energy, forgiveness, money. Guess which column was empty? Money. Let's admit it money is king today
Starting point is 00:07:11 it's what makes the world go round it is success the more we have the more successful we are right now I would argue that our cultural values have even been financialized humility is not in vogue anymore it's too passive Now, I would argue that our cultural values have even been financialized.
Starting point is 00:07:26 Humility is not in vogue anymore. It's too passive. It's a get rich quick on the internet, richest 15 minutes of fame world that we live in, and we see it every day. But we all want to succeed, right? So the question that we've got to ask ourselves is what success is to us? What success is to you? Is it more money?
Starting point is 00:07:45 That's fine. I got nothing against money. I don't. Maybe it's a healthy family. Maybe it's a happy marriage. Maybe it's to help others, to be famous, to be spiritually sound, to leave the world a little bit better place than you found it. Continue to ask yourself that question. Now, your answer may change over time,
Starting point is 00:08:06 and that's fine, but do yourself this favor. Whatever your answer is, don't choose anything that will jeopardize your soul. Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don't spend time with anything that antagonizes your character. Don't drink the Kool-Aid, man. It tastes sweet, but you will get cavities tomorrow, all right? Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the hill, but first answer that question, what's my hill? So, me, how do I define success for me, myself? Well, for me, it's a measurement of five things. We got fatherhood. We got being a good husband.
Starting point is 00:08:51 We got my health, mind, body, and spirit. We got career, and we got friendships. These are what's important to me in my life right now. So, I try to measure these five things each day. I check in with them. I like to see whether or not I'm in the the debit section or the credit section with each one a man in the red or I'm in the black you follow for instance sometimes say my career is rolling all right it's way up here in the black but I see how my relationship
Starting point is 00:09:16 with my wife maybe could use a little bit more of my attention I got to pick up the slack on being a better husband. Get that one out of the red. Or say my spiritual health could use some maintenance. It's down here, but hey, man, my friendships and my social life, they're in high gear, right? I got to recalibrate, check some balances. I got to go to church, remember to say thank you more often, something. But I got to take the tally because I want to keep all five in healthy shape and I know that if I don't take care of them if I don't keep up maintenance on them one of them is
Starting point is 00:09:53 going to get weak man it's going to dip too deep into the debit section it's going to go bankrupt it's going to get sick die even so first we have to define success for ourselves. And then we have to put in the work to maintain it. Take that daily tally. Tend our garden. Keep the things that are important to us in good shape. I mean, let's admit it. We've all got two wolves in us. A good one and a bad and they both want to eat the best I can tell we just got to feed that good one a little more than the other one there we go number five process of elimination haha is the first step to our identity aka where you are not is as important as where you are. All right, 1992, I got my first job as an actor.
Starting point is 00:10:51 Three lines, three days' work in a film called Dazed and Confused. All right. All right, all right, all right. There we go. So this director of that film, Richard Linkletter, he kept inviting me back to set each night, putting me in more scenes, which led to more lines, all of which I happily said yes to.
Starting point is 00:11:12 I mean, I'm having a blast. People are telling me I'm good at what I'm doing. And they're writing me a check for $325 a day. I mean, hell yeah, give me more scenes. I love what I'm doing. Well, by the end of the shoot, by the end of the film, those three lines had turned into over three weeks work and it was mine. It was Wooderson's 1970 Chevelle that we went to go get Aerosmith tickets in, man. Yeah, it was badass. Well, a few years ago, I'm
Starting point is 00:11:38 watching this film again and I noticed two scenes that I really shouldn't have been in. In one of these scenes, my character Wooderson, I exit the screen left to head somewhere, and then I re-enter the screen to double-check if any of the other characters wanted to go with me. Now, in re-watching the film, and you'll agree if you know Wooderson, Wooderson's not a guy who would ever say, later, and then come back to see if you were sure you didn't want to go. Now when Wooderson leaves, Wooderson is gone. He does not stutter, step, flinch, rewind, ask twice or solicit.
