I was surprised the other day that I had a great insight from a simple comment from somebody else.
And what surprised me was not the insight itself, but that it came from outside of me.
I've kind of gotten into the habit of always looking within for guidance.
So the desire to be seen by others or liked by others, that approval drive that I've had for so many years, especially when I was younger, has really faded away as I've been working more with Hisami and getting deeper and deeper into Spirit Mind.
And this idea of looking within for my answers rather than looking outside has become kind of a theme, you know, that's common both in the Spirit Mind training and in my life right now.
So I was surprised. I was in a meeting. We’re doing a remodel on the house, and our interpreter Hiro, who also does our live calls with students, was interpreting for this business meeting.
And afterwards, he said, “Wow, you’ve really done so much this year. I’m really impressed. You’ve launched a product in Japan, and you’ve done this remodel project and all the designing. That’s so much to do in one year.”
And it kind of really surprised me because, in my mind, I have this huge drive to do things.
So I have so many projects that I would love to take the next step on—so many, in fact, that I can't take the next step on all of them.
And sometimes I’m left with a sense of wanting to do more than is possible for me to do.
And of course, most of the time, I’m just happy to be working on what I’m working on, and I feel good about the stuff that we are doing.
But I do have that sense that there’s more I could be doing, that there’s more that I want to be doing, more that I want to be giving to the world, more I want to be sharing with people, and so on.
So it kind of really struck me when Hiro said that. It’s like, “Oh, this outside perspective.” Suddenly, I could see what he was saying and realize, “Wow, I have done a lot.”
We’ve made our new Spirit Mind product available in English and in Japanese fully within the last year.
We’ve been doing live calls every month in multiple languages.
We’re starting to look at new languages and where we can move next.
And of course, we have a new website and new branding and a new app and a new podcast and new social media channels for Spirit Mind in English and Japanese and the team building and just so much happening that it feels like not much is happening, right?
Sometimes when there’s a lot going on, it seems like there’s less getting done.
But that perception is really odd because there’s actually been a lot going on.
I’m just able to see more potential now than I could before.
So that sense that more could be happening is actually growing in equal proportion to the amount of things that we are accomplishing that are new.
And all this came just in a moment, you know, when Hiro said, “Oh, you’ve done so much this year. I’m really impressed.”
And I had both those senses, like, “Oh, it’s true. I should look at that and take that to heart and just validate, wow, we have done so much, and I’m excited about that, and I’m happy.”
And then also that little cautionary note for myself of, “Right, I can get carried away with the future.”
I have a bright, exciting, optimistic view of my future, which I love. But sometimes that can take me out of the present and make me feel like, “Oh, I’m not in the future yet.”
So at this moment, I’m not living up to par or something like that, which is really silly.
Now, of course, I’ve seen this a lot in other people, in my clients over the years. I’ve seen that desire to grow, that ambition for creating more and doing more and sharing more, is a really great thing if it’s also balanced with the perspective of being satisfied and happy and joyful in this moment.
But I’ve seen that in many people, and now I just thought to myself this week, “All right, it’s easy to let that future become a measurement that I’m comparing myself against right now instead of looking at it as an amazing potential that I may or may not step into.”
And either way is OK.
So I want that journey to be a fun one, not a stressful one.
Or to put it into the terms from Hisami, we’re only going to find fulfillment if we come from Spirit Mind, which always comes from fullness and love.
