Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - If You Can Control This, Your Life Will Change | Best Motivational Speeches Compilation

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius

The world reflects back at us what we currently are, like a giant mirror projecting the movie that's playing in our heads. We lay on the horn in traffic, not when we're at peace with ourselves, but when we're in duress. We gravitate towards the negative, not when we're living in abundance, but when we're living in scarcity. We quit, retreat, contract, not when we're confident in the road ahead. but when we're doubtful, alarmed. In other words, we find out in the world what already lives within us.

Life in many ways is not absolute. It's evidence. It's evidence that we'll use to justify the things we already believe. Wayne Dyer used to use the metaphor of an orange. It can be squeezed and squeezed and squeezed, but there will never be grateful. grapefruit juice pouring out of an orange.

No, grapefruit juice doesn't live there. You can only find on the outside what lives in the inside. You can only extract from the orange orange juice. Recently a good friend of mine said to me that they'd like to change their financial situation. To which my response was perfect. You most certainly can, right? Like anything, yeah, it'll take work and some planning and some restructuring. restructuring, all that good stuff, but you most definitely can. And his response was, sure,

that's what all you motivational people say. Okay, smart guy. Now you're an example on a podcast episode. Congrats. Why? Because you want the people around you to realize how much is possible for themselves, right? It's not sorcery or witchcraft to believe something better is possible. In fact, if one doesn't believe it's possible, they're effectively cementing their feet to the ground, at least with regard to that particular pursuit. Let's face it, you don't begin journeys that are not possible. We don't allow ourselves to do that.

And so, to not believe in an outcome and somehow still wish for that outcome, well, that's essentially our orange metaphor. Can't squeeze financial freedom out of a mindset that only sees monetary constraint. Believing it's possible starts the journey. See, there's so much pragmatism in growth. People talk a lot about the law of attraction, and yeah, I get it, right?

It sets targets. But the picture of, let's say, a dream house on your wall is not why you'll eventually have the dream house. The picture of the dream house on the wall reminds you. It helps you believe that you're someone capable of someday acquiring that house. obtaining that type of success, which results in you, wait for it, doing things that help bring that to life. It is the doing. But that doing must be connected to belief.

Mid-20s. I was unhappy, wanted more, but didn't really believe myself capable of obtaining more, right? That was the issue. back to the old orange expecting grapefruit juice. Can't get results in an area not conducive to their creation, right? It wasn't until I said, you know what, maybe, not definitely, but maybe it could happen. Maybe I can take control here. The odds have to be greater than 0%, right?

It's Jim Carrey and dumb and dumber, so you're saying there's a chance. Yeah, it's like starting out, that's all you need, a chance. The door cracked. In the beginning, I just needed to convince myself something different was possible. The beginning of transformation and that internal change prompted how I interacted with the external world. You do things differently when you believe differently. Or, if you want to phrase it another way, believing that you can bring something to life doesn't guarantee that you actually do.

But believing you can. can't guarantees that you won't. And why not stack the odds in your favor? I often juggle back and forth between the philosophical and the tangible or the tactical, right? Three ways to do X. Life hacked to change Y. Yeah, of course. Life does in so many ways come down to the tactics, to the how, to the steps.

But does that even matter if you don't believe. in the pursuit. Does it matter what Google Maps says if you never step out your front door? You have to convince you. You have to create an environment in your world where change isn't crazy. More isn't absurd. It might be challenging. But it's possible. And possible is enough. It is enough to begin. Enough to step out. Enough to see the truth. trivialities as tools and the resistance as part of a beautiful game. Remember that the world is a mirror. Reflecting back at us our worldview.