Starting point is 00:12:15 You know what I'm talking about. Wooderson has better things to do like liking those high school girls man because I get older and they stay the same age. The point is, I should not have been in that scene. I shouldn't have come back. I should have exited screen left and never come back. But back then, making my first film, getting invited back to the set, cashing that check and having a ball,
Starting point is 00:12:41 I wanted more screen time. I wanted to be in the scene longer and more and come back into the scene, right? But I shouldn't have been there. Wooderson shouldn't have been there. It is just as important where we are not as it is where we are. Look, the first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not, I know who I am. I know who I am. That's not the first step.
Starting point is 00:13:10 The first step is usually, I know who I am not. Process of elimination. Defining ourselves by what we are not is the first step that leads us to really knowing who we are. You know that group of friends that you hang out with that really might not bring out the best in you? You know, they gossip too much, or they're kind of shady. They really aren't going to be there for you in a pinch. Or how about that bar that we keep going to, that we always seem to have the worst hangover from? Or that computer screen, right? That computer screen right that computer screen
Starting point is 00:13:45 that keeps giving us an excuse not to get out of the house and engage with the world and get some real human interaction how about that food that we keep eating the stuff that tastes so good going down it makes us feel like crap the next week we feel lethargic and we keep putting on weight well those people those places those things stop giving them your time and energy just don't go there I mean put them down and when you do this when you do put them down when you quit going there and you quit giving them your time you inadvertently find yourself spending more time and in more places that are healthy for you, that bring you more joy. Why? Because you just eliminated the who's, the where's, the what's, and the when's that were keeping you from your
Starting point is 00:14:33 identity. Like, trust me, too many options, I promise you, too many options will make a tyrant of us all. All right, so get rid of the excess, the wasted time. Decrease your options. If you do this, you will have accidentally, almost innocently, put in front of you what is important to you. By process of elimination. Knowing who we are is hard. It's hard.
Starting point is 00:15:04 So give yourself a break. Eliminate who you are not first, and you're going to find yourself where you need to be. Stay with us. We'll be right back. for a treat with our latest ebook, The Ultimate Female Body Fitness Guide. Click the link in the episode description to grab your copy now at an exclusive 50% off discount. This comprehensive resource is designed specifically for women aiming to conquer their fitness goals. From strength training to cardio, flexibility, nutrition, and mindset, we've got you covered. Inside, you'll find expertly crafted workout routines, personalized meal plans, motivation tips, and strategies tailored to help you reach your fitness dreams. We also tackle common challenges women encounter on their fitness journeys, offering advice on balancing exercise with life's demands and breaking free from societal
Starting point is 00:16:02 norms. Don't miss out on this incredible deal of 50% off. Get your e-book now before it's too late. Number six. Don't leave crumbs. And the beauty of delayed gratification. So what are crumbs? Well, the crumbs I'm talking about are the choices that we make that make us have to look over our shoulder in the future. You didn't pay that guy back the money that you owed him,
Starting point is 00:16:37 and tonight you just saw him three rows behind you. Shit. You slept around on your spouse, and you just found out that tomorrow she and the lady you're having an affair with are going to be at the same PTA meeting. Shit again. You drank too much last night. You're too hungover to drive your son to his 8 a.m. Saturday morning baseball practice. These are the crumbs. they come in the form of regret guilt and remorse you leave crumbs today they will cause you more stress tomorrow and they disallow you from creating a customized future in which you do not have to look over your shoulder so let's
Starting point is 00:17:21 flip the script instead of creating outcomes that take from us. Let's create more outcomes that pay us back Fill us up Keep your fire lit turn you on for the most amount of time in your future These are the choices I'm talking about and this is the beauty of delayed gratification I'd tee yourself up do yourself yourself a favor. Make the choices, the purchases today that pay you back tomorrow. Residuals. In my business, we call it mailbox money. If I do my job well today and that movie keeps rerunning on TV, five years from now, I'm getting checks in the mailbox. It's a heck of a deal. So whether it's prepping the coffee
Starting point is 00:18:03 maker the night before, so all you got to do is press the button in the morning Or getting ready for the job interview early So you don't have to cram the night before or choosing not to hook up with that married woman because you know You're going to feel horrible about it tomorrow And your husband carries a gun or Paying your debts on time so that when you do see that guy three rows back tonight, you don't have to hunker down in your seat hoping that he don't see you.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Get some ROI. You know what that is? Return on investment. Your investment. You. Customize your future. Don't leave crumbs. Number seven. don't leave crumbs number seven
Starting point is 00:18:48 dissect your successes and the reciprocity of gratitude we so often focus on failure don't we we study failure obsessed failure we dissect failure and our failures we dissect them so much we end up intoxicated with them to the point of disillusion and when do we write in our diary usually when we're depressed what do we gossip about other people's flaws and limitations and we can dissect ourselves into self-loathing if we're not careful. I find that most of the times our obsession with what is wrong just ends up breeding more wrong, more failure. The easiest way to dissect success is through gratitude.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Giving thanks for that which we do have, for what is working. Appreciating the simple things we sometimes take for granted we give thanks for these things and that gratitude reciprocates creating more to be thankful for it's really simple and it works now i'm not saying be in denial of your failures no we can learn from them, but only if we look at them constructively as a means to reveal what we are good at, what we can get better at, what we do succeed at. Now personally, I've read a whole lot of my bad reviews, right? I've had quite a few. Written by the more talented critics, they are the ones who give constructive bad reviews.
