stay in the middle
“As you center by not participating in the swings, the energies will naturally find their balance. You will become much clearer because so much energy is flowing up in you. The experience of being present in each moment will become your natural state. You won’t be fixated on certain things or caught up in thoughts about the opposites. As you get clearer, life’s events will actually seem to unfold in slow motion. Once this happens, events will no longer seem confusing or overwhelming no matter what they are.”
— Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul
On a recent podcast I shared The Untethered Soul as one of five books I’d recommend people read in 2025. I confessed that I hadn’t finished the book but I was still confident recommending it.
The book has been on my mind lately, so I decided to bring it with me on a short trip out west, and to my surprise, I found highlights throughout the book—all the way to the end.
I remember starting to read it, but I don’t remember finishing reading it or making all of the highlights—but I know it’s my highlighting because I can tell by the sloppiness of the highlights. I don’t know what it means that I don’t remember the first time reading it, but I’m looking forward to diving into The Untethered Soul again.
As for the quote, this was not one of the passages I had highlighted from my first reading. I don’t live in the state Singer describes, but I do spend a lot of time there. I was recently telling a friend how much fun life becomes when you see the meaning behind events as they unfold, especially when the lessons are moving you in the direction of your authentic life.
It comes from a chapter about the Tao (pronounced dow). As Singer describes, the Tao is found in the middle and we spend most of our time living in extremes—the past or the future, feeling as we don’t have enough money or dreaming amount millions, etc. Singer does a great job explaining the Tao and how much energy we waste swinging from one extreme to the other like a pendulum. I encourage you to grab a copy of the book for this chapter alone, and if you really want to challenge your Self, pick up a copy of Tao te Ching (another book I’m going to revisit since my understanding of life is drastically different than the first time I read it).
But for now, be aware of whether or not you are living in an extreme or if you’ve found the Tao. Once you experience the Tao, you’ll want to spend more time in it.
🎧 Listen to today's Note on the LifeDesign+ podcast. (podcast will be delayed today due to traveling)
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.
