In today’s episode I share a special quote from author Jedediah Jenkins about the amazing things we are all capable of. If you ever feel you are sleepwalking through life then check out this episode and make some changes to take yourself in a new direction.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you once again for the daily
Speaker:podcast, hope you're doing well.
Speaker:Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker:I'd be doing okay.
Speaker:I had a big weekend.
Speaker:I, uh, I did 185 kilometer bike race in, uh, Mudgee, which is a town kind
Speaker:of in the, uh, I guess you call it the central west of new south Wales.
Speaker:It's a wine growing region.
Speaker:And, uh, my, one of my older brothers is getting back into his fitness
Speaker:and he's been training really hard.
Speaker:So we did this together, which was really cool.
Speaker:So 185 kilometers and, uh, feeling really good.
Speaker:You know, I've been training hard, I guess the last couple of years.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Fitness wise, it wasn't too much of a stretch.
Speaker:And I know some of you will go, what the hell do you do?
Speaker:195 kilometers and not feel tired?
Speaker:Well, because we have the most incredible ability to adapt.
Speaker:And I've said this a thousand times, you listening to this
Speaker:right now are capable of.
Speaker:So much more than you can possibly imagine.
Speaker:I mean, my older brother's in his fifties.
Speaker:And, uh, has given up smoking and his got his fitness back and he was able to
Speaker:do this, you know, 175, 185 kilometers.
Speaker:No problem.
Speaker:Well, no, he was in a lot of pain, actually at some points.
Speaker:We might talk about that.
Speaker:But a really great experience.
Speaker:So I want to encourage you that there is just so much capacity
Speaker:and potential inside you.
Speaker:That is lying there, waiting to get out.
Speaker:And related to that is something I wanted to share with you as the
Speaker:basis of today's short message, which is I've been reading a book.
Speaker:By the beautifully named Jetta dire Jenkins, Jetta dire Jenkins.
Speaker:I just love that name.
Speaker:So I can't remember how I came across his book, but, uh, actually no I did
Speaker:is one of my, in a local bookstore that I love called paper chain.
Speaker:I was in there.
Speaker:And just loved the look of the cover.
Speaker:They've got this new book section, I'm a book guy like.
Speaker:You know, we were walking around the town, uh, of Mudgee on
Speaker:the weekend before the race.
Speaker:And, uh, there was this local craft market and I saw this pillow, someone
Speaker:had embroidered in the embroidery, said.
Speaker:You're calling me a book hoarder, like it's a bad thing.
Speaker:And I related to that because here in this studio, for example,
Speaker:it is wall to wall books.
Speaker:I'm talking.
Speaker:I don't know how many I've got, but I just love him.
Speaker:And so when I saw this book at paper chain, I grabbed a copy Jedediah Jenkins,
Speaker:and it's called to wake the sleeping self.
Speaker:It kind of jumped out at me because I thought that's the sort of
Speaker:stuff I'm into, you know, like.
Speaker:How do we wake people up?
Speaker:How do we wake each other up?
Speaker:How do we get out there and live more fully and contribute more
Speaker:richly to the lives of other people.
Speaker:So long story short, this book by Jedediah Jenkins, you can
Speaker:tell how much I like saying that.
Speaker:Uh, is really about a guy who was sort of getting stuck in life,
Speaker:you know, sort of working and.
Speaker:Really sort of feeling that life was just doing okay.
Speaker:But, but just not fully alive.
Speaker:So he came up with this crazy idea.
Speaker:To ride his bike from Portland, Oregon, which is way up on the,
Speaker:uh, the west coast of the United States, all the way to Patagonia.
Speaker:Which is in the deep, deep of south America.
Speaker:And, uh, I think from memory, somebody might know this better than me,
Speaker:but Patagonia, I think, leads to the most Southern most part of the.
Speaker:Uh, the continent.
Speaker:So right at the bottom there.
Speaker:So this story is about his journey.
Speaker:Starting from scratch.
Speaker:He had no idea what he was doing.
Speaker:And it's a great read and he writes very well as a good writer.
Speaker:I think you can also find him on things like rich roll's pod, rich roll's podcast.
Speaker:So you'll find him on various podcasts on YouTube.
Speaker:And, uh, but what I wanted to share with you was I was reading it last night and
Speaker:he's coming down to the Baja peninsula.
Speaker:So he's crossed into Mexico, which is a big step for him.
Speaker:And he's, he beautifully describes the landscape, the
Speaker:topography of the Baja region.
Speaker:And some of you would know Bahar is you're flying to the state side.
Speaker:When you find LA you kind of crossover it.
Speaker:But it's, uh, it's in Mexico and it's really a tough part of the
Speaker:world in the sense that it's Aaron it's dry and just where it is.
Speaker:It's this, you know, there's almost no trees, but he makes this point.
Speaker:About the people that live there.
Speaker:And I liked the turn of phrase.
Speaker:It's a little indelicate, but he said, It proved to him what scrappy
Speaker:and tough bastards humans are scrappy and tough, scrappy and tough.
Speaker:I liked that I had this image of, you know, people living there just, uh,
Speaker:Facing the elements and, and making something of life in
Speaker:this difficult environment.
Speaker:And I thought, you know what?
Speaker:I feel we're in a moment in history with all this identity politics
Speaker:stuff happening around the world.
