Returning to success again, Matthew urges us to “dissect our successes and the reciprocity of gratitude”, rather than focusing and obsessing on our failures, as by doing so will cause us to become intoxicated with them to the point of disillusion, which will lead to more failure. He suggests that the easiest way to dissect success is through gratitude – another great buzzword – and that by doing this simple exercise in thankfulness, it reciprocates, creating “more to be thankful for”, noting it’s “really simple and it works!”
He does note that of course, we can learn from our failures if we look at them constructively, as a means to reveal what we are good at, what we can get better at and what we succeed at. Unfortunately, then he announces that “life’s a verb; we try our best, we don’t always do our best”. He also says that “our architecture is a verb as well, and since we are the architects of our own lives, let’s study the habits and the practices that lead to and feed our success, dissect ’em, give thanks for ‘em, which then brings more success and more to dissect”. Sounds to me like the ultimate make-work project… or pyramid scheme.
Voluntary obligations are up next, those we apparently make with ourselves, our God and consciousness. Furthermore, we apparently have to have these faith-based obligations that we make as they are “our secrets, our own private counsel and our own personal protocols”. He recounts that “an honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind” and that “when we lay down on that pillow at night, we all sleep alone”. Deep.
He told an anecdote that demonstrated an early excess of his – never a good look. Then the next five minutes are spent on how we create limitations on ourselves to our detriment, and he uses the famous/infamous January 3rd, 1993, NFL playoff game between the Houston Oilers and the Buffalo Bills to drive home the point whereby we shouldn’t get caught up in ourselves, ever. He suggests that when we do, we lose focus, questioning whether we deserve whatever good is occurring in our lives. In my opinion, in the grand scheme of things, compared to those living in Second and especially Third World countries, deserve’s got nothing to do with it. We’re lucky. That’s it. And that’s why complaining is also a bad look.
Following this, Matthew discusses what he calls “turning the page in our life’s book”, indicating the importance of owning our mistakes and then moving on from them, neither virtue signaling to one and all the mistake itself or the comeback, nor dwelling on it, positively or negatively. Fair enough. Myself, I liken this to my own thinking that everyday for us is a clean slate, so to speak, for us to begin anew.
Next to discuss is fear and he’s on point about it as well. He is confident enough in himself that he can admit to having fears and suggests that we all confidently confront ‘em. I say, what other choice do we have if we want to get beyond them and succeed? To be delusional and deny their existence?
At this point, wrapping up his forty-five excruciating minutes, he becomes just another one of the trans-religious progressive metaphilosophy shysters that have given rise to today’s “Churchianity” and “McMindfulness”. Over his final ten minutes on stage, he implores us to “surrender to what life has in store by freeing ourselves from judgment”, something he says he has done and continues to do via 21-day excursions into remote areas of the planet – supposedly where not only no one recognizes him, but where he doesn’t speak the language – in search of solitude and silence. By doing so, he’s seemingly able to orient his life’s direction using “God’s compass” all the while finding “the truth”, via a “hellish, but cleansing” purge, which usually manifests itself on day thirteen, culminating in a powerful revelation. Sure.
In the next part of this post; part three, he describes one such pilgrimage, one taken after skyrocketing to fame as a means to “check out from the world” in order to “check in with himself”. He speaks of being “guilt-ridden and regretful for the sins of his past, grappling with his demons” while seeking to “free himself from the banners, badges, expectations and anxieties” he was carrying. Bongo’s anyone?
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