THRIVE In This Lifetime
Will you?
What does “thriving” mean to you?
To me, it’s the holistic mosaic of a life truly well-lived. It’s mastering the “art of living”, to paraphrase Henry Miller.
It’s the acute understanding that life is very brief, and it is our call-to-action to manifest our highest potential, our utmost humanity, and to live with unrelenting intention.
It’s about presence: for all there is and will ever be, is the present moment.
It’s about gratitude: You were born. You are alive. Somebody somewhere loves you. You have a roof over your head. You woke up today. Remind yourself daily, habitually, as to why you are fortunate and abundant. Despite the suffering, despite the challenges, despite the innumerable reasons to be nihilistic. You can always align your focus with what’s going right, and what you DO have.
No matter who or where you are, you can do better and be better. No matter what circumstances have transpired in your life, you can choose to maximize gratitude and joy, and to minimize suffering.
So get out of your own way. It all starts within.
Don’t settle. Keep pushing forward. Remember: The process is the goal.
Thriving is the lifelong commitment to inner alchemy, so that you may go beyond the self, to things bigger than you. To give back. To be a part of a team: team human, team “leave it better-than-you-found-it”, team make an impact, team lead-by-example. To show up as a whole and intact partner, lover, friend, colleague, tribe/family member.
Be a good person. Take care of the people around you.
Wherever you go: add value and be of service, whether it be a small-gesture or a seismic impact.
It can be as simple as the imprint you leave on a room. It can be the way you build others up around you. It can be the way you hold space for others. Never underestimate the value of simply reminding another person that they are worthy of love. Never underestimate the chain reaction you can initiate through uplifting support, or a basic smile.
Laugh as much as humanly possible. As in, ten-times more than you currently are. Twenty-times more.
Find your tribe, even if it’s tiny, even if it’s not blood. Show up for them. Be a sheepdog for them.
Foster passion, play, and deep-purpose. This applies to craft, to vocation, to relationships, to experiences, to all things in this life.
Take risks. Believe in yourself. Your intuition will never fail you.
Work hard…but love hard, play hard, and give back hard.
Immerse yourself in things that you love. Keep tinkering. A lifespan is one giant experiment. There is no right or wrong. You’re exactly where you need to be right now.
If you find that you’re living an inauthentic, painful life…I hope you have the courage to start all over again.
Be strong, be vibrant, be resilient, until your very last breath. It’s all a choice. You’re magnitudes stronger than you think.
Be vulnerable.
Tell the truth, always.
Strike that fluid, healthy balance between discipline and living for the moment, for they integrate very well if you so choose.
Your bank account is a part of it, but it’s so much more than that. And just remember: Once basic survival needs are met, your bank account can be a tool for good: for helping others and to facilitate change in the world. To create. To do something honorable. To manifest experiences and relationships, not to saturate your life with the bloat of things.
Listen actively. Cultivate what I like to call “active consideration”, not just an obligatory, empty sense of false concern. Anticipate the needs of those around you. Not for recognition, but out of empathy, and because it’s simply in your values to do so.
Know your values, compromise them for nothing or nobody.
You will encounter setbacks. You will experience loss and failure and trauma and disillusionment. The only thing we can control is how we orient ourselves to our life experiences, and the narrative we ascribe to them. Obstacles and pain and challenges are all direct endowments from our higher-self. See them as the raw material for growth. Be grateful for them. Welcome them.
Make it a habit to seek experiences that you fear. Lean into them. For every evolutionary step forward will reside on the opposite end of fear. Fear is your friend. It is your ultimate barometer and compass for growth. Feel the fear, and do it anyway.
You are not your past traumas or failures, you are what you choose to become from here forward. Yesterday doesn’t exist, it is a construct inside of your brain. It is a projection. Make the past your servant, not your master.
You can permanently shine.
Weave your playful dance, as we become consumed by time.
