Are You Awake?
Are you truly awake at this moment? And I'm not trying to start a high-school level philosophy discussion about whether the matrix has us. Are you really embracing the fullness of life at this moment? I know that I have 'woken up' many times, not having realized that I'd fallen asleep. Drifting day to day in a pseudo-depression that sometimes masquerades as comfort. Sometimes I'm even aware that I'm sleeping, I can feel it like the veil of a dream from which I can't break or take lucid control. Sometimes I choose this.
Alignment:
Belief in Self
The Report:
Yesterday on the plane I struck up a conversation with a Project Manager from Los Alamos, and unabashedly challenged him about Project Managment and Team. He wants to hire me to consult at the Lab in Los Alamos!
The Dare:
Write a very present journal entry.
Tomorrow: Do something I've never done before.
Yet when I'm awake it's the most invigorating state I can imagine. It is effortless in the fact that it is energizing. This is the place from which I am most creative, most able, and most in a state of joy. It's the place where I really play on my edge, allow myself to make mistakes, risk big, and make ballsy statements.
Yet the seduction of sleeping still remains and seems so sensible at times. Sometimes it seems better to dial down my engagement than face a conflict I'm afraid of, a challenge I don't know if I'm up to, a potential rejection I don't feel ready to embrace, and sometimes, even more frightening, a level of success for which I don't yet feel prepared.
Today my journal is an ode to being awake.
Waking Up and Staying Awake
A few things I've brought into my life to be as present as possible.
Signs that I'm Asleep
How do you stay at your peak? Keep yourself as awake as possible?
Alignment:
Belief in Self
The Report:
Yesterday on the plane I struck up a conversation with a Project Manager from Los Alamos, and unabashedly challenged him about Project Managment and Team. He wants to hire me to consult at the Lab in Los Alamos!
The Dare:
Write a very present journal entry.
Tomorrow: Do something I've never done before.
Yet when I'm awake it's the most invigorating state I can imagine. It is effortless in the fact that it is energizing. This is the place from which I am most creative, most able, and most in a state of joy. It's the place where I really play on my edge, allow myself to make mistakes, risk big, and make ballsy statements.
Yet the seduction of sleeping still remains and seems so sensible at times. Sometimes it seems better to dial down my engagement than face a conflict I'm afraid of, a challenge I don't know if I'm up to, a potential rejection I don't feel ready to embrace, and sometimes, even more frightening, a level of success for which I don't yet feel prepared.
Today my journal is an ode to being awake.
Waking Up and Staying Awake
A few things I've brought into my life to be as present as possible.
Signs that I'm Asleep
- I settle for less
- I'm extremely up to date with online comics
- Things become "Good enough"...
- I only remember the weekend
- I don't look at my todo list
- I skip things that are important to me like Yoga and Fencing
- Right now I'm daring myself every day to expand my belief in-self.
- Yoga every night, no matter how late or how bad I feel. (my commitment is at least 5 minutes, it's easy to keep and usually I do more)
- Teaching Fencing on a schedule. Sometimes before class I feel absolutely lousy, yet after a night in front of a bunch of students with a sword in my hand I feel spectacular. Having un-dodgeable commitments that I know always bring me to my edges and most joyous places are vital.
- I'm really working to live on my edge much more in this coming year. Take many more risks. Embrace the beauty of looking foolish once in a while. As I once said in my course the Art of not Sucking: "To become a great fencer, you must first give yourself permission to suck".
- Being around people who inspire me, like my business partners, my coaching clients, my mentors. Definitely want to bring more mentors into my life this year. I have found this surprisingly difficult. Perhaps I need quit trying to be the mentor all the time and allow myself to be the mentee.
How do you stay at your peak? Keep yourself as awake as possible?