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Potential Masters

Potential is easy to see in children. They’ve made so few mistakes in life and none of them feel irreparable.

Why do adults not feel that way about themselves? Perhaps it takes more creativity as there are no standard life paths for someone who starts a new journey at 40. Shouldn’t we have that creativity at hand? How many must start anew at 30, 40, 50, or beyond? Loss of spouse, job, or children, whether through death, divorce, or unforeseen economic circumstances, many must discover their own potential well past the days of being filled with every possible future success by parents and caregivers.

At Elevated Studios I get to watch my sons and other children unleash their nascent potential. Progress may come slowly, but each advancement opens a space for continued evolution. Brazillian jiu-jitsu is remarkable for how it reveals similar possibilities in adults. I have watched men and women transform their bodies and become greater than they were. Not just police, military, or competitors, but moms, entrepreneurs, students, clerks, and men and women spanning decades of life.

They’re called practitioners and they are all practicing towards potential mastery.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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Roughing Myself Up

After a year of whirlwind romances and one-and-done first dates, my son put me in my place when talking with a friend who was offering dating advice, “You should listen to my dad, he’s good at getting girls…well…he’s good at kissing girls, but not keeping them.”

I wondered if my quest to find ever more love in myself, others, and all of existence had become a parody or obsession. I knew some of the details were funny, but was I acting out a joke? Trying to fill a hole? Self-medicate with love?

The more I asked and the more I prayed on these questions, the more often Mary visited me. Each time she confirmed my path and calmed my fears. Each time the answer came back, “Keep loving yourself and forgiving yourself.”

I was challenged with facing the fallout from public and private romances. It wan’t until I forgave myself for my mistakes that I could I see them clearly. I had to love myself truthfully and accept that every journey requires getting lost once in a while.

I remembered there was a girl who stayed by my side for 13 years. I remembered how methodical we were, even as we set out on an increasingly unlikely life together. I’m forgiving myself for the mistakes I made in that romance as well, and I’m seeing them clearly enough to learn from them.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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Truth and Consent

As I navigate new relationships and old relationships in new ways, I remind myself that eveything I do or say is done with my consent.

It may seem foolishly obvious at first, but how many times do we say, “I have to…”?

The truth is that we don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to survive, we don’t have to merely surive, and we don’t have to live life with intention.

For almost a year I have been checking myself when I utter an I-have-to. My sons have been with me on this journey as those words still come out of my mouth and I work hard to correct with, “No. I am choosing to do X and these are the reasons why.”

It is powerful to make consent a central tenant of self-ownership. I have to analyze the agreements I make with myself and negotiate them when they don’t fit my present. Through negotiating with my Self, I have learned how to better communicate my needs to others.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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Modeling the Four Agreements

Modeling is usually thought of as a responsibility of the adults in a child’s life. I’ve found that my children are optimal models of curiosity and imagination. They are leaders in the most important skills of learning.

My son has watched me flipping over and pouring through these Four Agreements cards for the past few weeks. I was elated to find him reading some and relating to me the messages that spoke to him.

As I sat writing this, my other son wanted in on the action.

I don’t know what they’ll do with this wisdom, but being introduced to these principals is sure to serve them well.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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Surrendering

Flipping through my Four Agreements card deck I found my self saying, “Yep. Yep. Yep.” and tossing cards into a small pile.

All of them guide me to let go of self conciousness about appearances, concerns over past mistakes, and fear of my own bold way of loving.

Love has yet to steer me wrong.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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I Thought This Letter Was To You

I wrote this to a special person who is currently in a rehabilitation center. I realized I was also writing to myself and all of us.

You’re in my heart and in my prayers, brother. I don’t have anything easy to write. It is time for you to take 100% responsibility for everything in your life. It is going to be long and hard and it has to be every day and it will suck. I was sober for more than two months before I started to accept how deep my problems went. Maybe the scariest thing to realize is that the pit is bottomless. There is no limit to human depravity and we each have that hole in us.

Right now you have a gift of time. Take every moment you can to feel the pain, sadness, anger, loss, regret, guilt, shame, ALL OF THE SHIT. Write about it, talk about it, think, pray, and meditate on it. Get humble and ask for help. You have fucked things up and have not fixed them. I went to AA meetings and therapy at least weekly and prayed to God every day. I still pray for patience, guidance, strength, wisdom, clarity, and love and I receive these gifts every day.

Another tough thing to realize is that this is all about you. You have to care for you. Do not waste this time away from your friends and family. Discover your patterns, your weaknesses, and your traumas and decide if you will continue to fail at knowing and mastering yourself, or if you are ready to own your Self and become your own master.

Use every resource they have there. Do every exercise, no matter how silly. Listen to people and NEVER believe that you AREN’T THAT BAD. We all are. We all have triggers that could create Hell on Earth. To survive is to constantly know where the beast is inside and how strong it is.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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Kind and Different

I spent the day focusing on kindness and connection for and with my children. It went beautifully as we tried new things and visited new places.

