Embrace the Suck

“Embrace the Suck” is a military term.

Occasionally I heard military stuff  while working in a law enforcement environment with guys who were or are still in the military in some capacity.  “Embrace the Suck” is a fascinating concept actually.  When they are in a war like Iraq or Afghanistan, things are going to suck  from time to time.  They have to get through it whether they like it or not.  They can’t avoid it.  They have to deal with the stuff that sucks.

One of my guru’s Joseph Campbell said the same thing (albeit a little more eloquently):

“We’re in a free fall into future. We don’t know where we’re going. Things are changing so fast. And always when you’re going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. But all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It’s a very interesting shift of perspective . . . Joyfully participate in the sorrows of the world and everything changes.”

A battery does not work without a positive AND a negative charge…just like life…you need both “positive” and “negative” experiences. Use the “negative” not as “bad’ but as a charge to MOVE you forward.

So, “embrace the suck” in your life.  Something sucks in your life.  Maybe it hasn’t reached the point of a crisis or depression, but we’ve all been there and know that when it DOES reach that point you can go into a pity-party-for-one that can be completely debilitating.  You can’t see a way out. You feel stuck.  No one can help you.  Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing is working out for you. Life really sucks.

If you are in a tailspin – EMBRACE THE SUCK.

This perspective turns EVERYTHING on it’s head.  Just say:

Okay, this is how it is, this is what is happening in my life, in my relationships, on my job, with my finances, with my health, etc…it’s bad…actually it SUCKS…now… just embrace that.  This IS how it IS.  When you can “joyfully participate”  in “the suck” like you “joyfully participate” during the wonderful times in your life… when things are going well…when you are in love, when you get the job you think you want, when you have money in the bank, when you have friends, etc…it’s good…actually it’s GREAT…now try to embrace “The Suck” JUST LIKE THAT…it’s GREAT. How do you act? What do you do when you are “happy”  when things are “positive”?  Just START doing some of those things. For some of you it might mean to JUST GET UP OUT OF THE BED.  Nope, it’s not something easy to do, but it provides a release.  It’s like a relief valve.  It actually feels like you are cheating the “negative” things from allowing you to stay stuck in them and seeing them as “bad”, or just replaying how much things really suck over and over and over again in your head…instead of understanding and appreciating that it’s just a part of life….your life…your story…

What about your life currently “sucks”?

Identify it.  Admit it.  Take a good long look at it.

Embrace it.

This blog is about letting go and you CAN’T let go of something that you are denying and pretending is not there.  You have to fully embrace what is not working in order to make a change.

Note to Self:  There is NO WAY I could have written this post today if I had not Embraced The Suck…The Many, Many, Many Sucks that are going on right now in my life. I’m looking forward to posting about this time once I’m on the other side of yet another dark and dank tunnel of change.

Jump The Chasm

As you go the way of life you will see a great chasm.

Jump.

It is not as wide as you think.

— Native American Wisdom

“Jump” is what Letting Go (of what is) to Let Come (what wants to unfold in your life) is All About 

Just

Understanding

My

Purpose and Aligning With It

JUMP TODAY

 

Appreciative Inquiry - A Way To Move Forward In Personal Development

1. Discover –Find out what works. What are you doing when you are at your best?  –– Appreciate It

2. Dream – Imagine what might be or how it could be better –Envision It

3. Design – Determine what should be, the ideal, and how you are going to get there––Co-Construct It

4. Destiny – Create what will be and commit to action and results —Sustain It/Work It

Seems so simple, but like us all you’ve seen a “plan” like this before.  Tried it  and No Big Changes in Your Life.  It doesn’t matter  how many things you’ve tried in the past or how many times you’ve” failed” in the past.  Forget what the voices in your head are saying (or the people in your life)…KEEP GOING…

• Thomas Edison‘s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, I didn’t  fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.
• Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.
• Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy were each cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed, I’ve failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.
•  Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
• After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
• In 1944, the director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, “You’d better learn secretarial work or else get married.” Norma Jean, of course, never quit and became Marilyn Monroe.

Who you are right now is not who you have to continue to be.  KEEP GOING.  Let Go of all those voices in your head telling you that you can’t, and it’s hopeless. It is not. Just sit back and take a look at your current situation.  Don’t be afraid of what you find.  Just suspend it out in front of you like “laundry on the line”.  If you can do that and be alright with whatever FEAR comes up, just experience the FEAR, and not being AFRAID of that experience, in time everything will be fine.

Don’t try to resist it or change things right away, just simply acknowledge whatever it is that isn’t working for you -your job, your relationships, your finances, ect – and slowing let go–don’t struggle with it — just release it.  There is something about FEAR that when you take it on it runs like a coward.  Once you learn this and that FEAR is gone the FUN begins.  BUT it doesn’t end there, because life will continue to throw up all of these FEARFUL things to make sure you’ve learned the lesson.  Over and over again in all kinds of situations and circumstances life says:  “Look Over Here…Something to Be Afraid of and Live in Fear of.”  Letting go of Fear seems to me could be a lifelong lesson to learn.

You can’t LET GO  of anything (Fear) until you acknowledge that you are HOLDING ON (to being fearful).  Sometimes all it takes is acknowledgement for fear to release the grip on its own.  It’s occurred to me that:

LETTING GO is not about something that you DO.  LETTING GO is something that you UNDO.  It’s an Undoing of a Holding On.

Just Quit is not about Giving Up it’s about LETTING GO of what is not working so you can discover what does work for you…KEEP GOING.

No one can make the discovery about “you” for you…it’s on you…KEEP GOING.

The journey of life is all about… the journey…you’re going to screw up every now and again… Things aren’t going to go your way…Money is going to be tight…JUST KEEP GOING NO MATTER HOW MISERABLE, HORRIBLE OR HOPELESS THINGS MIGHT SEEM TO YOU….tomorrow is a new day.

How Much Have You Let Go?

Do Everything With a Mind That Let’s Go.

 

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. 

If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. 

If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.

Your struggles with the world will have come to an end.                                                           

                                                                     ~AJAHN CHAH

 

 

Labor Day, Finding Work You Love and Making Choices

Happy Labor Day to all of those laboring.  Below are some labor related quotes to ponder today and throughout the week.

THIS IS THE GOAL TO FIND AND BE IN A “JOB” YOU LOVE

 

Don’t expect it to be easy and think all you have to do is hope that you are going to “fall into” a job/career that you love. Sometimes you have to go out and “find your life”. Finding what you love to do doesn’t include continuing to stay in a job where you are miserable…adjust the action steps…set sail… 

 

Begin by recognizing that in order to “find” your life and doing something you “love” it starts with asking yourself tough questions and being HONEST with the answers.  NEVER stop learning!

So You're Not Working...Now What?

Many in the U.S. are currently not working because of Covid19. Many are getting enhanced Unemployment Insurance….the extra $600 on top of what they would normally get for unemployment. For some this is more money then they were getting when they were working.

For those of you who wanted to “Just Quit” this is your time! This is your time to figure out what you really want to do with your life. It doesn’t have to be “another” job. It can be ANYTHING. Don’t waste this semi-UBI (Basic Income) time just waiting to go back to a job that you hated.

See this as an opportunity. Figure out what you really want to do in life and start planning and preparing to do that.

Use your time wisely. Make it count.

Just Quit and Live Happened WorldWide

Finally most have stopped the madness of 8-10 hours of working to make others rich in nonsense jobs. Finally. People can now rest and be able to just live.

People and lands are being restored.

Everybody stop, breathe, pray for restoration.

It is a wonderful time to be alive.