Starting point is 00:20:28 They reveal to me what did translate in my work, what came across, what was seen, or what wasn't. Now, I don't obsess on the unfavorable aspect of their review, but I do seek what I can learn from it. Because their displeasure actually uncovers and makes more apparent what I do do well what I am successful at and then I dissect that our life's a verb we try our best we don't always do our best architecture is a verb as well. Yes, it is. And since we are the architects of our own lives,
Starting point is 00:21:10 let's study the habits, the practices, the routines that we have that lead to and feed our success, our joy, our honest pain, our laughter, our earned tears. Let's dissect that and give thanks for those things. And when we do that, guess what happens? We get better at them and We have more to dissect
Starting point is 00:21:33 Number eight Make voluntary obligations All right, mom and dad Since we were young they teach us things as children Teachers mentors the, and on laws, they all give us guidelines for which to navigate this life. Rules to abide by in the name of accountability. I'm not talking about those obligations. I'm talking about the ones that we make with ourselves, with our God, with our own consciousness. I'm talking about the you versus you obligations. We have to have them.
Starting point is 00:22:10 Now again, these are not societal laws and expectations that we acknowledge and endow for anyone other than ourselves. These are faith-based obligations that we make on our own. These are not the lowered insurance rates for a good driving record you will not be fined or put in jail if you do not gratify these obligations I speak of no one else covers these but you they are your secrets with yourself your own private counsel personal
Starting point is 00:22:39 protocols and while nobody throws you a party when you abide by them, no one's going to arrest you when you break them either except yourself Or some cops who got a disturbing the peace call at 2 30 in the morning because you were playing bongos your birthday suit Yeah, that was me An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind and when you lay down on that pillow at night no matter who's in your bed We all sleep alone These are your personal Jiminy Crickets, and there are not enough cops in the entire world to police them It's on you
Starting point is 00:23:19 It's on you Number nine from can to want. All right, check this out. In 1995, I got my first big paycheck as an actor. I think it was 150 grand. The film was almost Boys on the Side, and we were shooting in Tucson, Arizona,
Starting point is 00:23:39 and I had this sweet little adobe guest house on the edge of the Saguaro National Park. The house came with a maid. My first maid. It was awesome. So, I got a friend over one Friday night. We're having a good time. And I'm telling her about how happy I am with my setup.
Starting point is 00:23:55 The house, the maid, especially the maid. I'm telling her, look, it's like she cleans the place up after I go to work. She washes my clothes, the dishes, puts fresh water by my bed, leads me to cooked meals sometimes. She even presses my jeans. And my friend, she smiles at me, happy that I'm excited over this. And she says, well, that's great, Matthew, if you like your jeans pressed. And I kind of looked up at up better my jaw caught hanging open I stuttered a moment had that dumbass look that you get when you just been told the truth
Starting point is 00:24:32 and you didn't think about it and I hit me I hate that line going down the front of my jeans I hate that line and it was then for the first time That I noticed it I had never thought about not liking that starch line down the front of my jeans because I've never had a made to iron my jeans before and Since she did now for the first time in my life. I just liked it because I could get it. I Never thought about if I really wanted it Well, I didn't want it there that line And that night I learned something. Just because you can, nah, come on.