We had a mini movie night (1.5 movies, to be exact) and my older son was in tears at bedtime. Movie night reminds him of mom. Me too. He’s scared about being different and not fitting in. Crap, I remember that feeling like, oh yeah, that was yesterday. He was worried that he hasn’t been kind. Me too.

I talked about how great it is to be different and that it brings challenges for finding people who can understand you enough to accept you. I told him that when you find those people it can be the most rewarding experience because they’ll be “different” in their own ways.

His mom understood him. She understood me. We’ve all struggled having lost a person who knew us so well. I’ve got advantages as an adult, I can get online and search out folks with common interests and I can go explore the world to find new people. My children have advantages as well, they get to meet and interact with a wider variety of people than most children. But they’re only just discovering their Selves, and they don’t have the fallback of two parents who get them.

I reminded him of the people we’ve met who have understood us and how awesome that has been. He’s got friends who have lost a parent and buddies who are wildly diverse in their talents and interests. I explained how all relationships end, that it’s okay if someone is only in his life for a short time if that time is good.

I manifested a deeper connection with my children today and it came to be. It didn’t come without obstacles, but the really good stuff never does.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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The Wrong Challenge

“I’m sorry. I love you. I’m sorry. I love you.”

It’s been a year since I wrote for 30 consecutive days about positive parenting. I’ve listened to podcasts, read books, and, just this afternoon, consulted with some of the best parents I know.

And I lost my shit and yelled at my sons tonight.

I was in the bathroom reflecting on how well things were working out when my younger son came in without permission. I hadn’t even shut the door, but I could not handle the intrusion. Cursing and stomping and demanding respect, I yelled at my older son for no damn reason at all.

I closed myself in my room and one minute didn’t pass before I realized I had been taking things personally all day. Don Miguel Ruiz even posted about this Agreement today.

“I’m sorry. I love you. I’m sorry. I love you. That was all about me, none of it is your fault.”

There’s only forward. We sleep tonight and have something to share with the therapist tomorrow. We get back to being loving and amazing. We get back to what we do best.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason

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What I Need This Morning

I’m probably at my worst when plans are disrupted. It’s why I purposefully leave lots of time for everything I do and like to have a pocket full of backup options.

Today’s disruptions are complicated by my anxiety over what it means to be a single dad. I know I need an adult life that is separate from my sons, if only for the fact that it makes me a more complete model of self-care for them. More important is actually taking care of myself. Balancing that against being the sole caregiver of two amazing souls can bend me in half.

I’m letting go of the expectations I put on myself. Maybe the son who was in tears about missing his mom’s touch and had his first fearful episode of sleep walking doesn’t have to go to church today.

I’m replacing fear with love.

God bless and thank you for reading,
Jason

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Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me

David Bowie has been playing on life’s jukebox since the Labyrinth’s Fire Gang gave my eight-year-old self nightmares.

By high school I was hanging out with the drama kids, singing “Magic Dance.” I was also in Poetry Club writing my own versions of Nine Inch Nails’ songs, so when Bowie toured with NIN in ’95, I was there. “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” had just hit MTV and it was intensely dark. I put on some sort of black t-shirt and made my way to a muddy hill in a Camden, NJ, amphitheater.

At 16, I had no appreciation for the moment or the performances. The hill had turned into a slip ‘n slide and I was goofing with the goths. Fortunately, I had my head in the right place for NIN and Bowie playing “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” together. That, I will never forget (nor the dirt-covered goth girl who pinned me down for a kiss at the bottom of a wicked slide).

I went on to see him at the Roseland in NYC (a show just for BowieNet subscribers), Moby’s Area2 festival (there was a cosplay Jared, but still no Labyrinth tunes performed), and the Tower Theater in Philly (the closing lyric, “Ziggy played guitar…” still holds on to my auditory nerve center).

Bowie had virtually quit touring when I met Mary. We were at Lollapalooza in Chicago when The Raconteurs revived a lackluster set by playing “It Ain’t Easy.”

I was mostly hands-off when it came to wedding plans, but I had a couple requests. One, that her dress show off her “shoulders and boobs” (direct quote). Two, that “Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me” be our song.

—

“Oh, when you rock and roll with me

There’s no one else I’d rather be

Nobody here can do it for me

When you rock and roll with me

When you rock and roll, when you rock and roll with me

No one else I’d rather, I’d rather be

Nobody here can do it for me

I’m in tears, I’m in tears

When you rock and roll with me”

—

For a marriage that involved so few tears, yet lead to so many, this song has come to mean almost too much.

Today I reflect on “Nobody here can do it for me.” I’ve learned the truth that self-love is a connection with the internal divine. There is an infinite engine of Love. I call it God. You can glimpse it in others, feel the radiance of it, but direct access is found only inside one’s own soul. Only once you’ve done that can you really share in the warmth of another’s love.

God bless and thank you for reading,

Jason