Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session. We're going to talk about the difference between fighting the old and building the new. So let's start with a quote by Socrates. He said, "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." Now as a general prescription for our growth, I do think there is a lot of wisdom in this quote.

I also think it could be misinterpreted because one of the key things about this quote, as it relates to relating to the old stuff, is he's talking about not putting energy on fighting the old. It's not saying not to address the old. And there's a difference between fighting the old versus going into the old with a curiosity, a spaciousness, and an interest in, you know, where's this coming from, how might I work to heal this, what sort of attention does this need? That's very different than feeling the old and trying to overcome, it power through it, resent it, create an enemy in relationship to. However, I do think though what Socrates is pointing to is that if we want to change and we want to create a future that we're excited to live into, we need to put a lot of our energy in that direction. What are we trying to build? Get our thoughts aligned with that, our emotions lined with that, our actions aligned with that.

So my personal prescription is, is that there's a balance. If we're on that path to building something, but we feel like we're caught up in self-sabotage and it's like, we get closer to it, but then something in a stops or we turn around or we actually destruct the whole thing, which is a common experience, then we might want to look at what's going on in our past that may be leading to this, that maybe has some subconscious fear of actually having a certain kind of life. And if that's the case, then, you know, therapy can be really useful and even just holding space for those difficult emotions so that they can process integrate and be seen. The main thing I want you to ask following this Daily Mindfulness is just, where do you direct most of your energy? Do you direct it toward fighting the old stuff? Or do you direct it toward building the new and an excitement of who you're growing into? And if you are primarily in the former category of fighting the old, then what would it look like for you to invest more time and energy toward getting excited about the life you're excited to live and you want to live and is compelling to you? And how could you align your energy, your thoughts, your behaviors, your emotions in that direction, rather than just focusing on, I need to fix all of this stuff or overcome all this stuff before I can start living that life? It may be the case that a lot of that stuff takes care of itself as you start walking this new journey. Something to consider.

Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.