Meditations on 35

Self awareness is currency. I have found it in rare supply.
I never expected it would be so valuable.
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You can often trace things changing to a single precipitous moment.
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Toxic workplaces and toxic relationships will destroy everything about you that is healthy. The longer it goes on the longer it will take to repair. You don’t need it — move on with your life.
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The Western World has become a dysfunctional game of one-upmanship. No one can do anything of significance or meaning in their lives anymore because everyone is just trying to be better than their neighbor. Don’t play the game.
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You can be a contradiction. You are allowed to be more than one thing.
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Expecting all of your needs to be met by one person is unhealthy. Cultivate rich, complex and different kinds of relationships.
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Who you want in your canoe isn’t necessarily who you should have.
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If someone attacks your credibility it usually reveals a deficit in their own abilities.
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It is the depth of unfairness that people are judged on how they present — what does appearance matter? It doesn’t.
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Trauma is wicked and intergenerational and you pick up habits from trauma that is not even yours.
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It’s okay to feel like you’re not really in your life sometimes.
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When being creative — try not to have expectations. You will create what you will create.
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Don’t waste time and energy angsting over how you got diarrhea.
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Show up for the experience. Bring back your colouring pencils.
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Vulnerability is an asset in leadership. Decisiveness and strength are not detracted by humanity.
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It is a Global Trend, regardless of culture, to trash talk your boss, think they are a joke and that you could do it better. But managers are people too. We make mistakes and our feelings can be hurt.
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Never make fun of someone for trying to do something. Especially if they’re doing it ‘badly’.
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Wellness is very subjective. What makes one person well does not necessarily work for another. Our societies have become fixated on ‘not sick’ as the desired state and we have neglected and lost ‘well’ which is very specific and individual. Don’t buy into a fad if its not for you or force it. Find your own wellness.
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Ask “who is in my life that cares about me”
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At some point, you’re going to have to forgive yourself. Think about what this means practically. Radical kindness starts with acknowledging we’ve all been too hard on ourselves and thinking how we can make it up to ourselves.
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I am grateful for everything in my childhood. Even the rough stuff. Especially the rough stuff. Perspective only comes from suffering and it can not be bought.
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We were taught not to be mischevious or disruptive but the world is in sore need of these things.
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Those of us in colonized lands stand on terrible shame and the legacy of murder and dispossession. We must make amends. It is time.
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I’m all for Social Justice in Star Wars (anyone who says it wasnt always there clearly isn’t watching the originals close enough) but I do wonder if this is distraction from the real issue. Like in Plato’s “The Phaedo” we mustnt get distracted by the shadow play. I feel like if we fixate on the need for social justice in star wars, it distracts from the absence of social justice in our politics, our healthcare, our economies, our education.
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Embrace what makes you you and where your cool is.
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Our culture has conflated comfort with safe. These are seperate things and I think its time to start bringing back the difference.
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It is easy to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of the climate change challenge or global poverty. The enormity of it can paralyse us into inaction. Take a breath, it’s okay, you can make a difference in your own way. If we combine our efforts we will succeed. It is not up to any one of us alone.
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Echo chambers help no one. Personal attacks, disrespect and writing off the other side as stupid will only serve to bunker down people in their camps. We need dialogue to get out of this mess.
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2019 is startlingly similar to 1919. I feel like globally we’ve read this story before and we know what happens next. I am not seeing effort from the powerful to prevent what most of us can see is coming.
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You’re never ready. Abandon your need to be ready.
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As I get older I find myself thinking about my dreams more. You get into certain patterns and I find myself asking do I keep in this pattern or do I change it?
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The service of listening is both the most simple and most profound service we can offer to another human being.
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A hot roti and aachar is riches indeed.
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Dahl Baht Power. 24 hr.
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Expectations diminish joy. You will be your own version of things.
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“Provide Leadership” is an extraordinarily difficult task.
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The human skull is very fragile. The most minimal damage and its either game over or we’re playing a different game. It is important to be mindful of how temporary we are.
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There are far more forces than chaos and stillness. I encourage you to join me in seeking the chaotic stillness or the still chaos. Humanity is in these complexities and contradictions.
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The Force will be with you. Always.
