Work You Love, Death, & Clouds
This week I have a TED Talk for you, the concept of negative thoughts just being clouds, and a double dose of some thought-provoking quotes. Enjoy!
A Video I Watched with My Daughter
My oldest daughter, LC, is fifteen but is taking her first dual enrollment college class this summer. Her first assignment was to watch a TED Talk by Scott Dinsmore entitled “How to find and do work that you love” and write a journal entry about how it impacted her. The video serves as something aspirational for young adults while reminding us “seasoned” adults about how we should be living our lives both personally and professionally.
In researching this video and its presenter, I discovered something shocking. Scott Dinsmore created an incredible community built around the ideals stated in his TED Talk. It’s called Live your Legend. Unfortunately, Scott Dinsmore passed away when rocks fell on him while he was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, an unbelievable tragedy that occurred while he was with his wife on the mountain.
His life shows how your impact can be felt after you are gone.
A Concept I am Exploring
Controlling destructive or negative thoughts. An acquaintance of mine, Todd Herman (you might remember him from an earlier piece I wrote about his book The Alter Ego) wrote the following in his email newsletter recently, and it really resonated with me.
After all, it is JUST a cloud…
Anytime you find yourself getting entangled in negative, destructive, or painful thoughts, imagine this…
You would never look at a cloud and call it the sky.
They’re simply a fluffy mass, passing by that will eventually disappear.
Well, my friend, your thoughts are like clouds, and your mind is like the sky.
Your thoughts ARE NOT, The Sky.
They aren’t the thing that defines you.
They will pass.
They will disappear.
You would never look up at the sky and get mad that clouds appear.
That’s just what happens. (Although if you were tanning on a beach, I could see why you might get a bit perturbed.)
It’s the same with your mind.
Thoughts happen.
And when you start to entangle and wrestle with a thought, it’s like wrestling with a cloud.
Futile.
Your mind is much bigger.
Your ‘self’ is much bigger than a single thought.
“I’m not good enough to have [insert whatever you want here.]” … is just a thought.
It’s not unique to you… because once that thought passes, imagine it appearing in ‘the sky’ of someone else’s head.
Because it’s a thought that’s passed through the mind of almost everyone at some point.
So the next time you start to get wrapped up in a destructive thought, just say to yourself:
Isn’t that an interesting thought? Or,
It’s just a cloud. Or,
It’s just a cloud and I wonder who it’s going to next? Or,
Well, that’s an odd-shaped thought for someone who’s conquered a lot in life.
I’ve used it with clients who are in the intense moments of competition, staying calm and confident.
And not get sucked into a vortex of self-defeating stress.
It’s just a cloud.
Double Dose of Quotes I am Pondering
It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.
~ Mother Teresa, Catholic nun, humanitarian, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them.
~ Charles Duhigg, American journalist and non-fiction author
In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.
~ Tony Robbins, American life coach, self-help author and motivational speaker
A plan is only as good as those who see it through. If you don’t plan, how do you plan to succeed?
~ Unknown
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
~ Pearl S. Buck, American writer
Create an atmosphere in your home that makes it your favorite place in the world.
~ Unknown