We find what we look for. So give yourself permission to look for things that make life beautiful. Give yourself the gift of believing change is possible. Just imagine if we implement. Implemented into our lives, all those things we already knew would make us better. Imagine if we became masters, not just of knowing, but of transforming knowledge into motion. A friend of mine, Tyler, will reach out every once in a while after listening to one of the episodes, and we'll just kind of riff back and forth on the content, chat about the overlaps, the differences.

most importantly, you know, how we can each in our own world be a little better, happier, and healthier. Tyler recently built and sold a tech company and is now transitioning into a new chapter of his life. And in essence, starting over, which is something I can in many ways relate to. And this morning I got a voice note and said, man, imagine if we implement, wholeheartedly the things we knew to be true. Imagine if we could execute for ourselves with the same advice that's so obvious when looking out at the world, at others. And I thought, oh man, as someone who spent a decade thinking and philosophizing about this stuff, this is a very real and valuable question.

Not only that, sort of comes at a perfect time. And here's why. Those of you have been listening to the channel or podcast for a long time, you know this for me has been one great adventure, documentation of a journey. Starting with the first video I ever released, owed to excellence, which was essentially me promising myself just to give this creator thing a try

and I'd go back to what I knew to be safe, to videos like Running in the Rain, where I discussed my coming to understand the value of identifying, as a person who does the hard thing. To speeches like make you proud, where all I'm really doing is during hard times assuring myself that things will be fine. To more recently, we're sure I'm finally seeing some of that growth

and 10 years of effort compounding, but now grappling with brand new challenges. Since day one, I've been coaching myself through the ups and the downs, but what are these stories? What do they provide for me? or for those who listen to them. Well, in a sense, they're the lessons learned. They paint a portrait of the ideal.

They're merely information. Yes, life gives you more when you ask more of life. And yes, discomfort is often the cost of admission. Yes, you can get through life's greatest storms if you take it one step at a time. And yes, the challenges we face evolve and the context changes, but we are equipped to confront and handle them. Guess what, though? None of that information matters if we don't act on.

If we're not using the past to recreate the present, those stories are my map, but even the best map in the world is meaningless unless it's being utilized. And Tyler's very simple and direct question was valuable to me in that it did two things. First, it made me think, Eddie, look back at your journey. Look what you've overcome, right? In a number of ways you've learned, you know what needs to now be done. And simultaneously prompted me to ask. And so, now, this very moment, what are you?

doing about it? I love the lesson. I think there's art in our struggle and beauty in the overcoming of our suffering. But if all those lessons, if the ideal remains stagnant like a caged bird, what's the point? That wisdom must be set free and that only happens with a targeted, deliberate effort. I felt this sense of excitement, invigoration in asking myself, how can I highlight the doing? Where can those wheels hit the road faster? How can I delve further into those very epiphanies

I love to explore? Something that I'm encountering now that's both fun and challenging is the transformation from, I mean, really being a solo creator, speaking, writing, producing in his studio to seeing the process as a business owner, to building a support structure and systematizing workflows.

As a friend has said to me before, a little less Mickey Mouse in order to be a little more Walt Disney. And it's happening, but the truth is, right, you don't get where you're going the same way you arrived where you are. So how can the old lessons be turned into action now? knowing my world changes the second I decide to act as like having an unused arsenal of my disposal knowing my foot is barely touching the pedal

is power and we can all focus on that actualization of our knowledge we can all ask what's one thing I can do today that I need to I know that I need to that perhaps I wouldn't have but didn't give myself a little push I love the idea of that simple diagram where you draw a line straight down a page

and on the left side you're listing your current obstacle the things that are really bothering you or the reasons you're stuck and then on the right one single thing you're going to do about it all it does is reinforce action and action is everything because to Tyler's point I really know what needs to be done

we all really know what needs to be done not how things will end or maybe what the finish line looks like, but we know now we have a gut sense of what we need to do and where the opportunity lies. We're aware, we understand. So a world where we become masters of doing is a world where we transform beyond our wildest imagination.

And the things I talk about, they can ultimately in my life become everything or wither away into nothing. They can sit there as a supposed to, an ideal, and ultimately, I wish I did. All that depends on what I do with it and how I choose to act when I'm uncomfortable, moving into a new space.

