35 Lessons From 35 Years

Okay, I think we're getting started here. My name is Nick the poet. I am a Cadre creator. I am a creative director at a marketing company. I'm a filmmaker. I'm a poet. I'm a guy in recovery from sobriety, from bipolar. I don't know if I'm in recovery from bipolar, but more with bipolar. Anyways, we're all learning the different mental health terms, you know, as we go. I've got my trusty notebook, as always. And if you've been following along this past week, I've been sharing the 35 lessons from 35 years.

I recently had my 35th birthday, and so I've just been sharing these, and it's been a lot of fun for me. And I hope you've been gaining some insight from it. Would love to hear your thoughts of what you learned in your life. Because the more that we share with each other, the more we can grow. Because whether we like it or not, we are all in this together. I repeat, we are all in this together. There is no I. There is only we. And I think if we learn that, it's helped me so much. You know, in the twelve step programs, it's the first thing we admitted.

We were powerless, right? I didn't admit it. We admitted it together. And there's something really strong about that. As I often repeat, no man or woman or person is an island. We are, as John Don stated, when the bell tolls, it tolls for thee, because we're all in it together. So. Already done. Lessons one through 16 here is 17 through 29. So number 17 is to keep the heart open. Right. We can feel, you know, put your hand on your heart and feel it, you know, it, in the same way that our mind can think, our heart really can think as well.

And just ask yourself, you know, what do you think of this heart? We're so used to assessing situations with our mind. Trust me, it can be quite exciting experiencing it from your heart. And keeping the heart open is not that complex of a process. You know, when it closes down, if someone you love does something you don't like, you feel that heart closing. You know, if you have a scary situation, you feel it closing you. Someone cuts you off on traffic, that closes. But that is a choice to close.

You don't have to close. You can keep it open through everything and just experience and let go of. And, you know, we have an illusion of control with our minds that doesn't, I don't think, actually exists. And once again, this is a practice. It's not something I think that anybody can do perfectly. It's just a practice. Number 18, trade your cleverness for bewilderment. And one of my favorite teachers, Wayne Dyer, talks about this. And so we are armed with so many facts and information, especially now in the digital age.

But I challenge you to trade that cleverness, that knowledge, for a bewilderment at the mystery and profound nature of our existence. Right? Like, it's much, it can be much more exciting to look at things with a totally fresh eye than to think that we know the answer. Number 19, gratitude is the mother of all virtues. Okay? So if I am grateful, if I can get in that gratitude mindset, no matter what, it is so powerful. Number 20. I put mystery and the tree of life, and this is kind of tied into us all being connected.

The tree of life is a symbol throughout a lot of different spiritualities and religions. And I think it just shows this, this mystery of how we're all connected. And in this global age, we're seeing it more and more. And what does that mean to us? What does that mean to me? Number 21, when in doubt, help somebody out. You know, this is a twelve step thing. This is a life thing. You know, if I'm in doubt about it, just help somebody, you know? And then my problem seem less that it seems to work out because my selfishness can get in the way of me experiencing life.

Number 22, laughter is the best medicine, right? This ties into lesson number one, don't take yourself too seriously. Right? We've got to have fun. We can work really hard, but if we're having fun while we're doing it, we're laughing, we're together, it just makes it so much better. Number 23, by being nobody in particular, you align yourself with the creative power of the universe. Now, this is from Eckhart Tolle, who you've, you know, probably heard of his book power of now all this good stuff.

Well, he talks about this and it's like, and I'm certainly someone as an actor, as an entertainer, a creator, whatever. Like, I want that attention. You know, I'm on this live stream potential partially because I enjoy, you know, that attention. But if I could shift into a mindset of being nobody in particular, it's a really powerful thing because I don't need the adulation then, and I can still create, but I'm coming from a place of, hopefully, humility. And this is once again a practice. I'm not going to do it perfectly sometimes.

I'm going to crave that attention. But what this video got twelve likes. What the heck? And this person's got 150. It's human nature for me, it's a practice. But when I'm in that mindset state and it's kind of a flow state where I'm just sharing, you know, in whatever way it is, it's, it's really cool. So that, that quote has been really profound for me. That's number 23, aka the Michael Jordan of the lessons. Number 24, provide more value than you take in business, but maybe just in life as well.

I think this is a great lesson. It's helped me in a lot of different creative and business endeavors to think of always trying to provide more value than I take. Once again, a practice. Sometimes I, you know, I'm taking more, sometimes I'm taking less. Sometimes I'm providing a ton of value. Sometimes I'm providing a little value. But I think it's always better to provide a little value than no value at all. Number 25. The art of asking. Ask and you shall receive. You know, I mean, there's a lot of truth to it.

We can't get what we want unless we ask. I'm speeding these up slightly because I have an 11:00 meeting in three minutes. I gotta be on. Number 26, radical acceptance. Instead of fighting things that come up, go with the flow and just accept them and watch how your perspective and life changes. Number 27. The golden key, where energy, where your thoughts go, energy flows. The golden key, focus on the solution, not on the problem. If we focus more on the problem, we get more problems. If we focus more on the solution, we get more solution.

Number 28, you can gain that. I always give away, but it's just a mind state of shifting where, you know, our conditioning says, I need this, I don't have enough. Am I going to be okay? And this abundance mindset is just a shift in that. So I hope these are helping. I'm looking forward to bringing 30 to 35 to you in the near future. Have an awesome day. Buh bye.