Monday - Elevate Everyone with Sarah King

Tuesday - "Masks" Spoken Word by Adam Roa

Wednesday - Garrain Jones' Wheel of Power

Thursday - "You do you."

Friday - Complex Problems Require Simple Solutions

Simplicity is so underrated. We get in our heads that we need to be innovative and elaborate and complex to create a high-quality solution. More often than not, that is not the case. It’s the simple thing, that exists in plain sight that likely is the source of greatest potential.

Let’s take the example of a hose. You’re watering your garden and you realize the water pressure is low. There are two things you can do to fix it. You can increase the water pressure from the source handle, or fix the kink in the hose. That’s a pretty obvious decision, but let’s think about the concept within it. You can add more effort and force the pressure into the hose, even coming up with some elaborate contraption to do so, and it might achieve the outcome you wanted but with diminishing returns. But, if you fix the hose and simply evaluate the efficiency of the system, you can get the result you wanted without much challenge.

Beyond that example, there is an important distinction: Simple is not always easy. If you want a better relationship, kiss your partner in the morning and tell them you love them. Simple. If you want to feel more fit and healthy, exercise a regular amount and eat more healthy foods. Simple! Those things aren’t easy, cause if they were we’d already be doing it. There are complex emotions and associations and histories involved with these problems that often distort the clear and simple solution.

Steve Jobs described it well in this quote, “Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."

There’s so much going on in the world right now, too much to keep up with to be honest, and it is exhausting. It’s Coronavirus, it’s racial inequality and Black Lives Matter, it’s news about UFOs, and publicly suppressed information. In the face of it all we need to figure out what we want to do about it, and how we relate to others about it. This is so difficult because there are so many different opinions and arguments. So, let’s simplify it to something basic. “You do you”.

This is an expression I use when someone is making a decision that I don’t want to play a part in. If it’s something I disagree with, something I don’t have an interest in, or something I don’t understand, at some point you just gotta let someone else be their own person and make their own decisions. You do you.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t engage in important debates and share your perspective, you absolutely should, but when your points continue to fall short and you can’t seem to get through to someone, you need to respect their own understanding and not continue the issue any further.

Because that’s mutual. That’s what you would want from someone else who was questioning your beliefs. The expectation is “alright, you can do you, but I’ll do me”. This means that you’re entrusted to make your own decisions and doing the best with what you have to work with on hand.

Now again, this can be very difficult. When it comes to people making decisions that put others in harm’s way, it’s not ethical to just let it go. It’s complicated, there’s no one size fits all solution to this,. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that we should be more tolerant of each other and look to understand first before criticizing. But what do I know? You do you.

This is an exercise I learned from Garrain Jones. Garrain swears by something called the 'Wheel of Power', which is a tool you can use to see where the deficiencies are in your life, relative to where your life could be in all its potential. It’s a simple exercise and it goes as follows.

Draw a circle, put a dot at the center, and divide the circle up into 8 even slices. It should look kind of like a wheel with 8 spokes. Those lines meet the circle at 8 different points, and each one of those points represents one of 8 areas of your life. Then, label each intersection with one of the 8 elements. Do this on the outside of your wheel, and those 8 elements are: Fun and adventure, health and nutrition, culture and tribe, current business, contribution, personal and spiritual development, physical challenges, and friends, family, and relationships. 

Next, you’re going to get introspective. Rate how you are doing in each of these areas of your life on a scale 1-10. A 1 means you’re very unsatisfied with your performance in that area, a 10 would mean it is fantastic. When you come upon your number, place a dot on that line estimating where that number would be on a scale 1-10, with the 1 being the center of the circle and 10 being all the way out on the edge of circle. Assign a number for all 8 qualities you are evaluating, and be honest because it could illuminate something important.

Then, connect all the dots! It might be evident what areas of your life are underserved, but to strengthen that point shade in everything on the inside of the figure formed by the connected dots to really see it. What is shaded is your wheel of life, this is how things are right now, and like any good wheel it functions best when it’s an even and well-rounded shape. Those areas that are keeping your wheel from being round are the very things that are keeping you from taking steps forward in your life.

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Additionally, all of the space that is inside the circle but not shaded is your capacity. That’s what you’re capable of having in your life, and your goal is to push you 8 elements out to a 10 so you can flourish and live in a way that matches your potential!

Do this exercise and see what comes up. Personally, it was fun and adventure and physical challenge. Lastly, go about addressing those areas of your life that need more attention. 

It’s strange how normal this quarantine lifestyle has gotten. Social distancing 6 feet apart, bump elbows when you run into a friend, wash your hands in and out of the house. Perhaps the reason this has become so normal so fast is because it’s actually not all that different from what we do any way. It just is a more noticeable form of it.

