Endure Chapter 8: Soul

Welcome to Chapter eight of my book Endure. This is Ben Greenfield and every week I will release to you a chapter from my book on spiritual stamina entitled Endure. You can find the book@getindoor.com and I'll also be releasing chapter snippets to you right here on this channel.

Chapter 8 Soul I very, very rarely watch movies. I'll typically only sit down to view a flick if it's been recommended to me at least a half a dozen times, is certified fresh website like Rotten tomatoes with a 90% score or higher and passes muster for cleanliness on websites like commonsensemedia.org or screenit.com that's my general criteria at least, and based on that criteria I wind up watching about three to four movies a year tops. Just better things to do with my time, I suppose. Anyways, this rare occasion of movie watching recently occurred and so I watched the Pixar movie Soul, which is the story of a jazz pianist named Joe, voiced by the supremely talented Jamie Foxx, who has a near death experience and get stuck in the afterlife, subsequently contemplating his choices and regretting an existence that he mostly took for granted. I'll admit I was initially a bit concerned that Soul could heavily conflict with my own personal Christian views of the origin and destination of souls, the afterlife, near death experiences, and how heaven and hell work. But ultimately, though it did indeed have several inaccuracies in that respect, it did turn out to be a really, really good show that resulted in three meaningful takeaways I'll share with you now in this chapter. Oh, and should not yet have seen the movie Soul. I promise no enormously significant spoilers Three Important Life Lessons from Pixar's Movie Soul Number one Stop and Smell the Roses Often we're encouraged to pursue our passions in life and to be fully self actualized to form our core purpose around those passions, and I discussed that in the chapter how to find you'd purpose in my last book, Fit Soul. You'll find that if you're implementing this advice, it can become quite easy to get so immersed in your work and in tackling your life's purpose that you can occasionally forget to slow down and mindfully enjoy the smaller things in life. For example, I can personally become completely immersed in and nearly obsessed with reading, writing, learning and teaching via activities like working on articles, having podcast discussions with interesting people, consulting with clients, or reading and researching materials I'm fascinated with. So much so that I fail to notice the majestic mountains just outside my office window, the flavor of the peppermint gum in my mouth or the aromas diffusing from the essential oil diffuser on my desktop, or the sing song of birds in my backyard. Well, in the movie Soul we see the character named 22, a new soul on planet Earth, experience a deep sense of joy and wonder from seemingly mundane activities like eating a pepperoni pizza, listening to a musician in the subway, or seeing a child. We also see souls who are so obsessed with their work and so immersed in the Zone while caught up in their passion that they become transported to an entirely new dimension that puts them into an out of body experience which seems great, but also largely disconnects them from the wonders of their day to day physical existence. So yes, possess a passion in life, but don't become so passionate and so caught up in an activity you enjoy that you forget to enjoy the small things in life. In other words, practice mindfulness. The little things are important too. We live on a magical planet chock full of the wonders of God's creation, and it'd be a shame to let them slip by because you're so focused on and obsessed with creating maximum impact with your life. As I will tell you in chapter nine about living life to the fullest and experiencing what it truly means to be a human being, this all requires elegantly combining the doing with the being. As with two other important life lessons I'll share with you in a moment, I'll include my favorite Bible verse on this particular Ecclesiastes 8:15 and I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him. Under the sun, the grass is always greener. In one section of the movie, Joe lives his dream moment by experiencing the musical jazz performance of his life on stage. You'd think he would be absolutely over the moon and finally fulfilled by having checked that box. But as he wanders out of the nightclub, he turns to his companions and asks, what now? His saxophone playing diva bandmate Dorothea Williams proceeds to tell Joe the story of a small fish swimming up to a bigger, older fish and asking where the ocean is. The fish elder explains that they are in the ocean, but the little fish replies, no, this is just water. I want the ocean. So what's the moral of that tiny parable? In short, we often don't realize the satisfaction and meaning that already surrounds us because we're so caught up in trying to reach a destination or make it to the top of some Mount Everest we've painted in our heads as the perfect destination destination. We should perhaps stop and ponder whether as we try to get out of the water to get into the ocean we've actually already found and are immersed in the ocean. For example, your quest for a job promotion may be sucking all the happiness out of your life because your current job may be exactly where you're supposed to be right now and what you were meant to do. Your excess hard work for a better body might be wasting plenty of time you could instead be spending with family, friends, or engaged in other hobbies because your body is, well, just fine as it currently is. Your constant search for the perfect church or social group or team or tribe be blinding you to the fact that you're meant to bloom exactly where you've been planted, which is in the field you're standing in right now. Perhaps you should consider that you've already made it and that the next best thing for you to do is simply savor each moment of where you are with mindfulness, gratefulness, and