#41

Welcome to Week #41

What whisper did you hear from #40?

Did you experiment with going outside when you felt a bit ‘meh’?

What are you chasing – happiness or meaning?

Which quote resonated from The Godfather of Flow?

What’s struck me this week?

1. What can you see with your eyes closed?

We live such busy lives that I’m wondering if we’ve forgotten how to daydream? We seem to exist in such an attention-driven FOMO economy that our eyes don’t remain closed beyond a blink.

Do you ever stare off into the distance and imagine being somewhere else? Have you ever caught yourself - whilst waiting in the coffee collection line – miles away in your thoughts? Remember reading that same page/email 4 or 5 times because you’ve been distracted by your attention drawn somewhere inside? When was the last time you looked out of the bus window instead of your phone? When was the last time you ‘people-watched’ in a café? When was the last time you closed your eyes for more than a blink and allowed your brain the chance to see something different?

Next time your waiting resist the urge to check your phone, close your eyes and notice what you can see.

2. The rigidity I hold about what it means to be me

This was an insight I came to during one of the personal growth conversations I’ve been having with one of my coaches.

I’ve been working on me and considering a future version of myself – something I ask and challenge most of my clients to do.

In imagining a future version of me I came to the conclusion that one of the barriers was how tightly I held a version of me that’s reinforced in almost every interaction – personal and professional. Yes, a different shade of ‘Pete’ shows up in different contexts – just like it would if I asked you to host a 4-year-old’s birthday party, or carry a coffin at a funeral, or attend an interview. But, I’m wondering if there’s an upgraded – hopefully better but maybe worse – version of ‘Pete’ that’s waiting patiently (or maybe frustratingly 😊) to be set free. Another version of ‘Pete’ that has a new lens through which to see the world.

So, how about you? How tight are you holding on to what it means to be you?


3. Question of the week – Part #1 How did you become you?

This put my head and body into a spin – lots of trans derivational searching going on!

When we invest a short time even considering the question the answer may not be that obvious. But you’ve become you - somehow. The you that’s reading these words. The you that got out of bed this morning. The you that said “xxx” in the meeting yesterday. The you that’s looking forward to “xxx” tonight. How did that happen? How did you become the person you are right now? Yes, through experience but what’s the story that’s been playing on repeat? Can you hear the narrative on a loop?

 
4. Quote of the week - Clarity is the moment we see without opening our eyes — Stephanie Banks

Provokes me to consider that clarity can come from more than our eyes.

How else do you experience clarity?

How else do you know…for sure?

 
5. Freedom Fridays Podcast

My weekly conversation with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We explore some of the big changes people have gone through and what’s helped the journey. The intention is to share as openly as possible some of the ingredients – the good, the bad, the ugly – that shape our shift from ‘I have to’ into ‘I choose to’. The lessons are hiding in open sight within the conversation – it’s up to you how you apply them.

This week I chatted with Karen Gately, Founder & Sensei of Corporate Dojo. We’ve only known each other a few weeks but already found some interesting connections and things in common. As has become the pattern we got into flow and the conversation lasted over an hour. I’ve made the call to chunk the conversation into 3 parts. In Part #1 we discuss a range of topics such as imaging our future self; balancing our own internal and external definitions of success; overcoming – if even possible – the ‘being enough’ syndrome.

Enjoy Episode #39 Part #1.

That's all for this week and I hope you enjoyed Weekly Whisper #41.