ON THE VOLITIONAL BOND OF HUMAN CONNECTION
One of the painful experiences of getting older is the fluid nature of relationships. At any one time in your life someone is coming into it as another is walking out. Often we can’t predict either, how angels enter, and how angels exit. Devils too. How do we know when to let go, and how do we know when to fight like hell? The process is non-linear and has no clear parameters. However, acknowledging this reality anchors us, preventing the pain of constantly grasping for control. Sometimes people are just meant to go. Other times, they need a push. Both hurt in equal measure. And so you need to remember; the loss you feel is what makes you human. Just as it is empowering to feel relief when someone toxic is outcast.
Your relationships are not a jail sentence. They are an open contract with life. The invisible line between two people is volitional, and its bond is determined by choice.
At some point on your journey, this choice will engender a terrible decision. You will be scaling a mountain and someone will fall, clutching on for dear life to the belay rope. Your instinct is to save at any cost. But what if that person falls willingly? What if they look up gleefully and they intend to drag you down into the void? You are betwixt moralities. Cut them loose and live? Or try to save them even as they will you into the abyss below? You will understand that survival is not always about rescuing people. And you may hate yourself for the decisions that you have to make. And yet; life’s conditions are brutal. You must read these conditions closely, and bow before its savagery. There may come a time when you have to be that savage. You need to remember, that the people above you need the supplies you carry too. So make the choice, to be destroyed by the one, or to survive for the whole.
STAND YOUR GROUND: RECLAIM YOUR SPIRIT FROM NIHILISTS
Inside you is a real estate of the spirit. At what point did you start ceding it to the cynics of the world? Be honest with yourself. Why are you allowing this intrusion to take place? I tell you why. Because you are permitting the darkest voices to take ownership of the very thing that makes you most beautiful. The grimmest impact the cynic has on your spirit is to make you self-conscious about you being you. Their playbook is to butcher that which is most expressive and positive in a person. And there is nothing easier to ridicule than someone who dares to hope. Ask yourself: are you ready to reclaim your own soul from the nihilists of the world? You have allowed their version of reality to take hold. But now the fightback begins. What is the meaning of your life? Are you going to abort that which you could be on the whims of another person’s cowardice? No. You know there is something else in you. Make your stand, right here, right now. That which you are is not for sale. It will not be bullied, it will not be battered, it will not be occupied. This is your house, own it.
FROM BURDEN TO INSPIRATION: MINDSET FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
The reason why you’re feeling numb, empty and dissatisfied is very simple. You have sold your autonomy of spirit to social media. The problem we have nowadays is that we lack self-determination in our choices. Do you want to know how you gain back control? Here are some simple hacks to transform social media from burden to inspiration.
The first and most important thing is to have a notebook. If something inspires you, jot it down. You need to cut through the piffle of platitudes online. Is something really inspiring you if you immediately forget it? No, it’s just a dopamine hit. Instead, write down your discoveries.
Activating your epiphanies invites an idea into the base of your being; rather than as temporary brain inflammation. Transformation takes work. The first decision you need to make is to gain power over your own mind. Consciously extracting value, as opposed to merely being entertained, is transformative.
The second hack is to balance your consumption and your creation. Every single human being is a creative being. If you are only plugged into the matrix of other people’s creations, you are negating your own. If you want to know your own mind, take something which inspires you and reformulate it. It will metamorphose in relation to your own life. That’s how the world reinvents itself: through the spirit. Who knows, you may even stumble on what another most needs to hear. Stop underestimating yourself!
Finally, remember your willpower. There is no happiness to be gained by endlessly plugging into the torrent of trifles you find online. All it leads to is the destruction of your own concentration. And if there’s one thing I’ve learnt about happiness, it’s that it’s linked to concentration. When in doubt, ask yourself: what am I learning from this? Activate your breakthroughs.
Dear friends, I’ve been so humbled by all the new subscribers this month! The journey of transforming my life by building a sustainable income from creativity continues. My dream is to give back what I learn from the world. Each subscriber helps make this reality. This mailing list now has 1500 subscribers, and I'm honoured to visit you weekly! It is hard to say how deeply I value this privilege. Oh, and on the paid subscriber front, huge news! There are now over 100 of you in the three-month trial! Makes me so happy! If you’d like to upgrade to the free trial (to unlock whats below), please reply to this. I don’t need credit card details, just a “yay” and I send it directly! The journey towards 50 paid subscribers continues apace! My hope this weekend is for just one of you to leap! Below, you will find two more explorations. One is far too personal for the public sphere. It explores how I overcame awful bullying and learnt to stand up for myself. The other is about how to move on from a project which is holding you back without a sense of failure.
Letting Go of Albatrosses: The Art of Finishing Projects
Battling Bullies: Transforming Pain into Power
With love, Jim
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