Things Happen For You Not To You

The Imperfect Mens Club Podcast

27-09-2024 • 28 mins

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