Alchemic Verse

One of the most powerful skills I have started to acquire in the quiet meditations and fortuitous interactions along the path of Life Yeet 2025 is how to face myself in a balanced way. Addressing the good, the bad, and the in-between helps make decisions toward growth and movement – toward a fulfilling life. Decision-making is one of the hardest things to master, and the first fundamental step in moving in an authentic way has required cutting through the noise to recognize myself wholly.

Each of us receives input from our world – opinions, roles, labels, expectations and messages about who and what we should be. Sensitivity to that input can confine a person to an underfulfilled day-to-day, particularly when it eclipses the authentic power and path unique to each of us. Trauma especially can lead people to act out of fearful or wounded places; the echoes of abuse, manipulation and humiliation develop an image of what we “should” be, who we are, and our worth that is misaligned with the life we want to be living. Fear of repeating past pain can force a person to stay small and quiet instead of embodying the inherent risks of being open and vulnerable.

Breaking free of that programming to make decisions, particularly when at major crossroads in life, is key to finding satisfaction and inner peace. This started in my life with compassionate questioning. Finding direction that aligns with your true self can happen when you ask things like:

• What do I like about myself?
• What do I dislike about myself?
• What parts of each category are influenced externally by the opinions of others and/or a desire for their acceptance, approval, or praise?
• What parts of each category actually matter to me?

Answering yourself with brutal honesty, including the bits that bring up pain or shame, is paramount to getting to the next layer.

The answers to the first lead to secondary questions like:

Think radically and answer deeply to consider the widest range of possibilities that lead to the third layer of questions:

• I want to change x, how can I do that?
• I need to make more time/energy for y, how can I make space for that?
• What incremental plans with milestones can grow my progress?
• What people, places and habits are aligned with who I want to be?

I’ve had several poignant conversations with people I’ve met along this journey who are also at crossroads in their lives. The mirrors have been profound, and the learning therefrom forms collective wisdom I feel is worth sharing. I echoed parts of this exercise with them naturally as part of getting to know them.

One person shared their bottomless hunger for the grind – and when I asked, “What does happiness look like? What does ‘enough’ look like? What is endgame?” they answered with more grind. Thinking perhaps the love of the grind itself is enough for them, I then risked asking “If the grind is the happiness, why [as they had told me already] do you struggle to feel happy right now?”

This teased out deeper truths – struggles with relationships, money, and future goals that were hidden by ambition and arguably a mask of ego. Still, they answered, “It’s never enough.” With endless compassion and admiration for their work ethic, though our motivations are vastly different, I do hope their goals are realized, balance is achieved, and satisfaction is reached in their life.

Another conversation was with a friend feeling stuck, stagnant – something I deeply relate to mid-peeling away from the flypaper myself. Holding only empathy, I asked what they valued most, what motivates them – a general summation of the answers to the first two layers of questions. The drill down brought forth some dreams their child-selves had yet to live, a desire for balanced connection, various passions, and a sense of aligned purpose that were not currently part of their day-to-day.

We talked about the third layer after this, specifically how to make progress toward those dreams, several paths, and the pros and cons of each, while considering how space could be made for the energy, time and money to make incremental steps forward. They revealed they were considering heading back to their family and their hometown after some years away, but that doing so felt like defeat or starting over.

I suggested an alternate take – they are not the same person they were when they left, so they are not starting over, and it is not giving up. It’s Part II [or more realistically a higher number] where each step has built, grown, and refined who they are person. Most who have ever reread a book or watched a film twice know – you see new and different things each read or watch, as you yourself are not the same person you were. I suggested with care that maybe the person they have become is now more aligned with the opportunities they did not initially seize.

Reflecting on this exercise and my answers to these questions gave several insights that show where my priorities and energies can shift. For one example of several, what motivates me is peaceful living, love and community, beautiful experiences and the enjoyment/creation of art. Money, one of the primary drivers in my life, should therefore be reframed as a means to grow peace, to help others, to find/form meaningful connections, to carry me to inspiring experiences, and to share art inspired by those connections and experiences.

I acknowledge a fair amount of privilege in saying that so long the path to “success” and my priorities in life revolved around the pursuit of money, in the safest possible ways, reflective of my fears, serving as a measurement of my worth as a human being. This was derived from the trauma surrounding lack, as well as the messages, roles, pressures, and labels externally branded on my life.

Life Yeet 2025 has involved and continues to involve executing the above exercise repeatedly. Sometimes this is deliberately, otherwise occurring naturally in the space and silence. The peace has revealed inner truth, acceptance, and room for healing. The solitude after the collapse of existing circumstances revealed the nature of many existing connections. My habits and self-image are changing, and space for what matters is being cleared as I learn the ways to best embody this authentic self.

Maybe, my treasured readers, this approach, scaled up or down to fit into your worlds, can reveal something healing in your lives. Regardless, discernment and alignment lead me forward, and the alchemy continues.