Special thanks to Ryan K, Monica, Chelsea, John Reed, Chris Decker, Lindsey, Chris Divecchio, Kenny and Ash. Thank you 🙏🧡🤘
Today’s intention is:
To trust.
Trust in circumstance and you'll find peace.
Trust in others and you'll find love.
Trust in yourself and you'll find purpose.
The NeverEnding Story
During dinner, my friend Chris asks, “Have you ever seen a movie called, The NeverEnding Story?”.
“Oh yea! I watched it a bunch of times when I was young.” I reply.
We reminisce about the movie for twenty minutes. It features a shy, young boy named Bastian reading a book about a fantasy world called Fantasia. He sneaks into his school’s library to read the stolen book and an epic adventure ensues.
I really only remember there’s a big flying dog named Falkor. Chris, however, remembers the film in surprising detail. He shares how a force called “The Nothing” threatens to devour Fantasia. He talks about a young warrior, Atreyu, called upon by the Childlike Empress to fight The Nothing and save Fantasia. Chris also mentions how the film was ahead of its time and presents timeless lessons and themes.
The conversation fires me up enough to play the movie first thing the next morning. It’s available on HBO Max and runs 90 minutes.
Chris is right. There’s plenty of lessons found in this 1984 children’s film.
Like when Atreyu passes through the Sphinx Gate to the Southern Oracle. In order to do so, “he must have a pure heart”. Even the tiniest shred of doubt would lead to his death.
And when Falkor flies a sleeping Atreyu nearly 10,000 miles to the Southern Oracle. Atreyu awakes and asks, “How’d all this happen?”. Falkor replies affectionately, “Never give up, and good luck will find you.”
Finally, the vicious Gmork reveals The Nothing comes from people losing their hopes and dreams. Fantasia dies as emptiness and despair persist. He tells Atreyu “people who have no hopes are easy to control”.
As I watch the dated special effects and poor acting, I smile and even tear up a little near the end. I feel Bastian. He’s smart, curious, a bit broken and totally lost. I also love the unity between Atreyu, the Empress and Bastian. By movie’s end, there’s one lesson that really sticks out:
There’s power in trust
Atreyu trusts he will stop The Nothing. The Empress trusts Atreyu will bring Bastian. And Bastian trusts his voice and his imagination. Together, they save Fantasia and make the fantasy world magnificent once again.
As I continue my journey, trust proves just as powerful.
When I hit a roadblock revising The 5 Buckets book, I set it aside and trusted I’d come back to it. The time off gave me space to focus on my consulting work and building the Student of Intention community. A few weeks later, an idea for the book came to me and I finished the revision.
Just last week, I struggled to figure out next steps for the community project. I trusted my friend, Monica, to help me move forward. After a wonderful conversation, we found a way and plan to launch officially in the coming weeks.
As I write this post, I think about what lies ahead for The 5 Buckets and Student of Intention. I have no clue. But I have trust.
I trust when I sit down to share another story, the words will come.
I trust when I publish the book, readers will find it.
I trust when I launch the community, others will help shape it.
And I trust in you.
I trust you will find peace, love and purpose.
Together, we make the world magnificent.
The magnificence of experiences
Eric Brooker was kind enough to invite me on to his podcast, The New Norm. In the episode, we discuss Ohio State football, family, writing books and the men’s retreat where I came up with The 5 Buckets.
Here, I share that there’s more magnificence available to us when we stop thinking about things and start experiencing them:
Our mutual friend, Tim, introduced Eric and I, a few months ago. We hit it off right away and enjoyed the conversation. Eric has a big heart, big family and big voice. Head over to The New Norm and let me know what you think.
The brilliance of letting go
The more I approach life with trust, the more surprised I am.
I am surprised by my capabilities.
I am surprised by people’s kindness.
I am surprised by life’s brilliance.
Life can surprise you too.
All you gotta do?
Trust.
Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.
🙏🧡🤘
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