Reigning in Your Focus
23 Sunday Jun 2019
Written by Michelle in Better Behaviour, Living your Purpose, Thoughts on everything, When Things Don't Go Right
For a year, or two, I haven’t written much. I felt like I was beating the same, noisy drum…no one was listening to my rhythm. Was I out of sync? Did I need to reign in my focus? It’s so simple, I’ve said it a million times (slight exaggeration)…
What you focus on becomes your world.
For the first 3-years of writing “The Art of The Well-Lived Life” I focused on joy, building a life you would love and tips for creatives growing their businesses. I shared those ideas with you. It worked.
Then something changed.
I noticed the world was becoming collectively ugly. You know what I mean, so I’m not going to dive into details. I got fixated on demanding a big, fat, collective time out from everyone.
No one sat down.
I felt powerless. My voice was too soft. In retrospect, perhaps it was too angry? I think, in an 
effort to “fix it,” I was becoming part of the problem. Maybe, hey!!! I was beating a toxic drum!
What you focus on becomes your world.
So, I sat my sorry butt down. I gave myself a big, fat time out. I wrestled with my demons and tried to sort it out. During my deep breath (it’s a metaphor) I looked for beauty. I looked for what was right. I looked for joy. Then, God delivered a gem – right in my lap. Thank YOU!
It was a blessing and a joy to stumble upon “The Creativity Habit” Daphne Cohn’s podcast. See, each day, on my walk, I look for beautiful things. They’re all over my neighborhood, and probably in yours, too. You can see some of them at @notes.fromthenest on Instagram. While walking, I listen to podcasts. This is when, quite by accident, but more likely by Divine Design, I found #66 – “How to live a joy-filled life doing what you most love” with Jesh de Rox.
Never has anything made me feel so understood. De Rox knows how to get to the core of our humanity and urge us, simply, to be ourselves and choose joy. He simplifies the language, collates the thoughts, validates the fear and reminds us of our choices. Have a look.
It’s not easy…but, it’s perfect for me. It might be perfect for you, too. Have a listen to the podcast here.
So, I reached out to Jesh to thank him. He told me about his podcast mini-series, Practical Forms of Self Love. It’s on my playlist.
I encourage you to fill your ears, and hearts. If you do, let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you – just leave a note below in the comments. By the way, Google doesn’t like the search-ability of my post. After listening to the podcast, I’m not fixing it – because I’m marching to the beat of my OWN drum! So, please feel free to share the post. Let’s make it a conversation. Let’s keep it bright and beautiful. Because, you know….
What you focus on becomes your world.
Michelle Andres is a writer and artist who cultivates her own Well–Lived 
Life by drinking in the beauty around her, following her passions, respecting others and doing her best to own herown dookie.
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Photos: 123 RF
Headshot: Jeremy Meehan Photography
3 Comments
June 25, 2019 at 5:37 pm
thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey and your excitement, my friend. we’re all here to help each other and it’s cool to come across people who honor that.
a thing that comes to me to share that i’ve been thinking a lot about recently, is that no matter what situation you’re in, no matter the circumstances, no matter who’s in the room or what they’re saying or doing, it’s always just between you and God (or your higher self or the universe or whatever you want to call it).
what i mean is that there is a big temptation to focus on others’ ideas, opinions, approval etc. and subconsciously put them on a pedestal. as i spoke about in the podcast, we have a very strong, biological innate desire to be approved by the culture. the problem is, we’re here to change the culture. it’s made of the past, and we are the future. because of that, immediate acceptance is rare. you could even say that if the culture is immediately accepting you you might not be doing your job well enough lol.
creative spirits like us are meant to go deeper, farther, be bolder than most people are willing to be. this means a life of a lot of ‘mistakes’ a lot of time spent chasing butterflies in all their many forms by ourselves. and it is gratifying to get feedback from people that our work is touching them, and it is an important part of what we do. but i think peace in the process comes in understanding that will be a necessarily rare experience. and that needing it to happen constantly will not only drive a person mad with anxiety it will put them into a non-intentional worship of the past (which is what culture is entirely made of) and keep them from forging the path ahead into the wild unknown future.
it’s ok to notice what others are thinking and doing. but we can’t worship it. we can’t put it first. remember that it’s always just me and ‘God’ in the room – the only approval that really matters – helps me keep that focus.
to borrow from jesus (a powerful creative, whether or not a person is into religion) at the end of his life he said ‘it is finished.’ there probably isn’t anything more powerful you can say at the end. he knew he did what he came here to do. he honored his work. he didn’t say ‘you like me.’ in fact, he was so incredibly unpopular that he was killed.
you’re right. it’s not easy. but building the bravery to do what we came here to do and be who we came here to be is the only thing that really matters at all. and there’s a peace and fulfillment that comes from doing it that is beyond the fickle love of the crowd or the tidal shifts of circumstance.
again, thank you for sharing your heart. i can feel it and am blessed by it. sending you blessings and love for this new wing of your adventure
June 26, 2019 at 4:30 pm
Thank you for sharing, Jesh. So many people ask what their mission is in this life…why am I here? Few are quiet enough to hear the answer. It’s whispered on the wind, or sometimes in our ear. As you said in the podcast…”Follow your heart.” I love the idea of only you and God in the room.
April 23, 2024 at 8:54 pm
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