Rich’s Weekly Inspiration
This week I had four private conversations with hard charging, world changing leaders. These are men and women who move markets, influence industries, and sit in rooms most people will never see. In those quiet off stage moments, after the performance energy faded, they tenderly shared their foibles.
These bodies we live in are remarkable, but they are not indestructible. We sometimes talk about ourselves as if we were forged from cast iron. Hammered on an anvil. Tempered in flame. Unbreakable. But even cast iron fractures in extreme cold.
As my wife and I prepared for a day trek through the villages, six Black Hmong women quietly greeted our group and asked our guide if they could accompany us. Permission granted, they fell into stride beside us. No pitch. No pressure. No awkward hovering. Just presence.
Warning: Today’s post is direct, difficult, and vitally important. My wife and I are in Cambodia. Over the past weeks traveling through Southeast Asia, we have been surrounded by beauty, kindness, culture, and humanity at its best. Yesterday, we walked through Angkor Wat, one of the most intricate and awe-inspiring achievements in human history. And then we went to the Killing Fields.
Every year, in the middle of January, my wife and I escape the cold and go on an adventure. After a lifetime of hyper-responsive adulting — raising five children, Sherpa children, and half the neighborhood — we now claim this sacred season for laughing, playing, singing, wandering, and remembering how wildly beautiful it is to simply be alive. We lovingly call this phase of life being teenagers with a checkbook.
Several years ago, Governor Cox and I sat down for a long, honest, deeply human conversation about the value of life. He shared some of the turbulent emotions he carried as a teenager. I shared some of the darker moments of my own life. When the conversation came to a close, he said something that has stayed with me ever since:
Richisms
“Laugh more, cry less, and dance naked in the rain!”
“Clarity comes in the pauses.”
“Run towards that which scares you the most.”
“Living your life fiercely with reality allows you to live your life in flow and move out of force.”
“We each must navigate the intricate mazes of our own lives.”
“Entrepreneurship numb completely your true self. What do you use to cover and cope and numb your true self out?”
“Our egos are loud obnoxious insecure bullies.”
“Take your five-year-old on a date.”
Rich’s Musings
“Where do you find sanctuary from the relentless assaults on your soul and your mind?”
“A profound paradox of human existence is that our deepest fears revolve around the prospect of being seen and discovered by others. Simultaneously, our most significant terror is also not being seen and discovered by those around us.”
Guilt and shame are the lowest frequency modes of living - increase your vibration by moving towards courage.”
“We need to use the AND's and stop with the OR's in life. This allows more inclusion and more depth of learning.”
“As a father or grandfather, how do you want your little girl to view men? Do you want them accepting the paradigm our culture is offering them? What lens are you going to provide them to understand what divine masculine looks like?”