Starting point is 00:25:10 It's not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more. Be discerning. Choose it because you want it. Do it because you want to. Never had my jeans pressed again. I hate that line. Number 10, a roof is a man-made thing. This may cut a little close to the bone since the geography, but I think we all were there and we will all remember where we were.
Starting point is 00:25:48 But in January the 3rd, 1993, it was the NFL playoffs and your Houston Oilers were playing the Buffalo Bills. The Oilers were up 28 to 3 at halftime, 35 to 3 early in the third. Frank Reich and the Bills come back to win 41 to 38 in overtime for one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history. Yeah, the Bills won, but they didn't really beat the Oilers. The Oilers lost that game. They beat themselves.
Starting point is 00:26:18 Y'all remember that, huh? Why? Why did they beat themselves or how was it because at halftime they put a ceiling a roof a limit on their belief in themselves aka the prevent defense or maybe they started thinking about the next opponent in the playoffs at halftime. I mean, they were up. And they came out and played on their heels, lost the mental edge the entire second half, and voila, they lost. In a mere two quarters,
Starting point is 00:26:54 defensive coordinator Jim Eddy went from being called the defensive coordinator of the year and the man first in line to be a head coach next year to a man without a job in the NFL. You ever choked? Nobody has ever choked? I have. You know what I'm talking about,
Starting point is 00:27:17 fumbling at the goal line, stuck your foot in your mouth once you got to the microphone, had a brain freeze on the exam that you were totally prepared for, forgot the punchline to a joke in front of 4,000 graduating students at the University of Houston commencement or maybe you've had that feeling of oh my god life just cannot get any better than this moment and ask yourself do I deserve this now what happens when we get that feeling tense up we have this sort of outer body experience where we are literally three seeing ourselves in the third person and we realize that the moment just got
Starting point is 00:27:56 bigger than us never felt that way I have and it's because we have created a fictitious ceiling a roof to our expectations of ourselves a limit where we think it's all too good to be true but it's not and it's not our right
Starting point is 00:28:20 to say or believe it is we shouldn't create these restrictions on ourselves. A blue ribbon, a statue, a score, a great idea, the love of our life, a euphoric bliss. Who are we to think that we don't deserve or haven't earned these gifts when we get them? It's not all right but if we stay in process all right within ourselves in the joy of the doing we will never choke at the finish line why because we aren't thinking of the finish line because we're not looking at the clock we're not watching ourselves on the jumbotron performing the very act that we're in the middle of no we're in process the approach is the destination and we are never finished Bo Jackson what do you do used to run over the goal line through the end zone
Starting point is 00:29:15 and up the tunnel the greatest snipers and marksmen in the world they don't aim at the target they aim on the other side of the target we do our best when our destinations are beyond the measurement when our reach continually exceeds our grasp and when we have immortal finish lines and when we do this the race is never over the journey has no port the adventure never ends because we are always on the way so do this do this and let them let somebody else come up and tap you on the shoulder and say hey you scored let them run up and tap you on the show and say man you won let them come tell you you can go home now let them say I love you too let them say, I love you too. Let them say, thank you.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Take the lid off the man-made roofs that we put above ourselves and always play like an underdog. Here we go. Number 11. Turn the page. The late and great University of Texas football coach, Darryl Royal. I don't know if you all remember him. He won a national championship in 1969.
Starting point is 00:30:27 He won a couple of national championships. You know Daryl Royal? He was a friend of mine and a good friend of many people. Now, a lot of people looked up to this man. One of the people who looked up to him was a musician named Larry. Now, at this time in his life, Larry was in the prime of his country music career. He had number one hits and his life was rolling. He had picked up a bad habit of snorting the white stuff somewhere along the line. And at one particular party after a bathroom
Starting point is 00:30:59 break, Larry went confidently up to his mentor, Daryl, and he started telling him a story. Coach Royal listened, as he always had, and when Larry finished his story and was about to walk away, Coach Royal put a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he very discreetly said, hey, Larry, you got something on your nose there, bud. Larry immediately hurried to the bathroom mirror, where he saw some of the white powder that he hadn't cleaned up his nose. He was ashamed. He was embarrassed as much because he felt so disrespectful to Coach Royal and as much because he'd obviously gotten too comfortable with the drug to even hide it as well as he should. Well, the next day, Larry went to Coach's
Starting point is 00:31:43 house. He rang the doorbell, Coach answered and he said, Coach, I need to talk to you. Darrell said, sure, come on in. Larry confessed. He purged his sins to Coach. He told him how embarrassed he was and how he had lost his way in the midst of all this fame and fortune. And towards the end of an hour, Larry, who was in tears,
Starting point is 00:32:06 he asked Coach, he said, Coach, what do you think I should do? And Coach, being a man of few words, just looked at him and calmly said, Larry, I have never had any trouble turning the page in the book of my life. Larry got sober that day, and he's been sober for the last 40 years. You ever get in a rut? You know what I'm talking about? You get in a funk?
