I am so excited to share this week’s guest with you. Her name is Jennifer Louden, a personal growth pioneer and author of multiple best-selling books, including the one we will be talking about in this week’s episode of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast. Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What’s Next is a book about asking why bother, not from a cynical or resigned place, but as a challenge to open our mind, heart, and life. In the face of depression, compassion, fatigue, global crises, or personal failures, asking “why bother?” can bring us renewed purpose, meaning and direction.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE JOURNAL PROMPTS INSPIRED BY THIS EPISODE:
A good time to sit with some of the questions we covered in today’s episode is during your morning journal practice. And for those of us who need a little something to get the thoughts and feelings flowing, I created a few journal prompts inspired by Jen’s book and today’s conversation, which you can download here:
In the conversation ahead, Jennifer inspires us to reclaim the dignity and beauty of our desires and share why it’s time to get our bother on.
If you want to learn more about Jennifer, her book, retreats and online community, go visit her at www.jenniferlouden.com.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
- Our brains are narrative-making machines; it’s a feature you can’t turn off. It’s how we are built. So much of what we are telling ourselves is automatic and is meant to keep us safe, but it’s not always true. The trick is to notice the story we tell ourselves about our life and steer it toward something more empowering.
- We can follow something and start something just for the sake of making it. Not everything has to be a million-dollar-idea or have a clear return on investment. We can make things and try things just because the making and the trying makes us feel more alive. We get juice, meaning and joy not from the result but from the process.
- Learning to bother taps into our own sense of worth and deserving. Every human deserves to pursue what they desire without having to add a “but” on the end to explain away why you can’t have or pursue what may enliven you. It helps to unpack what we fear or see as “too much.”
- Desire is a natural human emotion; it’s grasping that gets us into trouble. Learn to be unattached to the outcome or some sort of bar you’re trying to reach that will tell you whether your efforts were worthwhile or not. The process in and of itself is worthwhile.
- You matter. What matters to you matters. And you don’t have to create anything. There is no should. There’s just you asking yourself, “what do I really, really want?” and then sitting with the longing and desire and see how it brings us alive.
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Stay well out there,