The same can be said for anyone listening to this. You're equipped with at least a starting point. You probably know what you don't like. You're probably aware of some things that must be eliminated or left behind. But knowing that is only as good as your first step. So are you willing to partake in the doing? In taking the little pieces of wisdom and breathing life into them

by walking out your front door, by looking in the mirror, entrusting in your ability to adapt, to change, to grow in a world of complexity, let's simplify. We know what must be done, So let's focus on the doing. And on the journey, if we misstep or miss the mark, adjust and move again. Because we know there's nothing more tragic than doing nothing at all.

I do something today that takes an axe to the tree of stagnation. Not everything, but one thing. When you are in motion, that world seems to conform, to rearrange around you, so here's to giving life the opportunity to make that happen, to giving yourself the opportunity to experience it. As Tyler stated, just imagine if we implemented wholeheartedly the things we knew to be true. Not kind of, or sort of, but with the same or greater intensity, and in many cases intentionality, it took to acquire the knowledge.

What would that look like? Let's move now. Let's swing away. Let's uncover that world where your lessons translate to feet on the pavement and reality in the palm of your hand.

What if I told you that you already know what must be done? You just need to put your in position to do it. You need to unlearn the rules that crippled you, the ideas that confined you. We are in constant pursuit of the thing that will magically write all our wrongs,

the answer that will give us something we've never had. No, everything you need you have now. You just need to allow it to flourish. Declutter. Simplify. Remove all that unnecessary stuff. And walk your path. Einstein once said everyone is a genius.

But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. And what's great about this is the idea that who we are is not found. It's acknowledged. It's accepted. And I think in our world, there are so many fish, as Einstein says, trying to climb trees that it creates a sense of learned helplessness. We are judging ourselves using the wrong metrics. equipped with the skills, the characteristics, and the abilities to win in our own arenas,

but playing in someone else's. How loyal are you to your own instincts? Do you do what you know is right? Or what you feel obligated to pursue? When was the last time you listened to you? And Tim Grover's Relentless, he introduces a brilliant metaphor. He says, a lion doesn't have to be taught to be a lion. It just is. It hunts, runs, roams, explores, lives life the only way it knows how. Now if you capture

a lion, bring it to the zoo or put it in a cage, it will carry itself differently, will lie down move around lazily sluggishly navigate its little space to passers by they'd never know what that lion really is they'd never know what it looks like in its element but despite all this it is still in fact a lion it maintains that killer instinct his characteristics haven't disappeared And if it were released from the cage, it would go right back to doing what lions do, being what lions are meant to be. It just has to ditch the cage. And the point is, perhaps so do you.

There's a little light in your soul that waits day and night to explode into something meaningful. where your nature meets your environment. Where the, I shouldn't do this, the odds are impossible, the I'm not good enough, I can't lose what I have now, where all that fades away, where it's left behind you. And you're finally free to reign over your own territory, your own life, your own empire. See, we constantly feel like our glasses are,

like we're missing pieces in need of something. Just one more thing. That will be our answer. That's all we need. And I can say with confidence, it's not about what you need. It's about what you no longer need. It's about mitigating the noise so what matters can shine through. removing those people in your life that drag you down or add no value. It's about getting rid of the things that make your world unnecessarily complex. Removing the need for immediate validation, success, and accolades. And instead embracing the little hinges in your life that, as W. Clement Stone said, will ultimately swing the biggest doors.

We all have the lock. the key and the map right there amidst the trivialities of our day to day and we walk right by them look right at them we pick them up and put them down but have we learned to truly see them everything starts with that awareness my life did not change until I recognized that until I began asking myself questions I'd never asked before big picture questions obvious questions But just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's always intuitive, right? What do I want out of life? What is important to me?

What's something I love doing that I can dedicate myself to? That I can commit to being great at long term, that I'm so immersed in that when the inevitable down times arrive, the losses, when the doubt and insecurity creeps in, I can keep moving forward because I'm so in love with the process. the process, but I don't let the little things like that define me. As Jordan Peterson famously puts it, choose your sacrifice. The life of meaning isn't easy, but there's nothing more fulfilling. Because when you embark upon that journey, it allows for the evolution of the self.

