Becoming Yourself

Developing a Better You

Category: Personal Development (Page 18 of 58)

3 Fun Resources for Your Body, Mind, and Spirit

July 16, 2022 / / 0 Comments

I love M. Night Shyamalan movies.

There is a weightlifter in Lady in the Water that worked out only one side of his body.

I think he missed the lesson on balance.

We laugh, but how often do we do the same thing? It’s so easy to forget that we are body, mind, and spirit. To become the best version of ourselves, we need to nurture all three.

Here are three fun resources that I use:

BODY

Yoga with Adriene (YouTube)

I was clueless about yoga until a few years ago when injuries left me looking for a new workout routine. My daughter recommended Yoga with Adriene, so my wife and I decided to give her YouTube videos a try. It’s been wonderful. At a basic level, yoga is simply stretching and strengthening exercises you can do at home that have mind and spirit benefits too. Adriene is a charming and relaxed guide, especially helpful for beginners. Her channel has a number of “30 Day Yoga Journeys” that are a great place to start, and her lovable dog Benji always makes an appearance.

MIND

MasterClass (masterclass.com)

MasterClass is a streaming service with video-based lessons by the best experts in the world on basically everything. Want to learn how to cook? Take lessons from Gordon Ramsey. Interested in improving your backhand or your three point shot? Serena Williams and Steph Curry are there for you. Curious about photography, interior design, cosmology, business, comedy, acting, directing, public speaking, gardening, negotiating, etc? The finest teachers anywhere are waiting. As an aspiring author, I just finished Neil Gaiman’s series of 20+ video lessons. That alone was more than worth a subscription. Each class comes with a pdf class guide, and the production quality is stunning.

SPIRIT

Travelzoo (travelzoo.com)

One of the many things that COVID-forced restrictions have taught us is the importance of travel. Seeing new places, meeting new people, and having new experiences not only helps us grow, it nurtures our spirits. After the year we’ve had, most of us could use all the nurturing we can get. Travelzoo’s weekly Top 20 Travel Deals email (sign up on their website) provides an amazing variety of incredibly cheap travel around the world. A few years ago, I booked a Travelzoo package and spent eleven amazing days in China, seeing the sites with an English-speaking guide and staying in top hotels. Literally everything was included for a price cheaper than booking just the flights on my own. My wife and I spent eight days island hopping in Greece on another fantastic Travelzoo bargain. Fully refundable deals with travel dates into 2022 are available now at rock bottom prices.

So what part of you could use a little TLC? Your body, your mind, or your spirit? Try a little yoga. Scroll the list of Masterclasses. Sign up for the Travelzoo email. Set aside some time for yourself today, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

This post was originally published April 3, 2021.

Photo by Tim Alex on Unsplash

Downton Abbey and the Meaning of Life

June 18, 2022 / / 0 Comments

“What is a weekend?”

If that quote makes you smile, you’re probably a fan of Downton Abbey. The popular PBS series about the English aristocratic Crawley family and the servants who worked for them ran for six seasons and spawned two feature films.

I recently saw the movie Downton Abbey: A New Era. As usual, I enjoyed the sweeping cinematography, the elegant dialogue, and intriguing story lines. But I came away with an unexpectedly powerful reminder of what I believe to be the meaning of life:

Relationships.

Without spoiling the plot, the tightly knit family and staff go through a wide gamut of experiences—weddings, deaths, windfalls, tragedies, surprises—and a litany of emotions—joy, sorrow, disappointment, grief, hope, love. But through it all, rich or poor, old or young, conservative or liberal, outgoing or reserved, what mattered most in the end was the quality of the relationships each person had formed. 

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

I sat in my car after the movie and asked myself a hard question—was I investing enough time and energy in the important relationships in my life? In my family, in my close friends, in God? When moments of triumph and tragedy come, will those strong ties be there to sweeten my celebrations and ease my sorrows? It isn’t a question of whether or not those people be physically present, but will our relationships have the requisite emotional depth for them to truly enter into those moments with me? The kind of depth that only comes with effort and intentionality?

The thought of coming to the joyful and painful milestones in my life with regret over underdeveloped relationships haunted me. I drove away with a renewed commitment to deepen my investment in my family, my friends, and God.

Photo by Ryan Holloway on Unsplash

So how about you? Would you agree that the true meaning of life is found in relationships? No matter your answer, relationships are at least of significant importance to most of us. How would you rate yours? Answer honestly. Decide which relationships are of utmost value. Invest in them practically with your time, energy, and effort. If you do, you’ll avoid crushing regret, and have a richer, more satisfying life, as you take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

Feeling Crushed by the Weight of the World? Choose to Be Amazed

March 19, 2022 / / 2 Comments

Living in these turbulent times is difficult. A global pandemic. Economic downturn. Political division. Racial injustice. Social unrest. The collective pressure of these external stressors can feel like concrete blocks on our shoulders that we can’t seem to drop.

One simple technique that has helped me slip out from under the weight of the world is shifting my attention from the macro to the micro. Intentionally tuning in to the small and everyday instead of the huge and glaring. I’m not talking about turning a blind eye to the problems we collectively face or ignoring the responsibility to do my part to help solve them. I’m talking about balancing that view with a renewed focus on the wonder of commonplace things.

The sweet warmth of my morning tea. The beautiful deep green color of our corner houseplant. The comfortable feeling of sliding into my well-worn slippers. The way the painting on our living room wall glows in the afternoon sun. The playfulness in my wife’s smile. The mind-boggling complexity of my hand. The taste of cherry pie. Opening my mind to the simple wonders around me provides a welcome counterbalance to the heaviness of the world. It brings wholeness to my perspective.

The celebrated philosopher and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel said it better than I ever could:

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”

abraham joshua heschel

I make this practice part of my daily routine. In the mornings, I slip out to our balcony and spend some time in meditation, prayer, and reading. Often I’ll start by intentionally noticing a few simple things around me and letting myself be gratefully amazed by them. Before bed, I’m back on the balcony, remembering the commonplace wonders I encountered throughout the day. This simple habit is usually enough to help me begin each day with a positive attitude and end it with a healthy realignment of my perspective.

What are the everyday wonders around you? When you pause for a moment to look, what catches your eye? What awakens amazement in you? As you learn to see life with simple awe, you’ll feel the weight of the world begin to slip from your shoulders, and you’ll take another step toward Becoming Yourself.

This post was originally published in July of 2020.

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