Starting point is 00:32:36 Get stuck on the merry-go-round of a bad habit? I have. Look, we're going to make mistakes. You got to own them. Then you got to make amends. And then you got to own them then you got to make amends and then you got to move on guilt and regret kills many a man before their time so turn the page get off the ride you are the author of the book of your life turn that page number 12 give your obstacles credit you know those no fear t-shirts that were out I don't know he used to wear them ten years ago no fear you may remember those are just me I saw them everywhere all right I don't get them and I never did I mean I try to scare myself at least once a day
Starting point is 00:33:29 I mean I get butterflies every morning before I go to work I was nervous before I got here to speak tonight I think fear is a good thing now why because it increases our need to overcome that fear all right say your obstacle is fear of rejection all right you want to ask her out or you want to Because it increases our need to overcome that fear. All right, say your obstacle is fear of rejection. All right, you want to ask her out, or you want to ask him out, but you fear that he or she may say no. All right, you want to ask your boss for that promotion, but you're scared he's going to think you're overstepping your bounds.
Starting point is 00:34:03 Well, instead of denying those fears, declare them. Say the fear out loud. Admit admit it give them the credit they deserve don't get all macho and act like they're no big deal and don't get paralyzed by denying that they exist and therefore abandoning your need to overcome them I mean I'd even subscribe to the belief that we're all destined to have to do the thing that we fear the most anyway, at some point. So give your obstacles credit, and you will, one, find the courage to overcome them, or you will, two, see more clearly that they're not really worth prevailing over. So be brave, have courage, and when you do, you get stronger. You get more aware, You get more respectful of yourself
Starting point is 00:34:47 and that which you fear. Number 13. So how do we know when we cross the truth? 13. Someone's asking, why did I pick 13? That's an unlucky number. Well, I don't know when 13 got the bad rap and became the mongrel of numerology. It's never done me wrong, 13. In fact, 13 has been a pretty lucky
Starting point is 00:35:11 number for me, and I want to tell you how. I've always taken these 21-day trips by myself to far-off places where I usually don't know the language and nobody knows my name. They're adventures, one, but they're also a purge. They're a cleanse for me. They're like a 21-day fast from attention, from all the things I have in my well-appointed life. They're a check out so I can check in with me, see how I'm doing, be forced to be my own and my only company to have a look in my mirror
Starting point is 00:35:48 And we all know what can happen when we do that. Sometimes we do not like what we see well in 1996 right after I got famous from a film I did called a time to kill I I headed out on one of these 21 day walk walkabouts, and this time to the jungles in the mountains of Peru. The sudden fame that I'd just gotten was somewhat unbalancing. My face was everywhere. Everyone wanted a piece of me. People I'd never met were swearing that they loved me. Everywhere I went, there I was on a billboard, a magazine cover. It was just weird overall. You know, I was asking myself, what's the reality in this and what's the bullshit?
Starting point is 00:36:31 Did I deserve all this? These were all questions I was asking myself. Who was I was another. Now, there's always an initiation period with these trips. An amount of time that it takes for the place To initiate the traveler the time it takes to disconnect from the world We just left and become completely present and the one we are traveling in Now for me that initiation period usually lasts about 13 days
Starting point is 00:37:00 13 Hellish days until I am out of my own way Well, it was the night of the 12th day of my 21-day trip. I'm settling into camp. I'd already hiked 80 miles to this point, and I had a three-day trek ahead of me to Machu Picchu. And I was full-on sick of myself, wrestling with the loss of my anonymity.
