Just Keep Swimming
It’s safe to say you’ve probably seen the Disney movie Finding Nemo and you know the title of today’s note is a famous quote from the character Dori.
“When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming….”
Dori shares her advice and the song she made from it with Marlin when he’s feeling defeated in his pursuit to find Nemo. Her advice to just keep swimming, or essentially not to give up, is one of the key lessons from the movie, and it is shown in different ways throughout.
But Dori’s advice to just keep swimming applies to more than just when you’re down.
Today, I’m just swimming.
I shared with Ang yesterday that for the first time since I started writing my Daily Notes, I struggled to find an idea to write about. This morning, I found my Self in a similar situation, and for a moment, I thought to my Self that maybe it was a sign to take a pause from my morning writing. After all, I’ve maintained the Daily Notes longer than anything else I’ve ever done, and a short break would not be the end of the world.
But a pause would be breaking my promise to my Self and you that I would be in your inbox each morning with a note to hopefully help you as your pursue your authentic life
So, skipping this morning’s note was not an option.
For some reason, as I thought about not stopping and just starting to write Dori’s “Just Keep Swimming” popped into my head—we watch a lot of Disney in our house, or at least have it on as background noise, but Finding Nemo has not been on for a long time, so for the song to show up in my mind was a message from The Universe helping me find today’s note
The first message for today’s note is to keep swimming as you are on your Pursuit—you probably already know that, so let this serve as a reminder just in case you find your Self in one of the moments. You don’t have to keep swimming straight, you can swim to the side, swim underwater, and even change up your stroke but just keep swimming and you’ll find your way through the moment.
As I sat in front of my iPad thinking through potential ideas for today’s note, I reflected on what might be making the writing process more difficult in the last couple of days—comparing my morning routine when I first started writing, the summer, and my new recent routine since school has started.
I’m glad I did this because although the activities are the same in my routine, the order has changed. I’ve been doing my morning meditation AFTER the boys have left for school before I leave for my morning yoga class—this is also after I’ve written the daily note. I always believed that my meditation was when I “downloaded” the daily note, and now I am sure of it.
So my second message for today’s note is when you find your Self thinking of pausing or stopping your Pursuit, take a moment to evaluate what might have changed that could have led to feeling that way. There might be a minor change that you are underestimating the impact it is having on the alignment of spirit, mind, and body.
For me, the morning routine will start slightly earlier so I can do a “morning download” meditation before I write the note for the day, and I’ll leave the longer transcendental meditation for after the boys leave and the house is quiet—my guess is the Daily Notes will get back to the ease I used to write them with not too long ago.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
