Joe's JOLT! - EVERYTHING is The Way

I start my day with a passage from Marcus Aurelius’, Meditations.

Stoicism has helped me in many areas of my life; I’m a big believer in the Philosophy and will continue to practice every day while I’m here, above dirt.

One of the things that Marcus wrote (almost 2,000 years ago) that has always stuck with me is, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Ryan Holiday in his very excellent books on Stoicism, puts it in another light, “The obstacle is the way.”

In other words, you can take a bag of concrete and build a barrier, or a steppingstone.

I was reading with my son before bed the other night and had one of those lightbulb moments.

EVERYTHING is The Way.

Two of the most destructive emotions are fear and anger (when misguided).

They get in the way of logic and rationality.

They get in the way of you being your BEST.

They get in the way of RIGHT NOW, and the present moment is diminished or lost.

In mediation, mindfulness – whatever you call it – one of the teachings is for you to observe the emotion without judgement, be curious about it, why it is there.

You are NOT the emotion, you are a Being, EXPERIENCING the emotion.

Saying things like, I AM SO ANGRY is not helpful.

YOU are not anger.

You are YOU, experiencing anger.

This takes practice.

I still fail daily.

But I’m getting better.

Going back to my lightbulb moment.

While observing and being curious about these thoughts and emotions and discovering their root is necessary, action is imperative.

Meaning, Action is THE WAY.

Fear and anger? They can be toxic because of how you feel when experiencing them.

But once I become aware of what is going on, both give me a chance to be me BEST and TRUE self.

Fear. Gives me a chance to be brave. Bravery is not the absence of fear; it is being scared to death and moving forward regardless, come hell or high water.

Anger. I now have an opportunity to convert anger into RESOLVE. Be the bigger man, keep my chin up, treat other people with dignity and respect and DO THE RIGHT THING on MY part, right now.

It isn’t about being right.

It is about knowing right and DOING RIGHT.

All the time.

But it isn’t just the “difficult” emotions or situations.

It is EVERYTHING.

Every encounter, moment, gives you the opportunity to be the best.

To be WORLD CLASS.

My friend Jeffrey taught me that there are three types of people in their field:

Experts, world-class experts, and THE World-Class Expert.

My Goal is to be World-Class in whatever I am doing right now.

Taking out the trash, washing dishes, walking my dog, serving a customer, helping a friend or stranger, being THE World Class Dad or Partner.

There is a phrase attributed to Zen Buddhism, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Which leads me to another Martyism (my dad): “Son, you don’t do things half-assed.”

That has stuck with me, and it is always in the back of my head.

My dad also always told me growing up, “Bud, just because someone else is doing that, doesn’t mean that you do it. You know what’s right.”

He would tell me of lessons he learned from his father on morals and scruples.

The difference between right and wrong and DOING Right.

Simple but very powerful.

Carrying out every action with integrity and character.

Whatever I am facing right now, it is not IN the way; It IS The Way.

Stay Resilient,

Joe