Hey there, friends.

Hope you're savoring the holiday season and these final weeks of the year. I can't believe 2023 is a goner.

This week's essay is short and sweet, inspired by a quote from the 1994 movie “The Shawshank Redemption," where one character tells another:

If you think about it, in every moment, life draws a line in the sand, offering us those two choices. The problem is if we are not intentional with our lives, we will unknowingly choose the latter.

I firmly believe it's a choice we'll encounter repeatedly throughout our lives: to either wholeheartedly break bread with life and all the gifts it offers or keep going through the motions.

With a new year on the horizon, which one will you choose?

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic couple of weeks!

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// 1 shot of higher consciousness! 🌪️

A Tourist On the Realm of Stillness
​ Pico Iyer

Source: "The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere"​

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// 1 reminder to remember who you really are! ✨

When We Don’t Really Know Ourselves
​Amoda Maa

How can you be in the world, but not of the world?

This question is profound. The solution isn’t something you can learn with some methods, by doing a few workshops. To be in the world but not of the world requires a profound inquiry.

It means being willing to listen to yourself from a deeper place — to listen from that place in yourself that is deeper than the acquisitive mind. The acquisitive mind wants to get somewhere, wants to know, wants to grasp, wants to possess, wants to take ownership of its experience. When we don’t truly know ourselves, we believe ourselves to be that voice inside the acquisitive mind — the voice that wants to be safe, that wants to be secure. On a functional level — you could also call it on an animal level — we need to be safe and secure. But on a psychological level, this need for safety and security prevents us from knowing our true awake nature.

To listen from that deeper place in you requires such a letting-go, such a willingness to stop giving your allegiance to the voice that drives the acquisitive mind. If you are to live fully awake and fully human, you are required to look within and ask what stands in the way of unclenching the ego’s grip on life. Can you tell the truth about your suffering?

​Source →​

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// 1 nugget of inspiration for consciously creating your reality! ⚡

You Become What You Give Your Attention To
​Epictetus

Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people's weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest. It is the easiest thing in the world to slide imperceptibly into vulgarity. But there's no need for that to happen if you determine not to waste your time and attention on mindless pap.

Source: "The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness"​

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​// 1 tip on meditation, manifesting, & bending reality! 🧠

4 Things To Do After You Meditate To Amplify Your Intentions

1. Express love and gratitude for your practice and the journey.
2. Set the intention to pay attention to Nature’s feedback as you go about your day.
3. Be mindful of coming off desperate or clingy to the things you desire.
4. At night, reflect on and document the synchronicities and coincidences you witnessed throughout your day.

​Read the post (3 min) →​

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// In Case You Missed It

​The Ultimate Guide To Identity Shifting
​A complete guide to the most powerful manifesting technique

(14 mins)

——

​Morning Pep Talk: You Are Perfection
​A short guided audio to remind you that you are already perfect just the way you are.

(11 min)

// Parting words: 👁️‍🗨️

And finally, as another calendar year comes to a close and a new one soon begins, here's something to ponder from the novelist and short story writer Henry Miller:

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With gratitude. ✌🏼

If you have any questions, feedback, or want to share some of your own insights, feel free to hit reply and let me know. I read and reply to every email.
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​As always, remember:

You are a Conscious Creator of your reality!
Keep creating your best self!

Anthony V. Lombardo

https://anthonyvlombardo.com
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P.S. Take my short Meditation Survey. 🧘🏻‍♂️

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