Newsletter Mar 15, 2024

Something Worth Talking About.

One of the most powerful insights I’ve had in my life came on my first-ever meditation retreat back in 1998. The retreat was a grueling affair that I was entirely unprepared for (one thing that gives meditators a chuckle is when people comment how relaxing a meditation retreat must be). But I survived, and the payoffs were life-changing. In many ways, the insights from that week set the course for my life over the 25 years since. Spending day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute alone and in silence with your thoughts gives you, in addition to a sore back and sore knees, an intimacy with how your mind works—how thoughts work—that I haven’t found anywhere else.

In that intimacy comes a realization, one of them anyway. And I’m not the first to have it; it comes to everyone. It’s the realization that everything—every thought, emotion, pleasure, and pain—has the same fundamental structure. Everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Buddhists call this the law of impermanence. It might sound like a basic or even obvious idea. Like ‘duh,’ …. but if you slow down enough to actually encounter that idea when you sit with it and open your heart, it will rock you to your core.

You don’t have to go on a meditation retreat to experience this for yourself. You can get it from gazing at your child while they play in the kitchen, from an encounter with raw nature, or from doing nothing special at all.

All you have to do is be open to it. In the end, all meditation is is the grueling practice of learning how to stop trying, how to let go, and how to be with what is.

It’s a theme that weaved in and out of my recent podcast episode with Micah Baldwin, a seasoned executive coach, entrepreneur, and Microsoft team member. Micah has a particular way about things... He’s so plainspoken and real about the mental and emotional journey he went through while discovering what “was enough” for him. I know this candid conversation will inspire you to reflect on what is enough for you in your own life.

Something Worth Thinking About.

I hate when my fellow leadership experts tell you that the only way to be an effective leader is to be empathic and people-first. It's simply not true. You can be a tyrant and an abusive boss and achieve incredible business results. The problem is that strategy typically only works for sociopaths and narcissists. For people who are capable of feeling shame, for all the rest of us, we need another way.

I've seen this with the thousands of leaders I've worked with over the years... you're going to hit a moment where you realize things have gone off the rails, and you've become someone you never thought you would be. The good news is that you can do something about it, and it's never too late.

jonathanrefound

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Lyrics That Are Making Me Think.

“And now I'm fully grown

And I'm seeing everything clearer

Just sweep away the dust from the mirror

We're walking hand in hand on the warm white sands.”  

Green & Gold, Lianne La Havas

It Ain’t Sourdough, But…

It has been said that Pizza is Life, and who am I to disagree? While I missed the pandemic trend of sourdough bread-making, I did pick up a backyard pizza oven and a habit to go with it.

I’ve been experimenting with different dough recipes for the last few years, and this is the best one I’ve found (that isn’t overly complicated). It’s New Haven style, which, thanks to Dave Portnoy, all YouTube addicts know is called Apizza. If you try it out, let me know how it goes!

Thanks for being here,

Jonathan

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