Apparently I was too excited to publish my first blog post yesterday that I didn’t completely finish the story. Also I think I was scared that if the post was too long, people would get bored and not finish it. 

One of the points I was trying to make yesterday was that I obviously followed the wrong path (career wise but lord knows in many other ways as well) and all it took was a conversation with a coworker to wake me up, slap me in the face and say like get at it, what are you waiting for, you can still do this!

It might not turn into a career at this point (writing is what I’m talking about, my missed calling, read yesterday’s post), but I can still dabble in it and feel some of that fulfillment that was missing for so many years. 

For some reason around the time that I started writing is when I learned what “dharma” is and I began to really awaken as a person and realized that I had so much to learn and more importantly unlearn. I was browsing in a book store and picked up Jay Shetty’s “Think Like a Monk”. Not exaggerating, the first few pages blew my mind. It was the first time I had ever conceded and chose a book from the “self help” genre as (I learned after reading several self help books) my ego had always kept me from such things. 

Prior to reading Think Like a Monk, I thought I had life all figured out. I knew who I was, I had always had plenty of confidence and thought that meant that I had nothing to learn or unlearn. I had been such a fool for so long. I think maybe some people are born and raised in ways that the stuff Jay Shetty talks about would just be common knowledge and NOT mind blowing. I was not one of those people lol. 

For me, every sentence was a realization and I read the book cover to cover five times, bought two copies and for a while told every person I bumped into that they need this book in their lives. After I read it a couple of times then I just kept it on the couch and each morning would read a page or two from it and would try and absorb and live out the words I’d read.

That was just the start of my journey to learn and unlearn as much as I could. Almost shameful to have gone 40+ years lacking that much self realization but I’m happy that I’ve arrived there now and I share what I am learning with my three older kids in hopes that they don’t wait 40 years to discover these theories. I started sending some of Jay Shetty’s quotes, along with Eckhart Tolle, Mark Manson and others to my kids on Snapchat a few years ago. Each morning I find some little tidbit to share with them and over time some people who found out I do this asked to be added and now I have nine people besides my kids who have subscribed although I have to admit the majority I just added and basically gave no choice to.