Speaker:And just so much stuff that's telling us we're bad and evil and we all hate
Speaker:each other and it's all gonna, you know,
Speaker:No, it's all good.
Speaker:We're all going to hell.
Speaker:In a hand basket.
Speaker:That's an old person saying, isn't it.
Speaker:Um, but this idea that, you know, what, how often do you hear.
Speaker:That humans are pretty darn amazing.
Speaker:That they're tough.
Speaker:They're scrappy.
Speaker:That you know, we we've done some amazing stuff, you know?
Speaker:We, we, we really are capable of enduring difficult things
Speaker:and creating beautiful things.
Speaker:So I want to encourage you, I guess, today in a couple of areas, one is
Speaker:being encouraged by to a small extent.
Speaker:My example, on the weekend doing 195 K race.
Speaker:You just, you just, there's so much more you can do.
Speaker:There really is.
Speaker:So for me now, it's kind of, where do I go from here?
Speaker:I was thinking last night, I should go to a 300 K row.
Speaker:You know, ride probably took me about 10, 11 hours, 12 hours, maybe
Speaker:depending on how much climbing there is.
Speaker:Cause it's just this thing that happens when you do cool stuff, you just sort of
Speaker:feel alive and that it encourages people.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:For you for some people listening right now, it could be walking
Speaker:around the block is a stretch.
Speaker:He might've, you know, your fitness might be down and you're
Speaker:busy and you're stressed out.
Speaker:And just getting around the block can be a win and it could be as challenging
Speaker:for you to go and do a five kilometer walk as it was for me to do 195 K ride.
Speaker:So it doesn't matter what the actual event or the age or the, you know,
Speaker:experiences, it matters whether or not it stretches you a little bit.
Speaker:Because like Jedediah Jenkins says, you know, that tough scrappy
Speaker:human DNA is in you as well.
Speaker:It's there.
Speaker:So, you know, that there's something in you you've been thinking about.
Speaker:There'll be something you've been thinking of doing or attempting or
Speaker:trying that you've thought, you know, it just keeps drifting in and out
Speaker:of your thinking, but go and do it.
Speaker:Sign up.
Speaker:I find with these things that, uh, You know, you.
Speaker:You pay on the way in, so.
Speaker:When you're signing up or you're planning something, it doesn't feel that exciting.
Speaker:And you go, what am I doing?
Speaker:Sometimes you just got to shut that part of your monkey brain
Speaker:down and just do it and sign up.
Speaker:Stop the class, join the program, go to the club, whatever it is.
Speaker:And just get started and then the rest takes care of itself.
Speaker:So in summary, that's why I like the title of his book, you
Speaker:know, to wake the sleeping self.
Speaker:I keep saying that we live in a culture that is.
Speaker:Really convincing us sort of shaping us to consume and to stay
Speaker:in busy-ness and distraction.
Speaker:So we don't step outside of.
Speaker:You know, this bubble that we can end up living in and missing out on
Speaker:some of the amazing stuff that there is to do and experience in life.
Speaker:So friends, I hope that this is some small encouragement to
Speaker:you to wake your sleeping self.
Speaker:And I'm going to keep trying to.
Speaker:Wake myself up at deeper and deeper levels.
Speaker:And, uh, I think that's what it means to live.
Speaker:A full human life.
Speaker:And as always remember, it's not about narcissistic personal
Speaker:self-gratification experience.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:There's a deeply personal element to doing this, but doing this
Speaker:stuff allows you to be more alive.
Speaker:So you can give more fully to others.
Speaker:I always remember reading Thomas Merton's.
Speaker:New York times bestseller.
Speaker:Uh, the seven story mountain where he said, you know, that the purpose
Speaker:of life is not self-actualization.
Speaker:That was Maslow's idea.
Speaker:Merton thinks Maslow was wrong.
Speaker:And so do I, he, you know, the purpose of life isn't to fully become everything you
Speaker:can become that that's not the full goal.
Speaker:Merton went on to say the purpose of life is self-transcendence to
Speaker:recollect yourself, which means to know yourself, to fully experience yourself.
Speaker:Then he says this so you can fully give.
Speaker:So all of this stuff is about waking up becoming more fully
Speaker:alive so that we can make a greater contribution and give a greater
Speaker:example to the people in our lives.
Speaker:To those we love to those we're close to, and even to strangers
Speaker:who were just like, what the.
Speaker:When they see you doing awesome stuff.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:That's it from me.
Speaker:Um, hope this is a blessing to you.
Speaker:I'm doing coaching cause I'm not traveling these days.
Speaker:So if you want personal coaching with me, Just send me an email,
Speaker:jonathan@jonathandoyle.co, or you can find me through the website,
Speaker:Jonathan Doyle dot co.com.
Speaker:So that's over zoom.
Speaker:Usually we do an initial four sessions and we just target whatever it is you
Speaker:want to work on and we make it happen.
Speaker:So if you want to do that, reach out to me, friends, listen, I hope
Speaker:this has been a blessing to you.
Speaker:Please make sure you've subscribed reveal, listening, Spotify, Amazon.
Speaker:Google's apple anywhere on the internet, hit that subscribe button share this with
Speaker:a few friends my name's jonathan doyle this has been the daily podcast get out
Speaker:there and wake the sleeping self and i'll have another message for you tomorrow
