Understanding this unlocks freedom... or fear...

I don’t think I’ve ever had a realization stir such opposite emotions at the same time. When the idea finally clicked, it left me holding two completely conflicting feelings:

Freedom
Fear

And here’s the understanding that really rocked me. The quality of my life is completely determined by what I choose to focus on.

Maybe you’ve heard this before. But do you understand it? I lived long enough to experience the effects of focusing on the wrong things.

I’ll borrow an analogy from Michael Singer (Author of The Untethered Soul). Imagine you are in a huge warehouse… I like this analogy already 😉. It’s a huge warehouse full of all kinds of things. Some wonderful things and some scary things. But you’re in this warehouse and it's completely dark. The only thing you have is a flashlight. The light comes out but doesn’t really disperse; it has a narrow pattern or beam (like a light saber). Whatever the light falls on, you see. Everything else is dark. Pretty obvious.

That flashlight is us — me and you. Spiritual leaders will tell you that who you are is not your emotions, not your thoughts, and not your body. At our essence, we are each a soul or consciousness. I never really understood these words until I heard someone put it like this. You are your awareness. You are the person who decides what to focus on. The act of giving your attention to anything is who you are at a fundamental level.

You are the flashlight.

So, if I’m the flashlight, I get to decide what to shine my light on, what to give my attention to. The warehouse is everything else that is not the flashlight. It’s my thoughts, feelings, things that happen during the day, natural events, political events, things my friends and family do, etc. It’s everything else. And I get to decide what to focus on.

This year, I’m focusing on gratitude. I can interpret the pile of work that I must do each week as a blessing or a curse. I choose blessing. To do this, I sit and contemplate the opposite. How would it feel to have no work? No income potential?

Justin is focusing on exploring the limits of his potential. He’s going all in on work, health, creativity, and family to create his best life. Amazing.

The main point is this. We get to choose.

And that concept can bring feelings of greatness and unlimited potential (freedom).

Or it can bring the thought “oh crap, there’s no one and nothing to blame for my life. It’s all on me” (fear).

Even in this, we get to choose.

Choose to focus on the freedom.

Here’s to creating our best possible lives.

—Sean