I came across a powerful quote the other day from this 20th century Spanish philosopher named Jose Ortega y Gasset. "Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are." Take that quote in and think about it. "Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are." So what are you paying attention to? If you think about your day so far, or even this week, where have you been placing your attention? What has been your focus? You see, where you place your attention reflects your priorities, and what's important to you. Look at your calendar or consider how you use your time. That's an indicator of your attention. Reflect on where you spent your money. This, too, is an indicator of what's important to you. What kind of attention are you paying to your relationships? How about your health? Maybe your own sense of well-being? Have you been paying attention to any of these areas? What are you paying attention to? After you take a quick inventory, go ahead and ask yourself: Are you satisfied with where you've been placing your attention? There's no need to bring any judgment to what you notice. This is merely an exercise in self-reflection. You see, if I could take this philosopher's quote, I would change it ever so slightly. Instead of just saying, "Tell me what you pay attention to and I'll tell you who you are," I would actually add a few words at the end of it. My quote would be, "Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are choosing to be." The essential you always has choice. You get to choose where you place your attention, and you can change it if you want to. If you don't like where you've been putting your attention, and your energy, because as we know, "Your energy flows where your attention goes!", then you can choose to focus on something else. And when you change what you pay attention to, you're changing who you're choosing to be. So maybe the real question here is: Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up? What aspect of you is wanting to come forth, in whatever situation you might be experiencing? And once you're clear on that, then let that answer guide you to where you decide to place your attention. Abundant Blessings and Namaste. 
What do you need, right now, in this moment? The other day, a client shared with me how exhausted he was feeling. He said to me, "I have so much responsibility. I have to take care of deadlines at work, and then I'm having to navigate so much in my home life. I'm not sleeping well, and I'm just so stressed. I'm always feeling tired." I could feel the energy of his frustration, and so I decided to ask him a simple question. I said to him, "What do you need right now in this moment?" "I'm not sure what you mean," he said. "I just wish I wasn't feeling so overwhelmed all the time. I'm tired of feeling tired." I responded, "Well, go ahead. Let's take a deep breath." So he breathed in. And then, I gently asked him again, "Now tell me, what do you need, right now, in this moment?" He sat with the question, took a few moments to breathe it in, and then he responded. "I need rest." Once he said those words, his body softened and he allowed himself to feel the weight of those words. "I need rest." You see, I meet a lot of people who have this belief that if you want to be successful in life, you have to always be on the go, go, go. The idea is that, in order to be successful, you have to burn the candle at both ends. Or you have to go above and beyond all that you need to do to take care of your loved ones. Or even with exercise, you know, pushing yourself so hard because you believe in that adage, "No pain, no gain!" When I asked my client what he needed, he didn't realize that he was running on autopilot, doing all of the things that he thought was expected of him, not once taking a moment to breathe, and then to check in with his own inner being to see what was needed. So go ahead. Take a moment for yourself right now. Take a deep breath. And ask yourself the question, "What do you need, right now, in this moment?" Perhaps you need rest, too. Or maybe you need to do something to get your body active. Or you might need to connect with a loved one. The point of this question is for you to pause and to tune into the whole of your being – the physical, the mental, the emotional, the spiritual – and to see what arises. You see, the wisdom that you seek lives inside of you. Sometimes you just need to take a moment to ask the question, "What do you need right now in this moment?" And then to be open to receive the answer. Abundant Blessings and Namaste 
If you're wondering why I have these multicolored donuts behind me arranged in the shape of the Olympics logo, it's because for the past couple of weeks, I've been part of a group called the Leadership Advantage Olympic Games, created and led by my dear friends and executive coaches, Shawn and Christine Shepheard. For the past 10 days, we've had a daily challenge to help us focus our energy and commitment to serving our clients and the world in a much more profound, meaningful and purposeful way. For our closing ceremonies for the games, we had a final challenge to share specific insights and actions that we've taken, and I thought it would be great to share this with you as well, that you might also benefit from my learnings. Here are some key learnings. ** For one of our challenges, we had to identify what gives us energy and what zaps our energy. I realize one of the things that zaps my energy is clutter. My home office has had all of these boxes and papers on the ground. It had been like this now for a few months. For that day’s challenge, I decided to do something about it, so I cleaned up my office and put away all that clutter. Do you know how long it took me to do that? Less than half an hour! And it's been clean ever since, at least for the last couple of weeks. The big insight here is that your environment impacts your creativity, so choose to be in an environment that enhances your energy. Look at your environment around you. Does your environment give you energy, or does it zap your energy? And can you do anything to enhance the energy of your environment, like bringing in beautiful flowers? ** Another Olympic challenge invited us to share our morning routines for success. My regular routine starts off with me reading my vision statement for my life, followed by my eating something healthy, and then I meditate. On the day of this challenge, during my meditation, I received a hit of inspiration to do a quick run, to do some exercise and movement to get my body going. And as I thought about where to run, I tuned in and realized I was in the mood to eat some dim sum. So what did I do? I ended up running to Chinatown, AND I got my dim sum, too! The insight here is that how you start your day sets you up for the kind of day you have. Why not start off your day in a way that nourishes you? Think about how you start off your day. What are your regular morning routines? Is there anything you can do to up-level your routine so you can include something that sets you up for an even greater day? ** The third challenge I want to share with you was to come up with a way to serve our clients, in a way that goes above and beyond what we usually might do. What came to mind was that I had recently taught a course called Re-Write Your Money Story. For this challenge, I had the inspiration to come up with a meditation audio and video of affirmations to set people up for having a great day. I created the meditation video and sent it off to the class participants. It's interesting because I've been wanting to do these kinds of meditation audios and videos for some time now, but for some reason, I had been telling myself that this would take too long to create. The insight here is that when you come from a place of service, the work doesn't feel like work. What you’re doing actually feels like you're giving a gift. And who doesn't want to give a gift to someone else? Think about one person in your life, someone special in your heart. What one small thing can you do today to let them know they are special to you? ** And here's one last bonus insight I want to share with you. Figure out how to have more fun in your life and in your work! These Olympic Games were a way to make everything a lot more fun and easier in community. If you look at my picture and watch my video, why do I have these Olympic-colored donuts behind me? Because they're more fun! And so, my final question to you today, then, is: What insights are you taking away from my sharing all this? And what actions can you take today, even the smallest baby steps, to be who your heart is calling you to be, and for you to be of greater service? The thing is, you, too, can be an Olympian. All it takes is for you to say yes, and step into the arena of life and show up as the best you that your heart is calling you to be. Abundant Blessings and Namaste. |
About JoselitoJoselito is a spiritual life coach helping people create a purposeful, spiritual path to career and financial freedom. Sign me up to receive the free newsletterPopular Blog Articles Beware (Be Aware of) these 5 Unhelpful Money Stories How my body told me to quit my job How I was offered an all-expenses paid cruise after making my Vision Board Today I choose to live my GREATNESS You are not your stories. You are the story-teller. Your job is not your Source. |
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