We can become something more. As Nietzsche says, those who have a why to live can bear almost any how. We equip ourselves for anything the universe can throw at us. We position ourselves to evolve. Victor Frankel says man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain, but rather to see meaning in his life. To align yourself with and pursue that which is your reason for living, that's how we transcend the day-to-day life we've come to know when we breathe in possibility

dance with the infinite and of course there's something of this magnitude it consists of ups and downs it's not the easy road but it's the one worth taking our metaphorical lion doesn't succeed every time he's prowling for food but he doesn't roll over and die he doesn't recede or quit being a lion, he gets up tomorrow and does it again. Because it's who the lion is. And while life doesn't unfold until you find that same thing for yourself. And people say, well, I don't know.

That's the problem. I have no idea. That's not the problem. That's the essence of life. That's the beauty. You're here to explore and find that for yourself. But the power is knowing you're not looking for something or someone to save you. You're looking for an environment in which you can best be you.

You're looking for the right terrain to share your gift with the world. If you have what you need, then you're not looking for the product. You're looking for the delivery mechanism. The vehicle to nurture and transport your value to a world that desperately, needs it. You're looking to build yourself up and in the process amaze yourself. Look, what you're capable of is beyond comprehension. It's limitless, almost unfathomable. But it is, as Ryan Holiday says, a confidence that must be earned. So start now. Earn it. Let yourself succeed. Your intuition knows what feels right and what doesn't. But the seed must feel.

first be planted. So make today about setting yourself up for success, turning off the idea that you're one piece away from completion, one minute away from starting, that you're almost ready. No, you are ready now. You have what you need now. You know what's necessary now. You just have to be your own ally. Put yourself in position to be yourself. Let your values shine, double down on what matters to you. Look, it's not a game of acquisition. It's a game of courage. Do you have the courage to be who you are? To follow that potential, that possibility into the great unknown. One of life's greatest lessons is that yesterday is only as powerful as we allow it to be. Yesterday is an idea, a story, a movie that started and ended.

Now, it's quite possible that story or that ending is disappointing or it hurts to look back on. Perhaps a reminder of something that wasn't ideal, something you want to break away from. So the question is, why do we give that old story power? Why do we relive it, create this self-inflicted wound? See, the past undoubtedly played a critical role. It brought you to where you are now. It, in many ways, shaped your worldview, constitutes your beliefs. It was the very road to this moment, and there's value in that.

But imagine this scenario. Imagine stepping into your car, turning the keys, and thinking to yourself that you can in this very moment only drive down the roads you drove on yesterday. Only associate with the street signs you know, the places you've already gone. Your reality now is determined by what you've already done. So adjust and get used to it.

You would say that's outrageous, right? Yesterday's path has nothing to do with where I'm going now. Just like a boat's wake. trailing off behind it has nothing to do with where it's going next. The person holding the wheel controls that. We are saturated with freedom. There is so much opportunity and possibility and potential in front of us that we fail to see because we can't stop thinking about that fictitious story we call yesterday.

We confuse the path we took then for the one we need now, the wake from the steering wheel, what is in that story about what was. The gateway to change is unshackling ourselves from those imaginary monsters. And more often than not, the answer isn't in finding some solution. It's in cutting ties with those things that no longer serve us. Then we see the world as it truly is. then we see the magic laid out before us. And I get that it's easier said than done.

Leaving a part of us behind hurts. Looking in the mirror and being vulnerable enough to say, I can be more than this. It's not easy, but it's possible. And everything starts with how we see ourselves. And when we remain captives to the past, everything about who we think ourselves to be outdated. We're neglecting one of our superpowers, the perpetual ability to restart.

One of the most important conversations I've ever had was on this topic. It seemed trivial at the time, but I was having lunch with a friend. And we're talking and I mentioned to her that I was full. And she goes, well then why are you still eating? And I'm like, because I paid for her, right? I wanted to get my money's worth. And she says in a very, you know, pragmatic way, Eddie, just because you paid for it, doesn't mean you need to eat it, right? It's a sunk cost. Why don't you move on? And the whole thing seems silly, right?

