Do you see this,
My friends?
I hope you see how playful this all is.
There's no judgment in it at all.
It's just saying,
Hey,
Can we acknowledge the insanity here for a moment?
Can we just be honest about what's going on here,
About how much I hide,
How much I don't show up because I'm scared of what other people are going to think?
Because I'm scared of failure,
Which is really about what other people are going to think?
Because I'm scared of losing all of my stuff,
Which is really about what other people think?
This life isn't about what other people think.
It's so hilarious because no one even thinks about you.
Here,
This is a fun rabbit hole.
Do you see this?
The person that you think you are?
Do this with me here.
Just look at that for a second.
We can also refer to this as an ego.
But you have this person in your mind,
The character of you that you think you are.
Do you see that?
Okay.
Now,
Let me ask you this character that lives in your imagination.
Can anyone else see this character?
The character that exists inside your mind,
In your imagination,
That is so worried about what other people think about it.
Can anyone else see that character?
No.
And do you see that that character operates as if other people can see it?
Nobody ever sees that character.
This is living a life of complete delusion,
Adorably so.
It's an innocent misunderstanding about life and what it is to be human.
And it's an understanding we are working our way through.
To find our way back to reality.
A reality where,
Actually,
There's nothing to be afraid of.
A reality where,
Actually,
There's just an invitation to go play.
And on that path of play,
There will be an adventure.
And with all adventures,
Sometimes it's a little scary.
But something in you knows,
Okay,
Really there's nothing to be afraid of,
But yeah,
This is scary.
Which is why it's an adventure.
And often it's hard.
Because you want to get better at things,
You want to improve.
And that's hard.
It's supposed to be.
The willingness to do hard things is like a declaration that says,
This is important.
Do you hear that?
The willingness to do hard things is like a declaration that says,
This is important.
This is why I'm here.
Yes,
It's hard.
This reminds me of just how much life wants to support you.
But the way that it works is that life responds to you.
Most people are just waiting around for life to do something.
It doesn't work that way.
You're more important than that.
You are an integral piece of this puzzle.
You have to show up.
Life responds to you.
As you.
Most people,
They have a voice of sincerity that offers a direction or a path that is deeply sincere,
Genuine.
And then the fear comes in and says,
Well,
I don't know what's going to happen.
So I need to figure out first what's going to happen.
I need to make sure it's certain.
And then once I know the outcome is certain,
Then I'll move.
Do you see how that says nothing about how important it is?
That's essentially saying that this isn't important.
What you're essentially saying is what's important is I don't look like an idiot.
Coming back to what's important is how other people perceive me.
So I'm only going to do this if I don't fail.
Which is like saying this isn't important at all.
But when you recognize a sincerity that wants to move,
That wants to breathe,
And you don't care what the outcome is,
It's too important.
Then life shows up to move on your behalf.
And it's worthwhile to say life doesn't show up in the ways that you want it to.
Life shows up in a way that serves your journey.
Like imagine you move forward and you find out,
Oh,
This is hard.
Life says,
Yeah,
It's supposed to be hard.
That's what supports your journey.
I keep failing.
Yeah,
You're supposed to fail.
That's part of learning.
But below the surface,
There is definitely a force that's going to work on your behalf.
You know what it's like for the creatives out there like myself?
It's like with writing.
So many people will say,
I don't feel inspired to write.
So I'm going to go stream my favorite TV show.
Are you even available to be inspired?
Are you showing up consistently on a regular basis,
Holding space for inspiration to come?
Or if it's hard and it's just not there or you don't feel like it,
Do you just go distract yourself?
Is that what you're here to do?
You see,
There's a dance going on between you and life,
You and the universe,
You and God,
Whatever you want to call it.
And in a manner of speaking,
Life needs to know you're for real.
For example,
So often when I do these talks,
I show up and I have no clue what I'm going to talk about.
Or I might have a title in mind and that's it.
But I consistently show up.
Life gives me something to talk about.
Effectively,
I show up and I get out of the way and I say,
Okay,
Life,
Here I am.
My voice is yours.
What do you want to say?
It's the same for writing as well,
At least for me.
It's so obvious that this character called Tiger is not doing anything.
What I am is simply a vessel for that something,
Whatever you want to call it,
Wants to move.
This is the great adventure for me is to get out of my own way and let God use me in the way that God wants to so that love can expand.
That's one way of saying it.
Another way of saying it is discover something beautiful on the inside of what you are and then find a way to share that beauty with the world and devote your life to it.
Make it your life.
Maybe it's just for a season,
Who knows?
Maybe you're only alive for another season,
Who knows?
But honor the call.
Yeah,
It could take a really long time.
What else are you going to do?
Play games on your phone?
Scroll through meaningless nonsense?
What else are you going to do?
Do you want to live a life on purpose?
Really?
Or do you just want to exist and be blown around in the wind,
Constantly afraid of what other people are thinking about you?
Damn it.
This is your life.
Don't waste it.
Really.
Yes,
It's hard,
I know.
Yes,
It seems like we're constantly failing,
I know,
That's part of it.
But you're just learning,
It doesn't mean what you think it means about you.
You're just getting information on how to improve,
That's all it is.
Just keep going.
Give this gift to yourself,
A life on purpose.
And you might not know where to start,
That's fine,
Just get honest with yourself.
Get honest about how you're wasting your time,
How you're distracting yourself,
How you're avoiding,
How you're not being honest.
Just get honest about it.
And then face it.
Look in the mirror and say,
Wow,
I hide a lot.
And that hiding that I'm doing is affecting all areas of my life,
Maybe even my health.
It's time for a classic resurrection,
Inspired by God or the truth of life,
That raises you from the dead,
And you say,
Okay,
Let's go.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
