Actionable Content To Improve Your Life

Walking on a log across a river takes a lot of self-confidence. It isn’t built overnight nor has the roof stopped leaking ;)

I have a strong need to please other people. At times, it eclipses all of the other aspects of my life and I am responsible for returning to the line to ride the ride all over again. This part of my personality has served me positively someway in the past, but it is holding me back sometimes. I often would choose to do Jiu-Jitsu, go for a run, or some other form of exercise or activity to improve my health and/or have fun. 

In order for me to engage with my passions, I have to rely on my mindset, behavior, and physical ability. I would solely focus on physical ability without realizing there were other things to work on. Rock Climbing had shown me that my ability to cope with fear, set goals in line with my abilities, and communicate with my partners was crucial to Rock Climbing more difficult grades and inspiring routes; let alone being safe. Quickly, I realized my hateful self-talk, insecurity, and overestimating my abilities interfered with living the life I wanted to live; they interfered with my play.

I have found some incredible resources that have changed my perspective, routines, and principals. I’m not a religious person, I’m agnostic, and that makes it challenging to figure out how to live a quality life without subscribing to a system already defined for me. For me, religion was too simplistic and I saw many failed examples of how it was trying to help structure people. I’ve since learned that it is not very simplistic and it’s an individual experience that’s rife with mystery and excitement. The recommendations are from a variety of platforms such as podcasts, books, and apps.

Meditation Apps: Waking Up, Calm, and Headspace.

Meditation apps are wonderful because it is usually a 5-10 minute practice and it teaches you about your relationship with your thoughts, the nature of consciousness, and it’s a place to develop very effective coping mechanisms.

I AM: An app that sends you positive affirmations daily.

You can find this app on IOS and Android. I find positive affirmations are really good for redirecting your self-talk and concentration. I like to think of reality as a dark room. Your attention is a beam of light from a flashlight. You can only cover a fraction of the room with your attention. By changing the mere angle of the light, the room looks completely different. If you’re believing things are going wrong and you look for things to confirm how you feel, your cognitive biases are going to affirm what you believe. It takes more than positive affirmations to change your life but it’s a seed, so water it.

Social Media(Helpful reminders, short and sweet.) @dailystoic , @babaramdass , @Jack_Kornfield , @jordanpetersonsays, and @shitheadsteve

I don’t really like using social media because it is often tied to negative emotions with a lot of people. My problem is going down rabbit holes and losing hours on social media. Having accounts like these in my feed and only liking them(you could make an alt account) will cause the algorithm to give you more similar content essentially creating a stream of love plucked from the ether. 

Podcasts: Daily Stoic Podcast, Be Here Now, Heart Wisdom, Jordan Peterson Podcast, Duncan Trussel Family Hour, Finding Mastery and Alan Watts Podcast

I love these podcasts because I can listen to at least one episode a week. I firmly believe that if you are trying to change your mindset, perspectives, and values - it’s going to take a lot of thinking and walking the path until it becomes your default way of being. I really like to find an episode or even a highlight of an episode and cut that into its own mp3 file and I will ritualistically listen to that audio so I can internalize the teachings. Change is hard and it takes a lot of continual practice to steer yourself in a new direction.

Books: The Tibetan Book Of The Dead, Waking Up, Be Here Now, 12 Rules For Life, The Alchemist, The Little Prince, Principals, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior

In my opinion, books provide the most depth and focus of any other form of content. With these books, you can take a deep dive into your consciousness and personality. These books were the most impactful books that I’ve read in my life. If you were to only pick one, I recommend reading the Alchemist. It is an incredible book with a lot of subtle lessons. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Principals, and the Little Prince are great books to share with small children and they use simple stories to talk about very big concepts.