Last weekend, I took a course that I've procrastinated on for... you will never guess... 23 years.

Whoa.

It was easy to procrastinate on for a variety of reasons. A refresher on old training, let’s say.

Let me share the process I just went through with you because it's significant for all of us.

I talk about freeing up energy when it gets stuck in certain areas of your life, then being able to reallocate that energy and direct it where you want it to create forward momentum. This is a present moment example of that. 

There has been a great deal of adapting on the fly these days, so I thought I would bring that up as a topic of discussion.

As you know, things don't always go as planned. Quite often, we need to pivot unexpectedly in a new direction, one we totally didn't anticipate. 

But adaptation is not failure, nor is it giving up.

Historically, I have been placing a heavy emphasis on how to get things working in my teachings.

I’ve talked about how to exist in hardship, how to move on from that place, and how to deal with the heavy emotions that come up inside you as these situations impact your life experience.

So, let's talk about how to handle things when they actually start working instead.

Very few people talk about holding success once it arrives, about trusting things (and yourself) when they're going well, and not self-sabotaging the good stuff.

Life inevitably happens.

When you’re standing in the middle of extreme hardship, the very centre of the shitstorm, it can feel like you have no hope to reach for. No tools, no comfort, no support.

It’s incredibly lonely.

Rock bottom can and does teach you like no other sensei.

No life is free of difficult decisions.

The tough conversations. Holding back reactions. The difficult goodbyes. Walking through the door and having everything come to the surface. Allowing it all to hurt, like a hard breakup. Giving something the time and space it needs to leave your experience.

Healing and letting go is a heartbreaking process.

There is beauty in that raw place.

Something magic happens when you learn to sit with your emotions.

Suddenly you become adept at sitting with your situation as well. 

That means not reacting immediately, putting more thought into things, and feeling everything out more. 

Not reacting to something when you really want to takes discipline. The discipline of a saint, sometimes. It's a superpower.

So how do we build it?

This is a short and simple reminder: The small steps you take always carry you somewhere. Whether or not that's where you want to be depends on the baby steps you decide to consistently choose. The small things you do everyday often matter more than the big things you do once, even if they seem too insignificant to matter.

Resilience isn’t about bouncing back.

Imagine this; you’re start a romantic relationship at Point A in your life. You bring your whole self to the table, a heart full of love, but after a time of full emotional investment, it doesn’t work out. You both go your separate ways.

New Years is a time of change. Of creating better for ourselves, shooting for the stars and enjoying the process.

I have touched on this topic before, but it's worth revisiting to make sure you set yourself up for success in creating sustainable change and growth throughout the year—without breaking integrity with yourself as so many people do.

When you make a choice like that, to face something or chase growth, life will meet you in that place to give you exactly what you need: opportunities to face what you're choosing to face. Environments, relationships, circumstances will shift to accommodate your new direction of growth. Life will move heaven and earth, so to speak, to allow you the chance to grow.

Resistance.

It’s something we all feel and contend with from time to time. It ebbs and flows like the tide, easing us from resilience to the heavy sensation of being stuck, then back again. Fatigue, stress, self care and situational pressure are only a few things that help determine how resilient or resistant we feel on a particular day, or in any particular moment.

Artificial Intelligence thinks so you don’t have to.

It solves problems. It writes, calculates, determines, advises, assists. Not only that, it will talk to you as if it’s your best friend and most supportive colleague. It’s the employee who’s never late and never complains about lack of vacation time or pay.

They say to never look a gift horse in the mouth, but everything comes with a cost.

Being human is a power and responsibility.

We create, we destroy, we love, we hate. We live and die, but in between have beautiful moments of heartbreak and wonder. This life is one fleeting honour to be a part of.

The foundation of this blog and this business is personal empowerment. It’s not fluffy because the world isn’t; it demands a rawness and fortitude from those of us who stand in it. All we can do is live our best lives while we are here.

Sometimes, when you change everything, life gives you everything you asked for.

Often, in the midst of that change, you really have to lean into the faith that everything will all work out in your favour. Control what you can, let go of the desire to control what you can’t. Life is a wild ride. I don’t think any of us can dispute that. If you crave to feel more wildly passionate and alive, you need to create opportunities for yourself to live harder, explore your truths and find out what you're made of.

You may have heard a similar script in your mind, running on repeat.

I’m not good enough… I’m the exception to the rule… I’ll always come up short… I have the worst luck… Life has it in for me… I’m such an idiot…

If not, that’s great. But if any of these statements resonated, I want you to know that you are normal, not broken.

“It’s hard, just suck it up and accept it.”

An easy statement to make when you’re sitting on the sidelines watching the game.

It’s not so easy to do when you’re the one rolling in the mud. Hurting. Tired. Angry. Forgotten and alone.

The conversation then becomes this… how do you push aside all that pain and carry on when you really want to quit, without sucking it up and pretending you’re not hurting?

To keep society hopeless is to destroy its purpose and therefore its discipline. A person without discipline will not harbour any plans for the future, in turn spending resources on comfort and enjoyment rather than on the building and creation of their dreams.

Motivation will not always be your copilot. It takes the dark days off and lingers in the shadows of the early mornings.

Shame is a co-pilot for many people.

If it’s a constant companion to you, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s thrust upon us during childhood and used as a weapon in adulthood by those selling solutions to people who are made to believe they are broken.

Shame is as lucrative as fear.

We talk about riding the wave of emotions, but what does that actually feel like?

Sports always relate back to life, and their tendency to act as endless metaphors for living mean they never stop handing out opportunities to learn more about ourselves through them. Experiencing the rawness of the present moment with surfing, snowboarding, or any adventure sport whether you’re succeeding at it or not — quite often, more intensely when you don’t — is an experience that stops time.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, but it’s illusive and the hardest to lean into when your world is falling apart.

You, as a human, are built out of love. The only reason you may not feel like it right now is because you came here as a soul to experience the complications of hardship. Hardship that's the hardest to learn to be grateful for, but here's exactly how you can make that shift.