Stay connected to your heart

Well, I don’t know about anyone else but the last couple of weeks have been pretty trying for me and everyone in my family. From school closures, remote working, to layoffs this whole Covid-19 situation has affected everyone I know in some way shape or form.

Some days I can’t turn away from the news and other days I can’t turn off the TV fast enough. Society as we know it is crumbling down around us and if you’re like me you’re patiently waiting to see what will be left of the rubble when it’s over.

I am not trying to sound alarmist or dark here, but I can’t imagine all of this not having some kind of widespread global societal repercussions – and I hope nothing but good comes because of it.

But, today, that’s not what I am here to talk about. Today I’m here to talk about you and your heart. When we are deep in chaos, we often lose focus on what we have right in front of us. All of the good in our lives that we are surrounded by. When we become disconnected from our heart, we focus on so much of the dark coming in to bury us that it’s hard to find the light again.

I’ve been there this week. I’ve been full of anger and disappointment, disbelief and depression. As I watch the world around me change, I can’t help but feel a sense of loss at all of the things I thought would always be there. Being able to work in a coffee shop, meeting friends for a meal, or just checking out a book from the library. I have never lived in a world where these things weren’t possible and it’s so strange to have them so suddenly disappear.

It’s in these moments when I don’t know how to be in this world that is being created around me that I try to remember to connect with my heart. When we can stay connected to our heart everything else will follow. How we will move forward, what our lives will be, and who we will be during and after the crisis that surrounds us.

We have to remember that we aren’t what’s happening around us. We aren’t the chaos, and we aren’t losing anything. These times are calling us to become more connected to our hearts so we will be better able to connect with the people around us. This is not a time for disconnection – which is where fear will lead us – but a time for connection which is where love will lead us.

Practice social distancing, stay safe but don’t become disconnected from the world and the people you love. Most importantly don’t become disconnected from yourself. Take time to take care of yourself and turn off the TV.

We are all in this together as a global community and as long as we don’t forget that then anything is possible.

Every morning the question is, “Who do I want to become?”

When you wake up in the morning it means that you have an opportunity to choose who you are that day and who you want to become. If you don’t like where you are going in life the only person that can change it is you. Trust me, I know.

I have spent a lot of time waiting for something or someone to save me. A job, an idea, a person, a lottery ticket. But what I’ve come to realize and understand is that if I’m always waiting for something to come and save me I will spend my entire life waiting.

Think about it, if we aren’t choosing to make new and different choices then we will continue down the same path that we have always been on. We will continue to lead the same life that we always had because we aren’t making different choices.

Here is the thing, we have to decide that the uncomfortability of change is more comfortable than the everyday unhappiness that we find ourselves in. The only difference between you, me, and Warren Buffet or Barack Obama is that they didn’t let their circumstances dictate how their life would go.

I have spent my life thinking that working for any job to pay my bills was good enough. But I’m tired of that life. I’m tired of how it drains me. Tired of how I am always wanting and wishing for more. Right now all I know that I can’t keep waiting to be saved, so that means I have to save myself.

It means that I have to change my mindset and perspective as to what is possible. It means that I have to decide on what life I do want and start working toward that. It doesn’t mean that that’s the life I will end up with, it means that I am actively taking action to facilitate change. And that is powerful. So powerful that the entirety of the universe will be behind me helping me along the way.

The thing is, it’s that simple, and that hard. First, we have to know that we can only save ourselves and then we have to make the choice to do so. I gave this a lot of thought today, and I’m tired of waiting for an opportunity, and it’s time for me to make an opportunity for myself.

So, the question becomes, are you ready to make your opportunity? Are you ready to change your life? When you get up tomorrow morning how will you answer the question, “Who do I want to become?”

What are our lives if not the ability to walk down any path that we choose?

When we are young, we feel that this is so much possibility around us. We feel that we can be, do, and have anything, and we are encouraged to think that until we get older and all society wants us to do is go to college and choose from the narrow list of careers that a degree can get you. Of course, this doesn’t happen to all people. Sometimes there is an idea that someone has that is just too big for the system to handle and they have to build, grow, and change the world lease be driven mad by it.

I have no idea what my path is, but it’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about in the last couple of weeks. Not so much, “who am I?” as “who do I want to be?”

As I am standing at this crossroads, I’ve found that I don’t like the direction that I am headed. I am walking toward the same thing that I have been walking toward all my life – a false sense of safety in order to do the things that society tells me to do. The other side of this is a feeling of fear and excitement that comes up when I look at my other options, at things that I have wanted to do for years but have never taken the initiative to do.

I always thought I wanted a simple life… but maybe the simple life I can imagine isn’t for me. Maybe some part of me longs for the adventure that comes with leaping into the unknown because right now the safe choice looks like a death sentence.

And that’s why it’s a question of who do I want to become in this life? Who do I choose to become in this life? I don’t think it’s a question that we ask ourselves enough. Do you want to be someone who works 80 hours a week for a corporate company? Cool, do it or don’t. Do you want to be an artist? A marathon runner? Paint pictures of nothing but cute tiny puppies? Cool, do it, or don’t. But will you be able to live with yourself later in life if you stayed on the same path as everyone else and never went and did the thing you wanted? Will you regret it?

Before I woke up all I cared about was getting money to pay my bills, now all I care about is making the choice that will give me the most joy. I have lived the other way, constantly plagued by fear and anxiety, and I’m tired of being that person. I need to do more with my life than just make sure my bills are paid.

What do you need to do with your life?