Joseph Campbell put it in the form of practical advice in a conversation with Bill Moyers. “Sacred space is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”

What would I say to a future great-grandson or daughter about their identity? “Don’t let us hold you back!” While you may have our eyes, smile, sense of humor, or love of fried chicken, don't let the inherited traits of your ancestors be your total identity. Go inside, in silence, until you discover that you are a child of the Creator, then allow his energy to flow to and through your physical traits. Become the eternal you that you were intended to be. That, my child, is our life's work.

How do you fight this feeling? Like Jacob, Achilles, and Menelaus, do you wrestle with God? Or, like Jesus, do you duel with the devil for 40 days and nights in the wilderness? Or, like Mary and John, do you turn, head down, and head home, one step at a time, to finish Friday, then suffer through Saturday, one breath at a time, with no sight of Sunday in the forecast? Perhaps you do all of the above - or none of the above.

Brendon Burchard wrote in the Motivation Manifesto, "The sunshine of enlightenment spreads to those who understand that the moments of our lives must not go unnoticed and unlived.” He continued, “We mustn’t avoid this day's reality or wish for a better one.”

It was as if I had rounded the corner and come face-to-face with my insignificance, stepping out of a vibrant career with some level of importance into a realm of irrelevance. To those I met, it was as if I wore a label that said “RETIRED,” which translated as “non-essential.”

“Experience will transform your life; understanding comes in only if you want to help others transform their lives.” "That's it," I said as the sun began to lighten the sky through the barren pecan trees out my office window. This drive to understand does not come from the unholy desire to control but a most holy desire to help others experience transformation.

This “mindset + practice” reinforces the mindset and produces an evidence-based faith that builds on itself. My progress can even be measured by simply monitoring the "peace and joy" I experience daily. Am I "in the flow,” receiving from my Creator and acting accordingly? Remember, it’s to me and through me. Am I "trusting the process" or "leaning on my own understanding?” Is my new mindset in Motion?

Let me “think out loud” for a minute and share with you what I'm thinking, but first, I have to put on the correct thinking cap. Not the snug one that says "either–or" but the larger thinking cap that says “both-and.” The two understandings need not be mutually exclusive.

Let's start today with a random question.

On August 21, 2022, I wrote the following in my notebook: "What if I were born 500 years ago? What parts of me would still be me? Strip away time and place and see what's left.” When you have a minute, sit with this question and let it bother you for a while. Do it over and over, and you'll like what you find.

In 1997, my company sent our newly merged management team on an Outward Bound weekend in the forest and hills of Western North Carolina. We were all looking forward to it, imagining days of light hiking and nights of sitting around the campfire, smoking cigars, drinking red whiskey, and eating steaks that someone would cook for us. Instead, we had days full of hiking, rock climbing, repelling, ropes courses, and nights with lanterns, creek water, and dehydrated foods.

It helps that I am sitting in the studio, and the sun is shining through the window on my face. It reminds me that the same energy within that sun is within my body. It's also within the trees that I see and the plants growing in my garden. Each of these components of the universe, including me, has an operating system within it. However, unlike the others, I can choose to operate by this system or usurp it with my own free will.

Nicodemus took action to address his confusion, and I should, too. Research, read, question, listen, and contemplate. Become comfortable in the confusion, or as Brene’ Brown says, “Always straddling the tension and trying not to tap out. Forever convincing ourselves that we can hold so many contradictory pieces and feelings. Not only are tension and contradictory pieces OK and normal — they're the magic sauce.”

I have at least two different types of beliefs within me: those that come from the outside through my senses and those that come from the inside through my spirit. Plus, each of my beliefs carries a different weight - a different level of commitment. I am loaded with one-dimensional and three-dimensional beliefs operating within me at all times. However, in my experience, the beliefs that begin deep within my spirit and work themselves outward carry a much heavier weight of commitment and lead to more effective action.

Change and Resistance to Change.

Let's look at two examples from my era to help us understand this concept of teaching by "shock and awe" when words alone would not work.

Consider this thought: silence is the soil in which the spirit grows. As you do, think about a garden without soil, a heartbeat without the gap in between, and communication without that space between the words.

Jesus’ driving passion was to re-frame every man's “thinking about” and “relationship with” the creator of the universe. He was proposing and modeling a "worldwide idea shift”* that said, “Heaven is not “up there” to be experienced “then” but “right here” to be experienced “right now!”

The day I am doing the final edit on this segment marks the third anniversary of all hope being withdrawn. Millie’s cancer had returned and returned with a vengeance. No hope. Hold close. Love hard! merry. christmas.

Days like today would best be forgotten - but can’t be. Shouldn’t be. So, once again, our family watches the clouds gather, the sky darkens, and we allow our precious memories to drop down into the deepest, most dangerous chamber of our hearts. Recollection becomes a necessary form of self-injury, and each cut is a reminder of the fear of being torn asunder. However, in this pain, we feel. We feel her presence and cherish each sacred scar it leaves.

After years of reading and teaching it, I discovered the life-changing impact of this scene just a year ago. It was spending time with it in my imagination that changed everything. Here, Jesus spoke his first words in John's story - a penetrating question.

An encounter with John put a T-intersection in the lives of his people. They could turn one way and not believe his words or turn the other way, believing and being baptized with the excitement of anticipation, but they could not continue on their previous course. They would never be the same, and baptism marked the spot of the intersection.

Would you like to get a glimpse of this inner space? Close your eyes and sit quietly for a few minutes, focusing on your breath and watching your random thoughts settle down. Now, ask yourself this question. How old do you feel inside? If we're honest with ourselves, it's difficult to place a number on it. If we do, most likely, it bears no resemblance to our chronological age. Do this often, and, like John, you will become acquainted with that ageless and timeless "you" that inhabits your body.