Summary:
- Time is running out to sign up for the second ever Inner Excellence/YWAM Homes of Hope Retreat! It’s Nov. 7-11, 2024. Come build a house with us for a needy family in Mexico and learn Inner Excellence at a fraction of the usual cost at the same time. Limited space. Find out more here. ❤️
- My next book, The Best Possible Life: How to Live with Deep Contentment, Joy, and Confidence–No Matter What is coming soon (could be this month)! For your enjoyment, today I’m sharing a section that got edited out of the book. If you find it engaging, imagine how the book will be. 😎 (Or perhaps you’ll email me to say you can see why the editor cut it!)
Note: Please continue to pray for ceasefire in Gaza and donate to humanitarian organizations like Amnesty International to help those suffering and dying in Gaza as well as Ukraine and East Africa.
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“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable.” – Robert Henri, American painter
Great art or music or athletic performance comes from a certain energy. It’s an energy with four key characteristics, in this order:
1. Selflessness.
Complete lack of self-protection and self-promotion (no need to protect self or gain anything). The self is forgotten (along with all concerns and desires—except to fully experience the moment); self is merged into and one with the moment.
2. Non-judgmental awareness
To be in the moment but not judging the moment.
3. Curious excitement
It’s what our dogs Toblerone and Murphy feel when they think they’re going for a walk… or what a two-year-old feels when they see an ant or worm or mud puddle.
4. Strong connection to (or at least an awareness of) immense beauty and possibilities.
These four steps are similar to the pattern of mental toughness. To be mentally tough we need inner strength. Inner strength is highly correlated to inner peace (which is a clear mind and unburdened heart). Inner peace is closely connected to gratitude. Finally, gratitude is strongly linked to beauty.
Think of it this way: Imagine an extraordinary piece of art or violin concerto or the poetry in motion of an immaculate double-play in baseball. All are beautiful and they all have fundamental things in common. They have a powerful, positive energy—the flow of resonance.
If you witness any of these artistic moments and you have the first three characteristics listed above, you’ll really enjoy the experience. You’ll capture the beauty.
Most of us however, most of the time, miss the experience. We miss the beauty.
We’re too busy with what trips most people up every day: we’ve been caught up in our concerns and desires, self-protecting and/or self-promoting (wanting to gain something from others). Because we’re caught up with our own needs and desires, we’re also caught up with our fears and anxieties. Thus we’re judging everything because of the weight of our concerns and desires…
So we’re not curious or excited… and thus the awareness of beauty is lost. So is mental toughness and so is the flow of resonance.
The daily life of deep contentment, joy, and confidence (the flow of resonance), comes from an intimate relationship with awe and wonder. To get that awe and wonder, we need to let go of all our temporary attachments, concerns, and desires. It all starts with a selfless–and therefore fearlessness–that lays the foundation. Then we can be non-judgmental, which will expand our vision, make us curious and excited, and unveil the beauty.
How about you? Have you been able to get past the human default self-in-the-center life, being non-judgmental, curiously excited?
How many times have you gotten to awe and wonder?
I’d love to hear.
Love Jim
PS
Come join us, Nov. 7-11, 2024, for the Inner Excellence/YWAM Homes of Hope House build/retreat. All you need is to get to the San Diego airport with your passport. No experience necessary. You’ll get the full Inner Excellence retreat AND the full YWAM Homes of Hope house build experience for a fraction of the price of both.
The normal price for a 1:1 Inner Excellence retreat is $12,000 USD. The normal price for a YWAM Homes of Hope House build is about $2,300 USD. If you come in November, you can get both for as low as $1,648 USD (based on total cost with the scholarship last year).
This is because the Inner Excellence Freedom Project has scholarships to pay for your portion of the house (around $12,500 USD divided by 12 or so people), and the Inner Excellence Retreat portion is only $750 USD.
The reason the Inner Excellence Retreat is so much cheaper (for this experience only) is to encourage people to do something that will change their lives and a family’s life–forever.
Click here for more information on this life-changing trip.
See you soon!!