We Are What We Repeatedly Do.

Greek philosopher Aristotle once quipped: “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

In Million Dollar Habits: 10 Simple Steps to Getting Everything You Want, Author and speaker Robert Ringer observed:

Remember, life is nothing more than the sum total of many successful years;a successful year is nothing more than the sum total of many successful months;a successful month is nothing more than the sum total of many successful weeks;a successful week is nothing more than the sum total of many successful days.That’s why practicing successful habits day in and day out is the most certain way to win over the long term

“A champion doesn’t become a champion in the ring, he’s merely recognized in the ring. His “becoming” happens during his daily routine.” – Joe Louis

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Worthiness

Worthiness means that regardless of who you are, what you own or what you do, you belong. You deserve love and care, recognition and respect. It is all too easy to lose faith in our worthiness, so often we think that we are not good enough, or we don’t measure up. When we face challenges in our lives like a failed exam, a lost job or a serious illness, it can feel like we are less deserving and less valuable to the people around us. It can seem like we’ve lost our worthiness.

Yet, worthiness is inherent in each person; it can never be taken from us, but we can forget this truth, and when we do, it makes the heartbreak and the disappointment of life even more disappointing than it needs to be. One way to rediscover your sense of worth is to use your imagination to picture yourself as a baby or a child. A baby doesn’t have to earn the right to be loved. When we look into his or her soulful blinking eyes, we view them as precious and compelled to care for them, inspired to love them unconditionally. We instantly see their worthiness, innate, profound, and unchanging.

When it comes to ourselves, it becomes so difficult to do. Remember that when you were tiny, there was nothing you needed to accomplish, no standard you needed to measure up to; your worthiness shines like a bright light, even while you are vulnerable and dependent on others. You are complete and perfect just the way you are.

When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible. – Brene Brown

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Obstacles Make Us Stronger

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius once said, “What stands in the way becomes the way. The impediment to action advances action.” The obstacles we face are opportunities for growth, improvement, creativity, and perspective. In 1967, the NCAA instituted a ban on dunking and that lasted for 10 years. This new rule presented a challenge for a particular UCLA star; he was 7 ft 2, and his ability to dunk was crucial to his game. How can he still dominate? But he wasn’t deterred, he worked with his coach to develop a legendary technique that helped UCLA win the next two college championships and brought the player to unparalled height in the Pros.

The technique was called the sky hook, and the star was Kareem Abdul Jabar, one of the greatest players in NBA history. The No-dunk rule could have stopped Kareem in his tracks, but instead, he met his obstacles and modified his approach. He pivoted, getting even better and more dangerous in doing so. He created an unblockable shot, and with it, he shattered records and held them for decades. When something stands between us and our goals, it can feel really daunting; it can even threaten to derail us, but it is vital to stay flexible and adapt to an ever-changing world.

Life is filled with obstacles, big and small, time and again, you will be faced with impedements to your goals, growth, and your happiness. In those moments, you’ll have a choice to succumb to them and give up or pivot and move forward. For every obstacle you face, you can’t change reality, but you can change your reaction to it. You can control whether you let it stop you or use it as an opportunity to adapt and grow. It is natural to feel frustrated and angry, and it is ok to let yourself feel those emotions. But don’t let them guide you; they will slow you down. Instead of figuring out what to do next, just remember, “What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – The Democratization of Mental Health

Meditation is a type of activism. Equanimity is the skill of opening to experience and truly not getting uptight if distractions or things don’t go perfectly as planned. That is the composure, the dignity, so essential to our practice.

Podcast