Crafting Your Ideal Life - A Blueprint for Seeking Clarity and Taking Action

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company. I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You, too, can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One life, crafting your ideal life. There is a simple question that I was reminded of on this most recent trip I took to Asia. The place was Taipei. And the source of this information came from a very unexpected source. It was actually one night at a bar with a group of new people that I just met and a small interaction that literally lasted for a matter of five minutes. But before I go there, I want to ask you a question. What is it that you want out of life? When was the last time you asked that question? Asking this one question is the most important step and ingredient in creating the life that you want. Why is that? Because by asking and knowing what you want, you know exactly what kind of actions you need to take in order to get it, as well as what you do not need to do. And I'm not going to. The only thing I want you to do as I tell the story, just keep asking, what do you want? And look at your life for the different categories, the different areas of your life, and just see where are you in alignment and where are you out of alignment? So in Taipei, I'll start from the story, just because I think it'll be a funny story. And I'm sure if you're listening to this, you probably like going on these little adventures that I share with you. So I'm in Taipei. I just met one of my good friends, and we went to this outdoor spa outside of the city. While we were there, we noticed that people were taking, like, their book bags, like suitcase. Like, not suitcases, book bags, beach bags and stuff like that. And they were putting it in front of the door. My friend and I looked at it. We're like, what? What are people doing? They're literally just putting down their valuables. And then they would go off somewhere and hike in on, like, this little mountain. We're like, it doesn't make sense, like, why? What are they doing? We soon come to realize that what they were actually doing was reserving their spot in line because the spa, the bath didn't open up for another half an hour. So people would drop their stuff there, reserve their spot in line, and then go off somewhere to come back, only to pick up their items and resume their place. Seeing this, I thought it was kind of funny, right? I was like, all right, this is funny. Let me save my spot online. So I put my book back down, followed by a shoe, a sock. And then I took off my watch and put that there, like in subsequent order. And then I just sat there and I watched people. So people came up to the line and they would look at all the items placed, and they're like, a sock watch. Who put in there were just confused as, like, who the hell would put one sock a shoe, you know, watch, like, so that I got kicks out of that. But anyways, the point of the story was when it came time to line up, there were two girls I had met, two new friends of mine, and I had made a comment, ask them if they wanted the spot of my shoe, and they weren't really sure. And I explained the whole idea of, like, the holding the spot in line. So I ended up taking a picture with them holding my shoe, and they ended up getting the line. And I had a new friend or two new friends. Fast forward. So in back in Taipei, we met up later that night for drinks. They were going out to the restaurant near the Red House. And when we went out there, so truth be told, I was actually very attracted to one of the girls. And when I went out there, I was expecting it to be like, you know, my friend and I with her and her friend, that was not the case. And so we get to the table and it's like, her, her friend, like a couple and then like four guys or something like that. I was like, what the frig, man? But, you know, so I was there. I was kind of. I was little, like a little in a huffy puff and sitting at the end of the table, like, further down, like further away from her. I was sitting near this guy from India, and we started talking. And as I will normally do, whenever I meet somebody from a different country, especially one that I haven't been to, I inquire about the country and I talk about the places that I want to visit and why I want to see their country. So I was talking to this gentleman and I was asking, you know, telling him how I wanted to Go this ashram in this. In this part of India. And he said, well, why do you. Why do you want to go to the Atra? You know, the answers are inside of you. I'm like, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that, but, like, I want to have the experience. And he. He kept going back to saying the answers were inside of me. And I thought it so fascinating, just the difference in the cultures, right? Like, in Western world, we are constantly looking for the answers outside our guidance when we should really just be looking inside. And he went on to talk about the current moment. He's like, look at where you are right now. Like, is this what you want? Are you happy here? Like, is this what you want? And as I was looking, you know, at the girl that I was interested in, talking to guys, I was like, frig, no, no, I don't want a beer. But putting that aside, I was able to think about it differently. I was like, well, well, what is it that I really want? Like, in this moment? What is. What do I want in this moment? And I started asking that question for all the different parts of my life, like, well, what do I want for, you know, the next day? Like, what do I want for tonight? How do I want to experience? Moment at that. When I asked that question then I kind of put. I just kind of accepted, all right, there is no romance happening here. And I, you know, I want to just enjoy the company. They were all like, really, really cool people. He ended up leaving, but the. The guys that. Who were friends of the two girls I met, they were. They were awesome. We ended up doing karaoke, and I really enjoyed the company of the girls as well. So looking at that, it changed my perspective on what I wanted out of that evening. And as a result, we went out to go karaoke, and we had a. You know, we just had a blast being goofy, messing around, and it all came from