Designer Label - Surrendering to Experience

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. You are listening to the podcast One Life Designer Label. What if your worst day was actually your best day? Think about the experiences you have on a daily basis. Sometimes we have this tendency to label things good and bad without realizing that we are the ones applying the meaning. What happens when you label something good or bad is actually you're taking yourself out of the flow of energy. You're making a story that in some way the universe is conspiring against you when it's just not true. The intention of this podcast today is for you to set the intention in this day to remove the labels of good or bad and. But also to see that every single thing that happens your life is happening for you and is progressing you forward. Doing so will free you from the setbacks because now it's just about taking new action. You're not applying to the meanings and what they mean to your current situation or the thing that you're trying to go for. You'll see that the setbacks are actually there to move you forward. So think of an area of your life, think of some experiences. Let's get a sheet of paper out and just put four, five experiences that were the less than good experiences in your life. Right. You don't. It doesn't have to be very extreme because maybe the death of a loved one, that could be kind of difficult. So that's a little bit heavy. And I do believe that there's always greater meaning. So let's not start there. Let's start somewhere is maybe, you know that breakup that happened five years ago where at the time you were devastated and you thought it was the worst thing ever, or the. Or getting fired from a job or leaving relationship, whatever it may be, at the time you were heartbroken, you were distraught, whatever it may be. I want you to pick those kind of experiences next. I want you to bring yourself to the current day. Well, what did those experiences bring into your life, like, what happened as a result of that experience that you're now grateful for? There's always good to be found if you're willing to look for it. And it's always in a forward progression. And then last question is knowing this. Look at your current situation, the hardship that you're going through, whatever you're finding difficulty with. What good can you find knowing that life is happening for you, Knowing that, looking at the past experiences, that something better always came out of it. How is this current situation, how is the thing that you're experiencing right now there to serve you? Last night I was doing a meditation, and the meditation was on. It was a parable. It was talking about a guy who had a son. That made me, long story short, all these things kept happening, and when people would comment to him, they'd say, oh, my God, that's so horrible what happened to you. He's like, good, bad, I don't know. Eventually, I think his son had his leg stomped by a horse and had to go to the hospital. And as a result, he had this deformity to his leg. People were like, oh, my God, that's so horrible. Oh, your poor son. He said, good, bad, I don't know. All of a sudden there was a draft. The country was going to war and there was a draft. He was overlooked by that draft because of his leg. All the other people around him were crying. They're like, oh, my God, my son. I don't know if I'm ever going to see him again. You know, you're so lucky that your son is here. He didn't have to be pulled off to war. Same thing the guy said, good, bad, I don't know. And the story continued like that. But the whole idea was that there was no label. You know, there wasn't a label being put on there. And that sometimes you can't see what is ahead of you, what is being prepared for you from where you are currently standing. That Steve Jobs quote that I've referenced at least a half a dozen times is that you could only connect the dots looking backward. You can't connect the dots looking forward. Looking at your day, like, look at the little, even the petty things that you worry about, right? For example, I had a account that was stocking my espresso and the refrigerator wasn't holding the right temperature. I was very, very agitated by this because I'm like, well, this is dangerous, right? Because someone can get sick if the espresso is not held at the proper Temperature. I sent an email, and it made me. While the experience was very intense with the motion now all of a sudden in the background, I started thinking of, well, how can I prevent this from happening in the future? The idea was contracts, you know, like looking at, you know, making sure to stop in the account at the time and requiring different parameters. And then also a contract, like a statement of obligation before someone even takes on my product. So all these things came from what I labeled as a bad experience. And I probably would have used different terms when it was happening, when it was going on. But then look at the other stuff in your day. With the brewing of my espresso for another example, I was literally hitting wall after wall. I would test something out, something would happen, and I'd have to go back to the drawing board. While it was very, very annoying. But as a result of it, I know so much more about my product now, so much more about the production of it than I ever had. But it took me, you know, all these little mistakes or mishaps in order to be able to get a more clear last example. All my equipment was starting to go wrong. My scale was giving me wrong readings, and all these things were happening. So I had literally started buying all new equipment, sending the stuff back to get serviced. Sometimes we tend to wait until things get so bad, until it's literally falling apart before we actually take action. And normally when that happens, it's in the worst time, right? Because it could be in the busiest season for me. And all of a sudden, now I have no labeler, my scale's not working, so I can't measure out all the stuff I need to do when I'm doing my production. So it's like almost like a preventative. It was like a preventative maintenance that I had to do. Again, reflect on every single moment, every time you have something in your day which you start to label, stop and ask yourself, as they did in that parable, good or bad, I don't know. And just watch and feel what happens as a result of going from that space first. Because now you realize that life happens, right? I was talking with one of my friends, Ryan. We were talking about something, you know, I think it was. He had some calls that he. Some leads he was following up with. And one of the guys picked up the phone. He was. He was angry right from the get go. I'm like, well, you know, isn't that normal, right? Isn't that part of the job? Aren't some people gonna be annoyed? Well, yeah, of course. Then Accept that it's part of the job. It's not outside of that norm. What I'm trying to say is accept what it is, accept what the norm is, what is the nature of whatever it is that you're doing, and move forward anyways, so I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Again, let's revisit the questions. Look at five things in your life. Pick any of those experiences that in the past, when you were in that experience, it felt extremely negative, it felt very down. But now having a lot of time pass in between. Now you look at those experiences a little bit differently. They don't have the same emotional charge because something greater came out of it. I want you to find those gems, find the gifts in there. And then next, when you find those gifts, look at what's currently going on in your life. Look at what you would label good or bad experiences. Look at the bad ones. Because good experiences, if it's a good experience, we're labeling a good. We feel good, but it's while we want to have an open mind and not put labels on things, but let's look at the bad things because that's what we really want to transform. Because we want to feel, we want to have better emotions. Looking at those things and knowing what you now know about something good, very maybe in the near or not that far off in the far future, knowing what you know now, what good can come out of the experience that you're having right now? And how can you just allow yourself to be and then last question, if you don't have if you're not labeling things good or bad, right? If there is no good or bad and it's just things that are happening, how does that free you up to move towards your goals? I hope you enjoyed this podcast. This was part of my morning meditation that I or my evening and morning meditation that I'm bringing to you now. So very kind of on the whim, but I think it's very powerful nonetheless. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a thumbs up. Subscribe if you have a question or comment, you could do it. You could email me by visiting my website@www.donnyrouse.com again www.d o n n y r a u s com guys, thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate you taking the time to sit here with me to listen and to put some intention behind your day because your life is worth it. Remember, you only get one life. Live it. God bless and I will see you again soon.