TONI TALKS | MINDSET | IT’S ABOUT TIME

Hey YOU… Seize The Day!

Resolve to invest time recalling what you were born to do.

You hit the genetic lottery of earthly existence. The odds of your being born are estimated at one in 400 trillion. However, actuaries shy away from confirming a nearly impossible statistic to calculate.

The bottom line is that your arrival on this spiritual plane could NOT be random. You are here by design. There is no better time [than now] to figure out what you’re here to do.

On a personal note, journaling the journey is how I’ve leveraged the power of Medium. Writing helped me get a “read” on myself.

There’s no better time [than now] to get down to figuring out what you’re here to do.

Become a digital diarist to reflect on the sum of your experiences. Take time to focus on pivotal situations. Write about the people on your path. Write about the role you played. Write about where it was.

Pay particular attention to the time when the situation unfolded. Look at societal norms. Question the ways history unfolded in the background. Framing is key.

Think about how the outcome informed future decisions and shaped the trajectory of your life. Each situation added depth and context to your story.

We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are. ― Anaïs Nin

Although your genetic lottery number hit, it may not have equated to a win. Yet, on arrival, it did come with a door prize. You either hit the jackpot with prized caretakers or crapped out amid generational chaos.

Regardless of where you landed as a child, whatever happened to you was out of your control. Even in the best situations, you may have felt like a puppet whose strings were constantly being pulled.

Your mind, designed as a processor, began to sort, synthesize, and acclimate to your surroundings. In adulthood, after years of cataloging external stimuli, your mind seamlessly shifts to autopilot.

Although your psyche continues to process new information, just below the level of consciousness, it suggests shortcuts to simplify your life. In summary, your mind defaults to unconscious narratives to help you make sense of everything that happened to you from the second you were born.

Over time, myriad thoughts have merged and manifested through the story you harbor. The loudest are from outsiders. The problem is that they amplify fear.

What makes them so damaging is their ability to persuade you to react violently to looming threats. Messages in print and on film reinforce a vigilante mentality.

However, as MLK once stated (and I’m paraphrasing), when a community embraces an eye for an eye justice… everyone ends up blind.

Messages laced with fear echo in your mind and prevent you from crossing perceived boundaries. Over time, those thoughts impede growth by making big assumptions from a tiny lens of insight.

Your mind often convinces you to buy into the larger societal story. The problem with co-opting an external mindset is that the story doesn’t ring true on a visceral level. Something is off, and you feel it in your soul.

You already have everything you need to navigate life successfully. What’s missing is the time investment to reconstruct your story and live in alignment with your authentic self.

There’s no better time to wake up your mind than now. Realize every story outside of yourself has a hook. You just need to be aware of the buy-in.

Beware of people who use words that oversimplify the hard work it takes to plan, set, and act to achieve any goal you take the time to envision.

Be wary of everyone who tries to sell you on the idea that what you need to “feel whole” exists outside yourself. In retrospect, many of the stories I bought into were riddled with limiting beliefs.

Your mind’s eye dictates who your people are. It yells about what you should do. It questions when the time is right to move. It cautions you to stay put. It defines where you belong.

The why attached to every thought you have is deeply buried in your brain. In 2024, take time to examine the biases behind your beliefs. I speak from the experience of walking my talk.

Using Medium to journal my journey, helped me identify the roots of my discontent. I reviewed what I wrote, and then I challenged my thoughts. The return on that time investment has yielded definitive answers to complex questions regarding what to do next.

Ask yourself hard questions. If the answers fall short of loving yourself, and others (you may not consider part of your tribe) change is the correct option.

🎤About Me ➖ Toni Greathouse (moniker) Toni The Talker ➖ 🤔

Racing toward age 60. Living every day like it’s my last. Planning like I’ll be here 60 more. Walking My Talk. Rewriting my Reality. Leaving a Legacy.