just asking a different question as to what I wanted to experience. When I left and I. And I came back to the United States, I kept asking that question, like, well, what is it? Do I want. What do I want in this moment? Do I want what I currently have, right? Do I want. Do I want to be here in. Well, when I was in Connecticut, do I want to be here? Do I want to, you know, do I'm here on the beach in Miami? Do I want to live by the water over here? Do I want to live on the West? I just kept asking, why? Why? Like, what, what, what, what, what? And as a result of constantly asking, what it is that I want. It was like this. This needle that was always kind of pointing in the direction, fluttering until it was pointing into that true north. And the reason why I tell you this is because it's so easy to forget and think that you have to stay with the cards you were dealt, to think that you don't have any other option, when the truth is, is that all the power is in your hand. The only thing you have to do is ask one what is it that I want to take some kind of action towards that. But it's easy to feel like that you. You're helpless or that you don't know the way, or that it. You. Maybe it's not for you. It reminds me of this quote. It says 95% of life is just showing up. Like, just. Just show up, be there. And you'll be amazed at what happens if you just show up. Taking a small action is showing up, taking the moment to ask the question, what do I want here? Is showing up. Living by default. If you're living by default, you're allowing the world to tell you what your life is going to be about. You're allowing the world to dictate where you're going. And I want to say why this is so important. Because our brains, there's so much stimuli coming at you in a given day, right? Think of most people, first thing they do, they pick up their phone. First thing, they wake up in the morning, pick up the phone, and they're looking at their phone. If you're doing that, stop, right? Because it's stealing your energy, it's stealing your focus, it's stealing your life. The first thing you want to do is focus your thoughts on the direction you want to go, not where the world wants you to go and start to move there. There's so many distractions happening all around you that it causes our minds to go into this autopilot mode of thinking and making decisions based on what everyone else is doing, what authorities are saying that we should do, rather than consulting and looking inside ourselves. Looking again, Just going back to my friend that I met at this bar. Literally, it was such a chance encounter, but I realized that it was really there. Like, I was meant to meet this guy, right? Because I went to my phone afterward and I tried to look at, to see his name. I went to Instagram, I clicked on the search bar to see where the. You know, like where I had what his name was, but. And then there was no. There was no search. Was he there? Maybe he was a ghost. I don't know, but maybe he was just a spiritual guide that I was meant to meet there. I think we are all meant to be spiritual guides for others. But the lesson I learned from that was super impactful. And it's just a reminder to constantly ask, what do I want? What do I want? And take steps to get out of the place that you don't want. If you are in a place that you don't want to start to move towards something constantly recalibrating. With that said, what do you want? What do you want in this moment? I'll tell you right now. I want to get outside. It's really, really windy here in Miami. But I'm going to go outside. I'm going to have an apple first with some almond butter, and then I'm going to go grab an espresso. That's what I want. Then that's kind of how I like to break up my day. But joking aside, I'm not joking. I'm going to go have one. But what is it that you want in this moment? What do you want to feel? What do you want for the next week of your life? Where do you want to live? Are you happy where you are? What do you want? Just keep asking questions, what do you want? And you'll be surprised by asking him frequently. Your mind is automatically going to start going there and be like, well, what do I want? What do I want? What do I want? And you're going to be like, ah, you know, yeah, no, I really don't want to do this. No. All right, I'm not going to do that. Let me. Oh, I do want. And you'll literally start going on autopilot because you're going to be asking a more empowering, more powerful question versus what do I not want? What do I want to avoid? Because guess what? Where your attention goes, where your focus goes, energy flows. So by focusing on all the stuff you don't want, you feel more of it. Not to sidetrack, but with the hernia surgery, I'm gonna be getting, like, the more I focused on the feeling and the sensation in the bottom part of my abdomen, the more intense the feeling was. Right. Like, but when I didn't focus on it, it felt fine. The moment I started touching it and focusing and telling people about it, using, like, verbalizing it and putting words to it, all of a sudden now it was friggin. It hurt. Like, my stomach was upset. What do you want? Let that be the question that guides every moment of your life. And then lastly, again, what action do I need to take? What do I need to change? What do I need to do to get to that thing to follow and move towards what it is you want? Such a simple episode, simple lesson, but it's extremely powerful. So that is all I have for you. That's not all. I mean, that's a big all right. And this is one of the things that I go through when I talk with people about the blueprint, the one life blueprint. But I go a little bit deeper with questions, but it's just asking better questions to get more clarity and then noticing that the sensations in your body, that's where they're guiding you. Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please hit that subscribe button. Hit the thumbs up. Share this with friends 5 people whom you know it would benefit from. Thank you so, so much for tuning in. I appreciate you taking the time to sit here with me to conspire and get inspired about the life that you were meant to live. So remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. Thank you guys for tuning in. God bless and I will see you again next week.