It's like, yeah, if you're not hungry, don't eat. Move on. But in the grand scheme of things, how many of us keep on consuming that which doesn't serve us? How many of us stay too long when we should be letting go? We let the path behind us dictate the one before us. See, there's a tendency to overvalue what we know, to feel so invested in how things are, even when we're not happy or it's not healthy, that we'll take the pain of now over the potential for something greater.

And that's precisely why the unknown is so terrifying. It's not concrete. It's a world unsettled. And man, do we hate being unsettled? But what we fail to realize is that every time we close our eyes, take a breath and work up the courage to step into that unknown to leave yesterday behind us. Life gives us new pieces. It resets the stage. It provides new tools to build something incredible, something more ideal, more conducive to our goals, our hopes, and our dreams.

And the thought is, well, but, but. But what if things become worse than they are right now? What if I move forward and I find myself more confused, more lost? What if things are more chaotic? And that may, for a moment, be true. But what we do is we adjust. We learn things we never knew. We see things through a lens that we never could.

Touch things that we never thought existed. It wasn't in staying. but in leaving that we rediscovered who we were meant to be, that we allowed our truest selves to flourish in worst-case scenario. Contrary to popular belief, it's not that the world ends. No, the worst-case scenario, should you find the courage to move forward, is that you end up right back where you started, a little more confident, a little bolder,

and better prepared to live this life like you never had. All that's needed is for you to convince yourself that there is more. You just need to taste the fruit, step into the sunlight. That's the difference between reality and the story in your head. Reality is that this world has for you everything you need to change, to grow, explore, build a light that means something. It has the support structures and the resources for you to pull yourself, back up every time you fall to say okay that hurt but now let's try a different

angle there is undoubtedly what you need and the question is never whether the X on that treasure map exists trust me it's there the question is whether you can pause that story in your head the tales of a dark mean and scary world trying to hold you down pause the idea that You're nothing more than the you of yesterday. You're nothing more than how people knew you to be. Pause the idea that you're nothing without that job title or that relationship. Pause the idea that you need him or her or them in your life.

Every day you wake up, you are a blank canvas. Who cares about yesterday? What do you want to paint now? When you walk out your front door, where do you want to go now? Step outside that circle of familiarity. See how artificial and in some cases ridiculous these boundaries are that we place around ourselves. Life is an invitation, not a set of requirements. And when you free yourself of that, not only will you feel like someone new,

not only will you experience life as it was meant to be experienced, but you'll see that this world will conform to your, new definition. This world wants to support you. It wants to lift you up. And yeah, it may be challenging and strenuous. It may force you to work harder and be braver than you've ever been. But it is at the end of the day, your ally. You just have to see your future self before it materializes when no one else gets it. So move on from all that does not serve you. Break away from the old rules, regulations, and guidelines. Maybe you exhausted time and energy into creating this reality. Maybe it feels like a monumental piece of your identity. Maybe right

now is the only security you have. Fine. But my hope is that you can respect it and walk away. See it as the sunken cost that it is. Just because you paid to get there doesn't mean you need to keep paying to make wrong decisions. Just because it took your time doesn't mean it's entitled to keep stealing your time. Just because it's... part of your identity now doesn't mean it must be tomorrow. Just because it creates security doesn't mean it's right. Jails and steel bars are also incredibly secure. No, today we are breaking free, leaving the past in the past and setting our sights on the horizon.

Today is the end of yesterday and the beginning of the rest of your life. I was listening to Alan Watts the other day and he was referencing a Zen parable and he asked this question I thought was pretty cool he goes, when a flag is flapping in the wind, what's moving? The flag or the wind? The answer, neither. It's the mind that moves.

It's how our minds interpret our experiences that create our realities. And the reason this reminder is so important to me The reason I don't believe we could ever hear it enough is because keeping that understanding front and center in our lives tells us how powerful we are. Sure, we often can't control the situation. We all know that. But we can always control what this situation means.

