Rich’s Weekly Inspiration
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:
We are spiritual beings on a physical journey, not physical beings on a spiritual journey. It is easy to get trapped in the mortal experience, searching and striving to understand why we are here, what we are doing, and what the purpose of life is. But our souls are old. They are ancient. They carry wisdom far beyond what our busy minds can access when we are rushing, grasping, and forcing answers.
So much of our lives are filled with masks and armor. We cover our bodies with clothes, but we also cover our emotions, instincts, and natural desires with thick-plated layers of expectation, performance, and protection. Over time, we forget what it feels like to be unfiltered. Today, I walked the River Bottoms Trail with my beautiful little granddaughter, Millie.
What do you get when you take a family of Christians, a family of Tibetan Buddhists, stretch them across 7,874 miles, and separate them by 12 hours and 45 minutes? You get a deep, rich, fully textured awakening in your life.
The turn of a new year invites reflection and renewal. As many of you know, the last two to three years have been a kind of wandering in the wilderness for us, finding our way back to emotional and physical stability. It feels deeply good to be here again. As my wife and I created our vision boards, infusing them with hope, passion, and even a little silliness, I felt something familiar return: inspiration.
Over the past ten days, I’ve sat with several people who, with downcast eyes and a quiet tremble in their voice, confessed the same sentence: “I don’t feel worthy.” If you’ve ever felt this, you’re not alone. In fact, I believe one of the most damaging distortions in modern life is the way guilt and shame have been weaponized to convince us that we are somehow unworthy—unfit for love, belonging, forgiveness, or our own potential.
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?”
