Hello,
This is Lou Redmond.
Thank you for allowing me to share a little bit with you here today.
I have a cheesy metaphor coming at you so you've been warned.
But while traveling across the country this past year,
I got to understand what is essential for living.
A few things that came to mind.
One a Berkey water filter to have clean,
Great tasting water wherever we went.
Two comfy pairs of pants so you can wear one while the other is in the wash.
Three a meditation cushion so people know that I meditate.
Joking.
And then of course good coffee because well,
Does there really need to be an explanation to that?
Anyway,
The most essential besides food,
Shelter and good coffee is Wi-Fi.
Strong,
Reliable Wi-Fi.
My work depends on video meetings and virtual classes so any lag or freezing takes away from the experience of a meditation or a coaching session.
When people are investing their time and money,
I feel like it's my responsibility to have a basic thing like Wi-Fi figured out.
Which is why logging on to my first coaching session from my new place,
My heart sank.
Your connection is unstable.
The video was choppy and the meetings only got worse throughout the day.
So I went into problem solving mode.
Low speed should be a simple fix.
Pay for faster internet.
I recently read the futurist Kevin Kelly say,
Any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.
I understand there's privilege to the statement.
However,
When I called the service provider happily willing to dish out whatever it costs,
I learned they only had one speed.
The quote landed.
Now I had a problem.
I was furious.
It's not like I'm in the badlands of South Dakota.
I was in San Francisco.
This place is like where the internet was born.
Why can't they make it faster?
Someone please take my money.
I trudged on researching mesh Wi-Fi systems,
Going to Best Buy,
Talking to people about things that I really don't understand and no luck.
I kept calling the provider,
Begging to find some loophole,
But they rarely picked up the phone.
Doesn't a business need to answer?
Maybe it was my New Jersey number that scared them away.
I kept looking for answers outside.
I thought about getting a hotspot from Verizon,
But the speed seemed subpar.
I sulked,
I pouted,
I felt helpless to fix the problem.
I expressed this to my partner and she was sympathetic,
But confused.
She's like,
Lou,
My video calls are fine.
What's going on with you?
It didn't make any sense.
I have a brand new MacBook Pro.
Her Mac is an old 2014 model.
The problem couldn't be my system,
Could it?
After another choppy meeting,
I decided to test her computer.
It worked great.
Being a scholar of the scientific method,
I concluded the problem was not the internet.
It was my computer.
After spending an hour on the phone with Apple,
We found my Bluetooth was interfering with the connection.
The fix?
Turn off Bluetooth.
Voila.
Wi-Fi works.
Why am I telling you this story about everyday frustrations?
Because my actions tell a truth as old as time.
The problem is not outside.
It's inside.
Well,
In this case,
Inside my computer.
But you get the cheesy metaphor now,
I hope.
We're trained to look for answers out there.
We buy gadgets,
Take pills,
Outsource our power to authority figures.
We jump through relationships trying to find the one.
We move to locations,
Shift careers,
Change presidents.
But as John Kabat-Zinn so wonderfully stated,
Wherever you go,
There you are.
We still bring ourselves to the table.
Like in the case with my Wi-Fi,
Most of our issues are internal.
The good news is we have the power to change that.
As we change,
What's inside the outside unfolds and blossoms.
If we don't take back our power,
We'll project and blame the world for our problems.
We'll fall into ignorance and think,
No,
It couldn't be me.
When we take responsibility,
We realize it could be me and thank God for that.
Now we can do something about it.
Thanks for listening.
I hope we get a chance to connect more.
If you want to do a little meditation on this that was inspired by this,
You can find a meditation called Restoring Connection to Self,
Which is right here on Insight Timer.
And I'd love to practice with you again.
I have many meditations on here.
So just find one that calls to you.
If you want to join my circle,
You can just search Lou's Circle and I'd love to connect with you there as well.
Sending you so much love and guidance for your journey.
Namaste.
