⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

🧱Your phone, minus the distractions: Rediscover your phone's true purpose with a simple tap. Learn more.

✨ From Stardust to Sapiens: A Stunning Serenade to Our Cosmic Origins and Our Ongoing Self-Creation. Read it here.

😴 Why Do We Dream? A New Theory on How It Protects Our Brains. Read it here.

🎇 Image of The Week

“When the tallest tree in Wales was damaged in a storm, Simon O’Rourke, chainsaw carving extraordinaire, knew just what to do. Simon had been carving sculptures with his chainsaw for years. He had a design in his hand and a mind to be the one who received the commissioned for carving this tremendous tree into his latest chainsaw art sculpture.” Read more about Simon’s work here.

🔎 The Myth of Perfect Clarity

The desire to have perfect clarity before taking action is one of the biggest inhibitors to personal progress.

Many feel as though they need the vivid details mapped out as a first step, not realizing that the details emerge as a vision is refined through real-world action.

Abstract visions and aims eventually need to collide with reality so that your map can become a closer representation to the territory.

Sometimes people spend far too much time obsessing over the map when they need to get out in the wilderness and see where it takes them.

Then you can actually recognize the flaws and the insufficiencies in the map. You might realize that certain ground was not accounted for. That the topography is different than you expected.

That you might need additional tools like a compass to keep yourself oriented. You might realize you need to learn how to read the stars to keep moving in the proper direction.

Rather than trying to engineer perfect clarity, the better approach is to use the slivers of clarity you have as jumping-off points into the fog.

You'll eventually need to navigate through the cloudiness of uncertainty.

Eventually, you'll come upon a clearing in the woods. From this space, you'll be able to see a greater perspective. You will have arrived at a deeper clarity that is only possible through navigation, not pontification.

Armed with this heightened awareness, you'll proceed forward eventually merging back into the fog. And so it repeats.

There is an oscillatory nature to clarity and cloudiness.

As the pendulum swings between these two poles, a pixelated image (the original vision) is transformed into a high definition multi-dimensional rendering that draws on encounters with reality paired with predictions informed by battle-tested theory.

These details are gifts only earned through experience.

Experience that offers a wisdom that "lives in the bones" that goes far beyond the flickerings of the mind.

All this to say, don't feel like you need to have it all figured out to justify taking the first step towards a vision.

The perfect plan does not exist. The idea that one does is veiled procrastination.

So start. Get out into the wilderness and see what you discover.

 💯 The HERO100 & The Hour of Power

A Note From Eric Brown:

“In April this year, I released the first HERO100: A 100-day transformational initiation. 

It was incredible. 70% of participants gave it a 10/10. Some said it was the “one of the best decisions of the past few years—if not the best.”

On January 14, we’re bringing it back. We’ve got a new app, a custom 100-day journaling course, and much more.

If you want real, lasting change, and not succumb to the 90%+ failure rate of classic New Years Resolutions, I invite you to join us.

If you’d like to get a taste of the potency of this experience, we’re running FREE workshops for everyone on January 2, 5, and 7. You can register here. And if you're ready and hungry for real change, if you want to do this alongside other Down The Rabbit Hole readers, you can sign up using the code ‘RABBITHOLE’ for an exclusive discount and early access.

I can’t wait to do this with you. Thank you.”

💗 Your Heart of Hearts

Enjoy these words trajectory-shifting words from Chris Hadfield:

“Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become.”

🤓 Learn This Word

Levensgenieter: A Dutch word that refers to someone who loves life deeply; is devoted

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

10 Timeless Reasons Why Your Life Matters

If the world has ever attempted to lasso your soul and pull you into a pit of nihilistic hopelessness, consider this a memo from the universe zapping you with an electrical current of meaning.

There is an inextinguishable significance to your life. Yes, specifically YOUR life. This significance does not exist purely because you wish it into existence. It is not a matter of make-believe. It is real and there are timeless reasons for it.

My hope is that reading this will plant the seeds to help you feel your significance in your bones. That it might burn so vividly that others can see it shining in your eyes. And, who knows, they might even catch a glimpse of their own significance reflected in your gaze.

​[Continue Reading]

🎬 Endnote

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Down The Rabbit Hole. Feel free to reply and tell me what you think.

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With Wonder,

Mike Slavin