THIS IS REALLY WHAT MARKETERS ARE FIGHTING FOR AND IT’S NOT YOUR TIME.
‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!’ Psalms 46:10
‘Surrender your anxiety! Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God. I am the God above all the nations, and I will be exalted throughout the whole earth.’ Psalms 46:10
What’s the chance that when you first wake up — you check your phone? I’m sure I could find a stat online but I’m going to say it’s probably pretty high. Then, the moment we grab our phone we are bombarded with messages, news, alerts or basically — views of other people.
So, how do you DEFEND STILLNESS in your day?
Your attention is the most valuable asset you have. I heard it best said from Rick Warren.
“The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention. Love concentrates so intently on another that you forget yourself at that moment. Attention says, “I value you enough to give you my most precious asset — my time.” Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love. Jesus modeled this: “Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins” (Ephesians 5:2, LB).”
Our attention is under attack every day. From mobile phones to televisions, we are under a barrage of messaging aimed to distract us from us. From my experience, when I began to defend “my time” — everything changed.
Even Jesus, bombarded by multitudes while on Earth — would go away. He scheduled his time to meditate, pray and observe stillness. He never let the demands of others influence HIS MISSION.
And the reason he didn’t allow others to impact in this fashion was because he understood — HIS MISSION.
After the crowds dispersed, Jesus went up into the hills to pray. And as night fell he was there praying alone with God. Matthew 14:23 TPT
So yah, Jesus is a beast when it comes to leadership, management and all that. Sometimes I get more frustrated when people talk about how awesome Jesus is, his leadership and all that. I’m basically like, “yah duh … he’s the f’n SON OF GOD! Obviously he has his cuss together.”
But what about normal people? The mess ups like me? How do we get our 💩 together?
I was literally about to type — 1. Start Small. However, points to me are dumb sometimes. Everyone is so different. Some like points — others don’t.
So, let me tell you what I do — and maybe you get an idea for what could work for you?
Some would say — schedule time to meditate or be still. I basically do that — but I don’t have it in a calendar. For some reason a calendar note seems to restrictive — so I don’t do it.
My time to be still and meditate happens a few different ways.
The first way for me, is in the morning when I begin to write stuff like this. I read a verse, ponder it and think about who or what else comes to mind. Sometimes it’s friends, past stories, movies, family moments — whatever.
(The other way for me is in the shower.)
The point is to block out all the messaging from everyone else. Get your own messaging aligned for the day. Allow your soul to dream and be awakened by God’s spirit.
Wrestle with big questions. Wrestle with big ideas. Treat your brain like the muscle that it is. Get stronger through resistance and exposure and training. — Ryan Holiday
If you allow your attention to be ruled by everyone else’s messaging — you will inhibit your mind from creating all it’s been designed to create. I kick myself for all the ideas which have been F’N OBLITERATED because I allowed other messaging to clutter my mind.
I can’t increase in wisdom if I don’t put in the work with my mind. And maybe the word “work” is a bad word here — but most of that “work” is defending my attention. I have to be confident enough to know that “stillness” or “meditation” is a secret power that I need to steward correctly. It’s not called a “secret place” in the Bible for no reason.
Both egotistical and insecure people make their flaws central to their identity — either by covering them up or by brooding over them or externalizing them. For them stillness is impossible, because stillness can only be rooted in strength. That’s what we have to focus on. Don’t feed insecurity. Don’t feed delusions of grandeur. Both are obstacles to stillness. — Ryan Holiday
I mentioned this the other day but I have to come back to it, you KNOW the answer to finding stillness. The answer is in you. It’s the voice of the things you procrastinate about. The 💩 you hate or avoid.
You don’t need to ask another mentor, listen to another podcast or search for another online article. You have the truth — it’s the thing you are avoiding. (Another great book to read on this is The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday.)
Let’s move forward in protecting OUR attention.
I hope you get on this journey of “stillness” and really take time to take care of yourself. Take care of your mind, your ideas, your creativity.
No one else will — in fact, most everyone else is trying to STEAL that from you. Fight for it with all your might.
❤️ If this message was helpful in any way — would love a CLAP of COURAGE. If it was super dope — by all means — share the F out of it. We all need courage, even people like me, so THANK YOU 😊