Every event is open to interpretation. And that's what's so incredible. You know, yeah, sometimes it takes a while to get to the value. especially when our minds want to default to the negative or what's missing or what's lost. But if you're willing to look underneath every occurrence is exactly what you need. And so take, for example, something we can all relate to, right, losing something that truly mattered, that we found meaningful, whether it was a person, a job, an activity, a physical impairment, right? When asked, what does this change mean,

the mind goes loss. It defaults to, I had it, I loved it, and now it's gone. But underneath that, there's a chance to take the pieces of what remains and go down a new path, to find something just as or even more beautiful. The same loss can mark the beginning of an adventure. Is it ideal at first, no, but it's usually not. the ideal that prompts our most important change.

It's life's turbulence that pushes us to seek out something new. And I love taking this little trip down memory lane, right? Because, you know, it's the business ventures that fell apart that caused me to look in the mirror and choose to be more. It's the projects that just didn't end up being that good, right, that allowed me to see this journey as a creative one. where, hey, some projects hit, some don't, but it's not personal, it's a ride, and what an opportunity. It's the breakups I went through.

And while, sure, if you were definitely brutal, they gifted me with an opportunity to personally level up, to dial in my understanding of what really matters to me. I can think of physical setbacks, monetary obstacles, all these things that hurt in the moment, Now, I'm not sure I could have controlled the initial emotive response, right? The human reaction. But learning to ask, well, how can I get better from this? That's a different question. How can one month from now be amazing because of this situation,

regardless of how it feels in the moment? It's not the flag or the wind that moves. It's my mind. So how will I choose to paint the landscape around me? How will I choose to give meaning to the things that will ultimately comprise my reality? That's power. Now, I've always felt it easy to conflate, like finding value in our lives with being happy all the time. But again, we're emotional creatures, and life can be challenging for all of us.

I don't think it's possible to be happy all the time. That's not the goal. The true victory is in finding great. gratitude along the way in pausing and asking, how can I take this seemingly unfavorable result and find a way to win from it? Because guess what? The sad truth is most people don't do that. Most people walk right by that stuff. Most people chalk up the ls as ls and leave the good stuff behind. If you know there's a win in everything and you ask that your mind look for it, The reality you create will be one much different than someone undergoing the exact same circumstances with their eyes closed.

Remember, it's the mind that moves. It's you who writes the script, who controls the narrative. And that's not a burden. That's a gift. It's what makes you more powerful than you could ever imagine. One of my favorite quotes is sometimes success to simply hang out. on when others would be letting go. The reason is that it reminds me how frequently the advantage is in not stopping.

It's in consistency. It's in showing up. When I run particularly long distances, almost like clockwork I can break it down to feeling good at the beginning. Usually a little rough stretch in the middle. and then somewhere on the second half, I catch a second wind or a second blast of energy. The question just becomes when? Will you hang in long enough to capture it?

Because you don't know when it might be, where it will show up, you don't know when you'll find that nice rhythm again that makes it sport so enjoyable to me. And when I say, you can pull an infinite amount of life lessons from running, this is one of them. A depiction of trusting that the road ahead has everything you need to cross your finish line. Even when the short-term chaos is all you can see and feel, even when it's hard to look up and imagine.

Right? Because it's easier said than done when you're tired and worn down to continue on, right? When you're in the trenches. There's an uncertainty to the road ahead, but each footstep is a way. a shot on target. Each step forward is saying, I'm worn down, but I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. And life can present an almost eerily similar narrative, right, whether personally you're at a low point, whether you've been working and working and working and haven't seen the result you're looking for, whether you're uncomfortable and starting to wonder whether this reward is really worth the high price tag. You need to remember that.

