Every year, another year goes by.
Are you any closer to gaining a better understanding of who you are, what you are here on this planet to do—your purpose?
What if you woke up in the morning and didn’t look at your phone?
Your spouse can manage the kids for five minutes. That’s doable.
You sit in a room for five minutes.
No music.
No podcasts.
No books.
No phones, smartwatches, gadgets, or magic rings that tell you all about you.
Just uninterrupted time for self-reflection.
Not meditation—self-reflection. Said another way, a time to inquire within, to have a conversation with yourself.
Not meditation—self-reflection. Said another way, a time to inquire within, to have a conversation with yourself.
You ask yourself simple but probing questions:
What do I want in life? What am I passionate about? What makes me happy?
You may not have the answers on day one, and that’s fine.
Think about it like this: if you and I met once a week, every week, for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, we would get to know each other pretty well. Take that same approach with yourself. But instead of once a week, do Monday to Friday. Most people have routines on these days, and it is easier to incorporate and make it part of your weekday ritual.
People say five minutes is hard.
But if someone you like invites you to dinner, you’ll find a way to say yes—and that may be a two-hour dinner with that person.
Did you know that there are twenty-four five-minute segments in two hours? Crazy, I know, but there are.
So, by saying no to one dinner, you could sit with yourself for five minutes every day for twenty-four days straight.
We make choices. And we make excuses.
When you give up excuses and take full responsibility for every aspect of yourself, you begin to make conscious choices.
We’ll spend two hours with others, but we won’t give ourselves five minutes. Contemplate this.
Why? Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that we don’t desire it enough. You have to want it. You have to truly want it—so badly, so deeply, that you would do what it takes to get it. When my guru asked me what I was willing to do for it—what I had expressed as my life goal—I replied, “I’ll give my life for it. I’ll give up the world I know and move to the monastery to study with you.” And I did.
Front-end the work. Spend the time now to understand yourself—to know your purpose, needs, goals, and more. Then you can spend the rest of your life living in alignment with that. That is a recipe for a happier life—a more rewarding and fulfilling life.
Will you commit to this five-minute daily practice?
