What’s Yours? Emerson just walked into my office zipping up his camo winter jacket to go with his camo pants. He told me: “It’s COLD! It’s 52 degrees out this morning!” Fall arrived in a hurry out here in Austin and we went from the 100’s to the 90’s to, for former Californians, chilly quickly! Now… Emerson and I have a new joke—which is why I replied by saying, “Oh!! 52 degrees—that’s my all-time favorite temperature!” To which he laughed and said, “Dadddddddyyyyy. EVERY temperature is your favorite temperature.” That’s true. My favorite temperature? It’s always EXACTLY what the temperature is at that moment. Which gets us a little closer to the point of Today’s +1. Let’s step back for a moment and set some context. Michael Singer has become one of my absolute favorite teachers. Although I very much enjoyed The Untethered Soul (check out those Notes), it wasn’t until my friend Joe Okleberry sent me a picture of him and Michael that I picked up this book. Now, I didn’t have to go far to pick it up as Alexandra had been raving about him for months. The book was literally on our kitchen table. With the two of them extolling his awesomeness, I decided to join the party. And, I’m very glad I did. We’ll talk more about his wisdom soon. For now, as you know if you’ve read his stuff, THE central Big Idea to ALL of his work is, essentially, to QUIT ARGUING WITH REALITY. As he says: “Suffering is caused by the contrast between what you mentally decided you want and the reality unfolding in front of you. To whatever degree they don’t match, you suffer.” In our next +1, we’ll talk about something he calls “low-hanging fruit” that will help us PRACTICE reducing our suffering by “surrendering” to reality. For now… One of my favorite prompts to practice? The weather. Arguing with the WEATHER is one of the most ridiculous things we can do—which is why Emerson and I have that new joke. Here’s the origin story… Emerson was telling me how much he loved the 80-degree-ish fall temperature here in Austin. He asked me what my favorite temperature is. I told him: “The temperature RIGHT NOW is ALWAYS my ABSOLUTE favorite.” 102 degrees and Austin humid? Perfect. My all-time favorite temperature. Free sauna. 51 degree cold plunge? Perfect. My all-time favorite temperature. Rebooting the nervous system. As the Gita beautifully says: “Reshape yourself through the power of your will... Those who have conquered themselves... live in peace, alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame... To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same... Because they are impartial, they rise to great heights.” Who knew the weather could be such a powerful tool for our armamentarium? So… What’s YOUR favorite temperature? Let’s quit arguing with reality and use EVERY opportunity we can to playfully practice our philosophies. +102degrees. +52degrees. And God bless those of you who live in -Xdegrees and REALLY get to practice!