enjoyment. I mean, don't check out and get lazy and stop growing in life, but perhaps you ought to consider the fact that where you are right now is a pretty good spot. Well, this shouldn't be used as an excuse again to become passive and complacent, or to ditch the idea of constant improvement, but should instead be used as a permission to become content with where you are right now, even if you have aspirations to become a better, more impactful person with each consecutive day. For more on being satisfied with seemingly mundane tasks you might do each day rather than searching for the next big thing. You'll want to pay attention to chapter 11 of this book and also consider beginning a daily gratitude practice which I get into in chapter 10 of the book Fit Soul. So the Bible verse related to this is as follows. Philippians 4:11 13 not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Number three Find your spark Part of the film Soul involves the concept of a great before, where souls find their unique spark before venturing to earth to be born as a baby and join the mortal coil. At first as I was watching Soul, I thought, similar to the character Joe, that the special spark every soul was searching for was the same as their purpose in life. In other words, you must be fully self actualized and working or living in your dream job to experience true meaning and happiness as a human. But it turns out that really isn't the case. As one character named Jerry in the movie says, a spark isn't a soul's purpose. Oh you mentors and your passions, your purposes, your meanings of life. So basic. The lesson here is not quite to give up on, say, pursuing your dream job, for example. The lesson is to let go of the idea that having a dream job in which you're fully self actualized and immersed in a magical marrying of your work and your passion is the only path to fulfillment and happiness. Instead, your spark can be simple. Your spark can be strumming the guitar after a long day at the office. Your spark can be nightly family dinners and evening story time with your children. Your spark can be cooking yourself a fantastic meal when you return from your daily routine of chopping wood and carrying water. Your spark doesn't have to contribute to society. It doesn't have to earn you money. It doesn't have to be molded and contextualized within the idea of a life's purpose. And this is helpful for me personally. It means I can whip out my guitar after a day of writing, researching, consulting, coaching, podcasting, and doing all those other purposeful activities and just play the guitar because it brings me joy. Because I love how the wood and strings feel against my fingers and because I adore the sensation as every sound wave of a plucked string vibrates every cell in my body. I can sing and play. Not so that I can someday make it on YouTube or step on stage in front of throngs of adoring fans to play my next hit single, but rather because it simply makes me happy. It's my spark. Every meal I cook doesn't have to be an Instagra sensation or take me one step closer to competitive network cooking show fame. Every kettlebell I swing doesn't have to get me that much closer to kicking someone's ass in a kettlebell competition every time I get dressed up to go out to a fancy dinner. It can be just for me and my enjoyment of God's creation. The colors, the fabrics against my skin, the scent of the fragrance I spray on my neck. It can not be to impress others or get noticed or strike the fancy of some business person who may want to do a deal with me because I'm dressed nicely. It can simply be for the pure sake of the action itself. So short you absolutely do need to have clearly identified and be pursuing your purpose in life, your ikigai, as they say in Okinawa, or your plan de vida, as they say in Sardinia. But you can also have enjoyments in life that are simply your personal spark. The purpose is the doing, and the spark is the being. Makes sense. The purpose is the doing and the spark is the being. If both overlap, that's great, you're blessed. But if not, that's okay too. And as Joe's mother tells him in the film, passion doesn't pay the bills, I agree. Or at least I agree that your passion doesn't have to pay the bills. Matthew 6:25 34 says, Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not so much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. So in summary, the message is quite simple and there are really just three big takeaways from the film that I thought valuable to share with. First, stop and smell the roses. Enjoy the smaller things in life. Don't let the simple pleasures pass you by. God loves for us to be joyful as we enjoy his creation. Next, the grass is always going to be greener. Consider the fact that you may have already made it. And now your job is to simply do the very best you can each day and savor God's blessings. Next, find your spark. And your spark doesn't have to be your life's purpose or something that's part of your career. It can simply involve engaging in activities that feed your soul and that make you happy. Even if those activities seem trite or don't advance your career in some way, don't worry about doing so much. God will take care of you. Now how about you? What is your approach to digesting media such as movies and gleaning valuable life information from the story woven into the cinema? Just as importantly, do you stop to smell the roses, get up in the morning and do the very best job you can with whatever God has placed upon your plate for the day and include frequent little sparks in your life that feed your soul? If not, what do you plan to change? Well, if you go to getindore.com, the physical and digital version of the book includes a handy note taking section where you can record your replies to the these questions and dwell upon them a bit more. And also for resources, references, links and additional reading and listening material for this chapter you can visit getindoor. Com chapter 8 that's getindoor. Com chapter the number 8.