#53: Everything Is A Wave

#WaveWisdom #CommitmentJourney #PerfectionismTrap #FullerLiving

Jan 12, 2024

👋 Welcome to this week's Pursuit. My name is Amir, and each week I go over 10 hours of content in pursuit of living a meaningful, fulfilling and balanced life. I'm grateful to share my findings with you and hope I can have a tiny impact on your life. Subscribe now if you haven't already!

This week’s discovery:

🌊 Everything Is A Wave
🤝 The Power and Beauty of Commitment
🤖 Don’t Turn Kids Into Achievement Robots
😌 Live Fuller, Not Bigger
🗒️ A Quote I'm Pondering On
🎵 Music I'm Listening To

🌊 Everything Is A Wave

I met an interesting person at this year's New Year's celebration. She had a versatile knowledge of astrology and cosmic matters. She shared something with me that really resonated. She said, "Remember that everything in life comes in waves. Feeling bad is always followed by feeling good. A difficult task is always followed by something easier. Change is inevitable, so just maintain a positive attitude in life." The following script from Lisa Olivera beautifully expresses this sentiment:

There have been times where I’ve found myself desperate for the spark, for the capacity to Live Fully, for something to change, for myself to return to myself. That desperation has, in the past, led to me forgetting change is the only option, the only thing that will certainly happen… just not always on my schedule, on my timeline, on my wished-for flip of the switch, in the exact ways I envision. And when I practice letting go of how I think things are supposed to look and instead cultivate a trust in the unfolding that is taking place, often in unseen ways, the Here-ness of challenge or pain or depression or grief or (anything) softens even 5%, and that 5% adds up fast when I don’t assume it’s nothing. And I’ll wait for the spark, the capacity to dance, the Living Fully, to return, all while trying to notice how maybe this place I’m in isn’t a deterrent from my full life but is simply part of what it means to fully live (read more).

🤝 The Power and Beauty of Commitment

In a world of infinite options, we often find ourselves stuck in endless browsing, unable to commit. This "liquid modernity" reflects our reluctance to embrace a single identity or community. While having many options can bring joy, constantly jumping leaves us unsatisfied. We crave deeper connections and commitments, seeking comfort and security. We desire flexibility, authenticity, and novelty, but also more than superficiality and indecision. Despite the allure of endless possibilities, we instinctively recognize the importance of making a choice and fully immersing ourselves. True fulfillment lies in dedicated commitment, leaving behind fear of regret, association, and missing out. By embracing dedication, we transform visions into projects, strangers into neighbors, and ordinary moments into extraordinary ones (read more).

🤖 Don’t Turn Kids Into Achievement Robots

Perfectionism can be damaging as it leads individuals to fixate on small details, neglecting the bigger picture and avoiding taking risks. Instead of practicing self-compassion and learning from mistakes, perfectionists engage in self-shaming. The rise of perfectionism is not solely attributed to social media; parental behaviors also play a significant role. Rising parental expectations and harsh criticism contribute to the increasing trend of perfectionism. In a more competitive world, parents have higher expectations for their children, driven by the fear that their children may not surpass their own achievements. However, this pursuit of success can turn children into achievement robots, leading to burnout. The pressure to meet impossible standards and the fear of failure hinder personal growth and result in a narrow comfort zone. It is essential to recognize the damaging effects of perfectionism and promote self-compassion, risk-taking, and a balanced approach to success (read more).

😌 Live Fuller, Not Bigger

It is easy to delude yourself into believing that the promotion, the MRR number, the more dangerous hike, will earn you peace. We delude ourselves that even though it isn’t making us happy now, bigger amounts of the same will do so in the future. Self-delusion is perhaps the most challenging aspect of attempting the fuller lifestyle. Avoiding work because you're being negligent and avoiding work because you are achieving balance look identical from the outside. Getting this right means you have to be able to confront the full breadth of your weaknesses to ensure you aren’t being controlled by them. The hard part of living fuller, not bigger, is being honest with yourself. That there is no answer is the answer. You have to believe that you have the intelligence and grit to figure it out yourself (read more).

🗒️ A Quote I'm Pondering On

Curation is the art of selection. It’s the filtering through the vast expanse of information we are exposed to, choosing what deserves our attention.