Signs.

Feathers are everywhere on the paths that I’ve been running and walking. I’m not even really looking for them, but they show up day after day after day. Hawks feathers. Turkey feathers. They are right in the middle of my path and I pick them up every single time I’ve seen them.

Signs.

I’m building my wings.

There’s been a lot on my mind over the past couple of months and there have been a few very meaningful things that people have said to me that have stuck in my mind. But one of the most meaningful of all came when they told me that I had the biggest wings they had ever seen but hadn’t really used them yet. It’s been stuck in my mind, and ever since that comment was made there have been feathers showing up everywhere. Not even just the feathers, but the birds themselves are always right there.

Settling into an unsure place is one of the hardest things to do.

Your mind runs at times, you struggle with the constant jabber of the internal critic and you can have a hard time diving into what your inner wisdom tells you. I’ve struggled with this. I’ve struggled with this hard actually. But as the days go on I dive deeper and deeper into what that inner voice is telling me and it’s whispering that everything is going to be just fine. Everything is going to turn out great. Everything is going to all pan together and we are going to fly. While at times that doesn’t stop you from worrying about things, it does help you return back to center day after day no matter what is happening in your life.

Breathe.

When it really comes down to it, you have to breathe. You have to be able to sit in everything that is happening, to breathe, and to realize that no matter what you are still here. No matter the situation, the consequence, the struggle, the challenge, the obstacle or anything else in the book – you’re still here. So breathe. Breathe and breathe again. When we lose our breath we lose our ability to be here right in this moment.

I understand just as much as anyone else does that the past and the future can rip your mind out of appreciating this moment. I’ve lived in both of those places for a long long time and it’s a challenge to slow yourself down when all you want to do is speed things up. When we fall out of our practices, the things that nourish us, the things that we know we need to do – we disconnect from ourselves and we turn into a mess. We suffer through our breakdowns and life becomes pretty hard. The best thing to do is slow down. Slow down and see what’s actually going on and create a gameplan for yourself. Be willing to step back from everything during times of stress and see everything for what it actually is.

I am no stranger to having serious moments of stress. Those moments however have come and gone a lot easier – or at least I have still been able to be incredibly productive and open during this moments because I give them room to play. By giving stress a lot of room to play around in…it eventually calms down. Old life? Oh I used to try to lock it up, throw away the key, and launch it out into the ocean. But the old ways didn’t work too much, and no matter how far I tried to launch it or run from it…I knew it was always there.

Face things head on.

You can’t run from them. You can’t really ignore them and think that they are going to go away. You have to take care of yourself and even further, nourish yourself. We live in a world where everyone is taking. Everyone is strip-mining their relationships, their environment, their bodies…everything. In this world, it’s tough to come back to a place where you feel really connected to yourself, the people, and the things around you. It’s hard. I’ve been there so many times. I fall into “go” mode and forget to keep coming back to “connect” mode. Because when I connect, the best is brought out in me and I can be the best man I can possible be (I also get everything done and more that I would in go mode.) But that “go” mode…it keeps you moving so fast you don’t have any time to really appreciate what you are doing. You’re just constantly going.

Slow down.

Slow way way down.

And if you have a ton of things that you need to be doing, just take 5 minutes to slow down as much as you possibly can. Check in with yourself. Connect. Understand what needs some attention and understand what you need to be doing in your life.

There’s magic in those connections.

A lot of it.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project