Mark brings up the topic - Love of fate, love of one’s fate - "Amore Fati"
Stoicism
Things happen for you, not to you
Personal accountability and self awareness
Mark asks Jim to share the back story Three conversations with three good friends
Jim did a deep dive into Amore Fate. The Japanese version “wabi sabi”
The connection to imperfection
People with victim mentalities are not pleasant to be around
Mark talks about personal accountability and self awareness…learning through failure
Jim shares a couple of pet phrases. Bitter or better and don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better
Everything is a choice
Mark talks about “the pause”. Don’t react. Wait. Regain objectivity
Jim came up with 10 words
1. Gratitude - Jim asks Mark about his daily practice
2. Presence - be in the moment. Mark talks about paying attention and young people struggling with attention. Jim cites California law taking phones from kids at school
3. Embrace
4. Response
5. Peace. Mark cites peace of mind
6. Meaning and the connection to suffering. Mark brings up Victor Frankel’s man’s Search For Meaning. Mark suggests that suffering m makes you stronger…it’s a choice
7. Forgiveness. Mark sheds light on forgiving yourself
8. Self Compassion. Jim says it takes work to forgive
Mark talks about forgiving his ex wife
9. Mundane Beauty - Mark brings up his dad and how he sees new things with a childlike wonder
Life isn’t a highlight film - Jim
Mark calls the mundane practice. Weight rooms and running stairs
10. Authenticity and inauthenticity (Our Vice President)
Mark talks about applying these concepts to life
Acceptance
Explore your reactions to things and maybe change your reactions
Look for the grace in things. Mark reframes his forgiveness of his ex wife and how he contextualizes her difficult childhood. Put yourself in the other persons shoes…gets you to grace
Jim goes back to embracing. Embracing adversity
Mark talks about consistency. The need to practice. It’s never done
Jim frames the discussion as being a persons worldview
Mark says emotional decisions are often bad decisions. Use the pause
Jim says these concepts are timeless and cross cultural constructs
Mark shares his daily practice and how all religions have very much the same concepts
Jim revisits “don’t be nice, be kind”.
Mark says nice is inauthentic
Mark says we’re all going through the same shit
Jim asks us to be men. There are too many boys out there
DEI gets some laughs
Jim shares “the search for meaning in the imperfection”
He closes with meaning in the incomplete
Mark frames incomplete in terms of shipping your work at 80 or 90 % complete
Jim agrees completely