Starting point is 00:37:19 I was guilt-ridden for sins of my past. I had a lot of regret. I was lonely, disgusted with my company, mine. Grappling with these demons on this night, I couldn't sleep. All of these badges and banners and expectations and anxieties that I was carrying with me, I needed to free myself from them. So I stripped down to nothing. I took every moniker that gave me pride and confidence. All the window dressings, the packaging around the product, I discarded them all. I got rid of my lucky and faithful American cap. I stripped off all my talismans from adventures past. I even discarded
Starting point is 00:37:58 my late father's gold ring with an M on it that he gave to me and it was a meltdown of he and my mom's class rings and gold for my mom's teeth. I even got rid of that. I was naked literally and figuratively and I got sick. I felt clean. I felt free and light. Along a muddy path on this walk, I turned a corner and there in the middle of the road was this mirage, this magnificent pinks and blues and red colors that I'd ever seen. It was electric, glowing and vibrant, just hovering just off the surface of the jungle floor as if it was plugged into some neon power plant. I stopped. I stared. There was no way around it.
Starting point is 00:38:49 The jungle floor in front of me was actually thousands of butterflies there in my path. It was spectacular. So I stayed a while. And somewhere in my captivation, I heard this little voice inside my head say these words. All I want is what I can see.
Starting point is 00:39:10 And all I can see is what's in front of me. Now, at that moment, I had stopped anticipating what was around the corner. For the first time, I stopped thinking about what was coming up next. What was up ahead time slowed down I was no longer in a rush to get anywhere and my anxieties were greatly eased a few hours later I returned to camp
Starting point is 00:39:36 even the local Sherpas I was traveling with they noticed calling out to me which means you are light in Spanish. See, I forgave myself that morning. I let go of the guilt. The weight that was on my shoulders was lifted. My penance was paid, and I got back in good graces with my God, and I shook hands with myself, my best friend,
Starting point is 00:39:59 the one that we're all stuck with anyway, ourselves. And from that morning on, the adventure was awesome. I was present. I was out of my own way. I was not anticipating next. I was embracing only what was in front of my eyes and giving everything the justice that it deserved. You see, I crossed the truth that morning. Now, did I find it? I don't know. I think it found me. Why? Because I put myself in a place to be found I put myself in a place to receive the truth so how do we know when we cross the truth well I think the truth's all around us all the time I mean I think the answer you know it's always right there right there I think it's all around us we just don't always see it we don't always always grasp it, hear it, access it, usually because we're not in
Starting point is 00:40:45 the right place to do so. So what do we do? First, I believe we've got to put ourselves in the place to receive the truth. Let's admit it, we live in an extremely noisy world with all kinds of frequencies coming at us. We've got commitments, we've got deadlines, fix this, do that, plans, expectations, and they all make it hard to get clarity and peace of mind. So, we have to consciously put ourselves in places to receive that clarity. Now, that may be prayer. That may be meditation. That may be a walkabout. That may be being in the right company, a road trip. Whatever it is for you, schedule that time. it so if we do that if we hear it if we put ourselves in a place to hear it and we do and it's become clear a truth natural and infinite then the second part comes
Starting point is 00:41:35 which is to personalize it ask yourself how it works for you how it applies to you personally why you need it in your life specifically. And if you do that, then comes the third part. Have the patience to internalize it and get it from our intellectual head, thinking about it, and into our bones and our soul and our instinct. Now, we cannot rush this part. It does take time. So if we get that far, we've received it, we've personalized it, and we've take time. So, if we get that far, we've received it, we've personalized it, and we've internalized it. If we make it that far, we've got to have the courage to act on it, to actually take it into our daily lives and practice it, to make it an active part of who we are and live it. Do that. All right, if we can do that,
Starting point is 00:42:22 then we have what I believe is heaven right here on earth. I mean, that's the ticket, isn't it? Think about it. I know that's where I want to live. While we're here, and they're going to run across the jumbotron, let's make it a place where we break a sweat, where we believe, where we enjoy the process of succeeding in the places and ways that we are fashioned to, where we don't have to look over our shoulder because we're too busy doing what we're good at, voluntarily keeping our own counsel because we want to, traveling towards
Starting point is 00:42:58 immortal finish lines, we write our own book, overcoming our fears. We make friends with ourselves. And that is the place that I'm talking about.

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