two words
Two words. (I so badly wanted to turn the beginning of this into a new verse of Kanye West's song Two Words, but those creative juices weren't flowing tonight.)
Patience.
Epitome.
These two words will be my guides for ‘25.
I will have goals and other things motivating me throughout the year, but these two words cover any and everything I might decide to pursue this upcoming year.
I didn’t plan on having two words for the new year–I originally was only going with patience, but over the last couple of days epitome kept coming back to me; I have told a few close friends about “epitome” before but I didn’t expect to make the meaning behind that word public.
Let’s start with "patience"…
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a critical revelation that I had recently had–the Note was called “the overnight success that took ten years to build,” I encourage you to revisit that Note as a refresher, but long story short, I realized that I am not ready in many ways to be the future version of my Self—the one I’m so excited to be–right now. I have time to grow into that version of me, continue to learn about the authentic life, perfect my message, and get to a point in life where Ang and I have more freedom to travel as I have the opportunities to speak and help people discover their authentic Self and lives.
With this new understanding and removal of pressure to “blow up” for lack of a better term, I can wake up each day and enjoy the process—enjoy the Pursuit. I can be patient and allow everything to unfold exactly as it is supposed to, when it is supposed to.
Patience in allowing everything to fall into place—as Paulo Coehlo writes in The Alchemist, “Maktub”.
Another area patience will guide me in ‘25 is my personal life, specifically as a dad.
I have three amazing boys with so much potential, and I know they are destined for great things–I can see and feel it. Despite knowing how special they are and being so very proud of them, I find my Self with less and less patience with them as they do things that 14, 12, and 7-year-olds do.
It’s silly things, too.
Picking on each other, not listening, talking back, etc.---all of the dumb things I probably did when I was their age, yet I sometimes expect them to understand what I understand now (but didn’t then) because I want them to have an advantage over me and the significant advantages I had growing up.
The more I read about why people struggle to find their authentic lives, everything pretty much goes back to childhood trauma, often unknowingly inflicted on them by their parents. And because I know this, I want to have more patience so I cause as minimal childhood trauma as possible—I don’t want to stand in the way of them and their authentic life because I get frustrated with how they treat each other sometimes as teenagers.
Funny how the Universe can be sometimes…as I am writing this Note and this particular part about being more patient with the boys, Roman comes in from the other hotel room and begins messing with Silas—couldn’t have timed it any better, lol.
So “patience” will remind me to enjoy this next year (and beyond) as I evolve into the future version of my Self I am excited to experience—patience will also allow me to be more present during this period of growth as well.
Patience will also help me be a better parent, have stronger and closer relationships with the boys, and hopefully help them live their authentic lives sooner; it’ll also save me a lot of stress and beating my Self up for the times I allow frustration to get the best of me.
Now for “epitome”…
I will be the epitome of the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money. If I’m going to talk about it, I need to be about it—I need to be the example of what I believe to be one of the most essential alignments to be found.
And I need to do it for my Self.
I maintain my alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money, but I do so within a range or band—thing alignment +/- some sort of alignment measurement. As long as I stay within the range, I’m good, and as soon as I begin to notice I’m outside of the range, I dial back in my practices. This works and actually works well, but it’s time for me to always be dialed in—always doing my practices that help me maintain my alignment.
I know I need to be deeply connected to the Universe and aligned to head to where I am patiently waiting to go—what has worked this last year (the range) won’t work for where I’m going.
So the first reason I want to be the epitome of the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money is for ME.
But secondarily, and still very important, I want anyone who sees me to know that I am living what I’m sharing.
I don’t think I need to make it something that I’m always documenting—I don’t think you want to see me meditating, doing yoga, writing, etc; there might be a time for those types of posts and maybe some other subtle ways to show that I’m doing the work, but I think doing it for the ‘gram takes away the purpose because it’s no longer about me first.
Instead, I want my energy to let people know that I’m aligned and operating at a high frequency when I see them.
I want you to see me returning from a morning meditation or workout at a conference.
I want you to see me eating healthy and clean at an event.
I want you to see me exhibiting love because I’m so aligned that I’m at the higher level of consciousness I seek.
By authentically living my alignment, I will share the message I hope others will take from it—I’ll be the epitome of someone living an authentic life led by an alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money.
So those are my two words for the new year and a little about why I chose them to help me experience another tremendous year; I hope you can find a word or two to help you this year as well.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
🦅 Some ways I might be able to help you live your authentic life:
🤝 One on Ones Let's hop on Zoom to do a guided meditation, a creative brainstorming session, or an overcoming an obstacle session.
📝 LifeDesign+ LifeDesign+ is rooted in the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process, which is a five-step process to help discover what your authentic life looks like and begin to design a plan to bring that life to reality. It continues to incorporate the alignment of your spirit, mind, and body to ensure you evolve with your authentic life, as the authentic life is not a destination, it’s an evolution.
💸 AlignedLife+ AlignedLife+ (and the one-time engagement AlignedLife) takes LifeDesign+ to the next level by aligning your finances with your authentic life at RLS Wealth. For individuals looking for a financial advisor to help design and manage their financial plan while maintaining the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money, AlignedLife+ was created specifically for you.
📈 LifeDesign+ for financial advisors LifeDesign+ for financial advisors mirrors the LifeDesign+ relationship, including the focus on the alignment of spirit, mind, and body, with an important distinction—once the plan for your authentic life has been designed, we shift our focus to integrating your new plan with your practice.
🤝 Outsourced life planning As your outsourced life planner, you bring me in to take your client through the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process to help them better understand who they are, what they want their life to look like, and create a vision of this life for you to execute on the financial plan. Since you are their financial advisor, you will be a part of each of the meetings, so you understand the “why” behind your client’s new plan.