second wind, that second blast of energy, just enough momentum to ease your worry and recalibrate your journey, it's there. It's waiting. But you know the rules of life. It won't come to you. You must go to it. Through the storm into the night beyond the comforts of home, most sadly don't arrive. Not because they couldn't. But because they ultimately let go, they look too far down the road at the distance to be traveled and forgot that their only job was to hold on. Through the doubt, the pain, the worry, no miracle, just a willingness to fight each battle as it presented it. To let time stack up, to let the distance over your shoulder accumulate. See, the thing about stopping is that you never know,

when that much needed second wind will arrive. There's a saying that many of life's failures had no clue how close they were to success when they gave up, when they turned around. Now I'm not suggesting the road will be perfect or that it won't come with its adversity, mistakes, and lessons. But what we always have control over is the ability to push forward until we finally,

come face to face with that which we so desperately needed. It's there. I could say it a million times and it wouldn't be enough. The pieces exist. Will you hang in long enough to collect them? When the road is intimidating, will you hold on? When you run into those moments of self-doubt, will you hold on? When you feel small navigating the ups and downs of life,

will you hold on? Because if the answer is yes, you'll find yourself crossing some finish lines that will blow your mind. You'll get from life that which most can only dream of. And again, not because of the miraculous, but because you knew that the second wind was coming, you knew it would be there for you so long as you kept moving forward. Holding on. when most would be letting go. When the run got difficult, I would often count streetlights. Why?

Because at some point, I realized that it wasn't so much the immediate moment that was painful as it was the idea that I had to continue on, a fear of the unknown. Our minds are brilliant, because they have the power. to gaze into the future, to anticipate, to predict,

and sometimes that prediction materializes in the form of stress and pain in the present. A pain that, let's face it, is manufactured. See, the present moment may be uncomfortable, but it's manageable. It's always something we can harness and adapt ourselves to. But make-believe scenarios, the imaginary monsters we let in, well, I don't know how well equipped we are to handle those, so I've found solace in simply keeping them out.

See, counting streetlights, it brings me to the now. I can always get to the next street light. In fact, it's always visibly in front of me. It's tangible. It's real. There is no space for tricks or scary stories. When I count streetlights, my mind's job is to focus on those tall metal fixtures, and the body's job is to listen and move accordingly,

and while sure, there is pain, it is manageable. When you look it directly in the eyes, not with regard to what it can be, but as it exists now, in this moment, we can always rise to be more than we once thought possible. These streetlights simply remind us of that fact. And so beyond this moment, when the running shoes are off, long after the finish line crossed, it's imperative that the idea remains,

that yes, life will be painful and life can hurt, But it never gives you in one instant more than you can handle. And sometimes it might seem so. Sometimes it might appear overwhelming. But when we remind ourselves that we're simply borrowing pain from a future that has not yet arrived, when we refocus on what is within our control, we empower ourselves. Our greatness expands and our own. strength intensifies because look there's a time in a place for everything and in our

moments of duress when the world is weighing down on us I've found the answer to be thinking less and trusting more and the next footstep transforms into not the detail but the story in its entirety Sure, sometimes life is about planning and calculating and strategizing, but sometimes life also calls us to put our heads down, shut our minds off, and find a way to move towards something greater. It's step, step, light post, step, step, light post, demoting the discomfort from the star of the movie or the main character. to a subtle observer. Sitting quietly in the background as you do what you were going to do anyway with or without it. Never forget how much control you have over the current moment,

and that our greatest pain is often masked in a fiction, a delusion, when we find ourselves stuck. It's because of a future that has one not arrived, not arrive, and two is outside the scope of the task at hand. It's not because of what's around the corner that we survive life's trying times, it's because we dig deep enough to get to that next light post. That next day, that next stop, that next chapter. Look, you will emerge victorious.

Not because of the future, but the now. Because you realize your strength, shut off the world, and conquered your next step. She had a picture framed on the table that said, make today amazing. Place there to remind her just how much of life is a choice, how much we get to decide. It symbolizes that on our worst days, life hands us lessons, and on our best days, the highs of existence.

