Reflecting on the past two months of mindfulness and hustle
Thoughts on my work thus far, addressing our inner demons, grocery podcast I love, and other recommendations
Hi friend!
I am back on the road this week. This time, it will be for the next five months. In Hawaii for this week and then headed to Japan for a Zen meditation retreat starting Monday. 🙏
It's been quite an interesting journey thus far. I've been hustling across all of my social channels to create and test various types of content to see what is resonating. My followers/subscribers over the last two months: Email (+66%), YouTube (+520%), Instagram (10%), Facebook (550%). Email has become my intimate letter of the week, YouTube for daily vlogs, Instagram for thoughtful and artistic photo posts… and that leaves me with Facebook. I cross-post my content to Facebook and that's about it. Still a bit perplexed - what type of content resonates most with you on FB?
My goal is to share lessons from this journey to as many people who can benefit from, and I hope that documenting my journey will provide insights to those who can't afford the time or resources to travel to these destinations. My retreat in India is taking up almost 15 days (including travel to the northern tip and retreat length). I would never have been able to do this while in my full-time job.
So without further ado, the tip of the week: naming our demons. This is an adaptation to a practice I learned during my Vipassana retreat at IMS. Whenever I was having difficulties during meditation (pain, monkey mind, etc.), I was instructed to just greet these thoughts and nothing more. By allowing the thoughts to merely pass by, it opened my awareness to other sensations and feelings lurking in the shadows.
Grocery Podcast I Love
Have been following Trader Joe's podcast since launch and there's a reason why it has a five-star rating- it's phenomenal. Quite fun to listen to and it showcases stories from all parts of their business (from choosing store locations to developing new products).
The most recent episode dives into their sustainability practices for 2019. I was floored by some of their innovation and excited to see them setting sustainability standards for many grocers to come.
Why Boredom is Good
James Clear's most recent blog, How to Stay Focused When You Get Bored Working Toward Your Goals, explains why boredom is critical for success. By sticking through the repetition and practice of daily work, you will inevitably succeed when the opportunity comes.
If you like his writing, check out his most recent book Atomic Habits (4.3 on Good Reads). Easy read & great for anyone looking at another perspective on habit building. (Using our natural patterns: cue, craving, response, reward)
On Making Life Memorable
From 4x US memory champion Nelson Dellis, he shares three tips on how to make life more memorable. Simple tips in a gorgeous video.
As always, thanks for reading!
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com
Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌
Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven