The July Lineup

All,

IT’S A FUNNY thing, the way we navigate our youth, longing for adulthood and the perceived freedom we believe it contains.

Milestones like getting our driver’s license, heading off to college, the first living spaces of our own symbolic of a loosening of reins, allowing us to flex our self-expression, our capacity to make our own decisions.

But the honeymoon is brief, isn’t it?

It’s not long before our arrival in adulthood that the sheen starts to wear, a list of responsibilities and obligations – all of which are typically tied to our aforementioned flexing – begin to dictate our path, ironically leaving us looking back to days of less doing, more being, when – we now realize – we were actually free.

So it’s easy. To associate burden with existing. To acknowledge that a life worth living involves a certain amount of hard, the shades of grey allowing the moments of brightness to pop as a background for appreciation.

Yet the question that simmers is must we really? Must we really carry so much weight as a way to feel and justify our narrative?

Or can we – at any point – opt to place down the heft?

This is what we’ll be exploring this July on Lighten Up, as we examine the self-imposed ways we keep ourselves trapped.

And while it will require credentials much more elaborate than mine to answer why we do this in the first place, I will share my reflections from spending decades guiding people towards mind/body balance that highlight 3 main areas that I feel impede someone’s capacity to experience freedom.

We’ll call them the 3 Rs:

Regrets

Resentment

Restrictions

There’s a good chance you’ll see your own tendencies in one or multiple of these areas. It might not be obvious at first, but as we make our way through the month, if you’re willing to consider you’ve been wearing one of these shields, it will be the first – and most important step – to unshackling your spirit.

Because just like that first ride you took as the ink was freshly drying on your license, the road is yours. The possibilities are endless.

And no matter where you are in life it is never too late to plant your butt firmly in the driver’s seat.

July lineup is below.

Here’s to you,

The July Lineup:

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Sunday, July 12th: The Magic Eraser

The energy wasted by fixating on do-overs as opposed to starting again.

Sunday, July 19th: A Sip of Poison

The toxic seed rooted in the need for validation.

Sunday, July 26th: The Fixed Mindset

All the ways we tell ourselves we can’t.

Thanks for reading Lighten Up!