During our low points, currency, and during our high points, the chance to cash it all in. Yeah, make today amazing, because today's are few and far between. Today's are not an inconvenience nor an obligation. Today's are what it's all about. Today is the big show. The answers we look for, the destinations we long for. Today is a place of dreams. That is, if you choose to leave room in your world for dreaming.

Today is the beginning of wherever next is for you. A chance to see the new and normalize it. To stretch, to reach further out and pull impossible a little closer into your orbit. You can do that. And while one often can't control what they are given, they can control what becomes of what they're given. they are given. Like architects and designers engineering what will be in what the malleable world around them will become, when one raises their standards, life seems to accommodate. Because believing

it means acting the part, means making the changes, means the external world makes room, means your identity is reinforced and so the cycle goes by making today amazing, you are making yourself more. Decisions are the beginning of all things. See, very rarely is the tool in and of itself the differentiator. It's the vision that pulls us through. And if you take something arbitrary, say a hand, a hand, There's no way to, based upon its existence, determine what it will mean or what will become of it. A hammer can be an agent of chaos. It can smash and shatter and destroy. It can be the thing used to tear down.

Or, it can be what built. It can connect. It can alter and redefine so that something, when all is said and done, is brought into an existence that never was. It was never the tool. It was how the eyes viewed the tool. It was the vision that designated the roles that made today amazing.

And the reason we all need this reminder, as far as I can tell, is because the difficult things just so happen to be the meaningful things, because we are fighting, not against some little rule or idea we picked up along the way. We are fighting against our DNA, against thousands and thousands of years of evolution, because the fear that kept our ancestors alert and alive now in a totally new world keeps us contained and our talents minimized. The approval of others that kept us safe.

and secure as we once traveled the landscape in small groups hunting and gathering, while now it keeps us needlessly looking over our shoulders and craving acceptance. The unknowns that kept us out of the dark cave with the predator living in its shadows now keeps us confined, looking out at life's potential through self-made windows. We need to be reminded to make today amazing because those things are quite the adversaries. Because our default is to just let the ship sail. Our default is to simply survive. After all, that is the standard and the rule by which living things abide. Make it another day.

But I believe you are more than a living thing. The God-like ability to not just exist in a world, But create new ones is a miracle, both a blessing and a responsibility, to drive towards a more fulfilled you, a happier you, a healthier you, a more complete you. But one must first become aware that around them exist the pieces required to build something never before seen. the vehicle to those far-off places that were once only dreams, thought, illusions. I've always believed that if it means something to you, it's not stupid. It warrants exploration. For even if the thought doesn't end up being all it was cracked up to be, even if it's not the destination, but only a stop along the way,

it still pushes you to the next thing and the next. thing and the next thing, it still moves you forward in this beautiful game of life. So decide. Decide to make today amazing. Choose to make it better. Let the obstacles lift you up and the momentum carry you towards something meaningful. When others stop and find reasons to doubt themselves. How about you find this small wind buried, tucked away underneath it all?

The little key that may do nothing more than get you through that next door. After all, sometimes that's what life's about. Picking up your head when it's most difficult and finding the next door to walk through. And the magic is knowing you can always do that, because there always exists both the doorway and the key, but we must be willing to find it. That's the obvious thing about those doors. The right ones will open.

But they require we find the strength to approach them. They require that we seek out amazing. And so with this in mind, what is the next chapter like for you? Are you currently enduring one of life's winters? Are you navigating those inevitable valleys of despair in which the value is in finding that single ray of light amidst the storm? within yourself for the courage to take one more step forward and another and another, are you seeking out that spark that will reignite the fire in you because it's there so long as

you choose to make today amazing. Maybe you've climbed yourself out. Maybe you're looking for whatever is next, the new evolution, seeking to follow your heart and continue the beautiful progression that is light. Let the external world support that vision, choose to see the detail not as trivial but as the answers. The tools that will lift you up and support what you are building, it's there. She had a picture framed on the table that said make today amazing. Place there to remind her how much of life is a choice. Because in a world of options what a gift to choose the journey of a lifetime what a ride that awaits so long as you decide to step in