That’s the premise of Adam Roa’s new, thought-provoking spoken word poem titled “Masks”. Sit back, open your heart, and have a listen. 

What Adam touches on is that our society has an authenticity issue. We feel like we need to be someone we’re not to accommodate for what others expect us to be, so we go on repressing our uniqueness and truth to gain the approval of others. But that’s no way to live, and our awareness of this idea can hopefully lead to a Renaissance of authenticity that allows everyone to be fully self-expressed, unhindered, and unstoppable!

Something that I believe we all are worthy of and we all aspire for, but we all have a difficult time accessing is purpose. We all are capable of doing things that we find meaningful and fulfilling, but it’s not going to happen on its own. You need to step into it. And the first step is to start asking yourself the right questions. These are some of the questions Call to Creatives Founder Sarah King reflects on to bring about a better understanding.

"I believe it's a matter of asking and answering these types of questions that allows us to live the fullest life we could ever imagine. Questions like: Is it really possible to elevate everyone simultaneously? And if it is possible is there a greater call and is there a greater purpose than living a life that benefits you, and it benefits others simultaneously? If it is possible,  is there a greater call and is there a greater purpose than working to eliminate suffering for yourself and for the world simultaneously? What is the ideal, and what does it look like? Is it completely unattainable or is it right within our reach? What is alignment, and what breaks alignment? But better yet what strengthens alignment and how does that helps us live a life that elevates everyone?"

Sarah brings up a crucial point, which is that you can meet your needs while meeting the needs of others. That authentic purpose is something that serves you and someone else at the same time. Sarah calls these win-wins, and they're more accessible and prevalent than you would think!

Now Garrain Jones has an inspiring story. He’s experienced really high highs and really low lows in his life, all of which have been exactly what he needed on his path to self-discovery.  At one point, when he was at rock bottom, he had a perspective shift.

Change your mindset, change your life.

And he did exactly that to create a new mindset that created abundance in his life. 

What do you have when everything is taken from you?

Well, the only thing that absolutely no one can ever touch, possess, or gain full authority over is your mind. As Garrain often says, "You can take my things but as long as I can control my mind I will always be free.” You see we’re in a world where we focus so much on the materialistic goods and statuses that we earn and inherit, but that’s all meaningless unless we discover what our soul hungers for. And sometimes that requires having things taken away from us to open up space for those things we need.

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Well first I wouldn’t say that there’s a secret to life, there is so much variety within everyone’s own experience that it’s impossible to attribute something that broadly. But there are a few concepts that are generally true, including the core thesis of this quote: “Keep looking up, that's the secret of life.”

First - Keep looking up! The metaphorical understanding of this it that things are going to be okay. You can be hopeful for the future and the opportunities it will bring. You can be intentional about looking up and seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel”, and the hidden blessings in the situation. It’s a great way to live because you raise the level of what you expect, and what you’re willing to tolerate, which then facilitates the delivery of those qualities in your life.

There’s also a physical understanding of this. The opposite of “looking up” is looking down. This is a very common response when something doesn’t go according to plan, or you’ve been hurt in some way and seek to protect yourself. And that’s exactly what your posture is meant to do. Your closed body language creates perceived signals of protection and comfort that you seek. But the unfortunate byproduct of this is that it communicates to others that you don’t want to be approached, you aren’t friendly, and that they should keep their emotional and physical space.

Looking up opens that posture and invites people into your life. This means they can be a part of the solution and support you in necessary ways. It also means you’re looking ahead at what’s to come, representative of your intention to overcome the situation in the best way possible!

While it’s not the end all secret to life, do look up, because that’s the best way to keep going forward.

Full disclosure: This article is a product promotion for SKARA CBD Products. There are a few of reasons why I am choosing to support this brand. First, their leadership staff is made up of people of color, and I want to be more intentional about representing individuals with a different background than my own. And second, out of the goodness of their heart, SKARA leadership contributed $1000 dollars to the fundraising campaign I led to support racial integration and opportunity for under-served youth through Peace Players.

Over the past few weeks I have been a consumer of their product and can attest to its quality. I honestly have never used a single CBD product in my life, never a lotion, never an oil, and I’ve never smoked. And I chose to put the negative associations I have about CBD to try this out and I’m glad I did. 

The reason I believe this product is relevant for personal development is because it promotes internal harmony. It very subtly puts me in a heightened brain state that helps me to overcome procrastination, it narrows my focus, quiets distractions, and it seems to help me to approach challenges with more logic and clarity around how I want to move forward. 

Maybe I had a few good days and it’s a random correlation, or maybe not and there’s something to it. In any case I never felt high, I never felt uncomfortable, and I believe the product offers some real benefits.