On October 28, 2024, I went on a date with my wife to Target, and we went to Cali for lunch. She's about to go to New York this weekend, and I love how much we enjoy spending time together. We have so much fun and joy hanging out together and make lots of jokes. We bought a comforter and some other household necessities at Target today, and we had lots of fun just hanging out and being together while the kids were in school. And we rarely fight anymore, because we understand each other so well.
The alternate reality Laura and I imagined together
We were exploring some alternate scenarios in our life, which was really fun. For example, we got together and started dating in January 2011 and have been together ever since then. Laura suggested last night, like, what if we took a break at some point? Maybe when you first had that drunken, raging argument back in 2011, what if I had just walked out right then, and we had taken a break, and then gotten back together? And it was so fun to explore that possibility, to just think about this entirely different reality and how things might have been. And then I threw out all kinds of other possibilities for how things might have gone down.
That is an exercise in imagination, which is so important for me in enjoying my life today. I remember as a kid continuing to play around with ideas that came to me in the games I was into, jotting them into a notebook and reading them into my laptop, asking myself, what can I do, what can I do? That's how I started. It was an imagination habit, and it's the same muscle I use now to picture a whole different version of my life and then come back grateful for the one I actually have.
It takes focused effort to manifest the negative
I just cannot see myself in negative situations. You love the things you enjoy, and it takes a lot more work to manifest and bring about negative circumstances like war and poverty and disease. Those take very focused effort. I'm so grateful it's been two years since I've been sick. I was observing that the kids had some little symptoms this morning, but after we took away their tablets, they have not had a single day at home, because there's no benefit to manifesting these illnesses. They just go to school, because it's more fun.
I think about how I've manifested all these positive things I love in my life, and it's just natural. I see so many of my fellows on this planet getting tricked into manifesting all this negative stuff, which you really have to focus on constantly. You have to constantly think about how much you're afraid of this, how much you'd hate it if that happened, how much you'd hate it if this happened.
Like the election that's coming up right now. I'm not concerned about it. I think either way, things will be just fine. I had a dream last night that Harris was winning all over the place, so I'm interested to see how that actually plays out. It seems like in our collective consciousness, we're deciding that right now.
The tennis lesson: just hit the ball back
I played tennis this morning, and my mind got pretty negative playing. Most of the guys there were born at least 20 years before me. I lost one set 6–0, got destroyed, lost another set like 5–2, and my shots were shockingly bad. Now, I'm just starting to play tennis, and I was trying to keep track of the shots I hit, but I just gave up toward the end of it and tried to have fun on each point. Finally, for the last three games, I consistently just focused on getting my shots in the court instead of trying to hit them hard.
The guy I was playing with said, you know, against these old guys, all you need to do is just hit the ball back. If you just hit the ball back, you're often going to win. A lot of my shots I hit too hard or too high or into the net. And it's a good analogy for life. If you'll just keep giving whatever life gives you back, and just put it in the court — don't shoot it way outside or try and go nuts — you can just react to things and take a nice, accurate shot back into the court. Often life will go so well. That same idea of counting the shots I make instead of the ones I miss is one I keep coming back to.
So I'm really grateful for where my life is at today. And of course it is, because I created it.
Raising my prices and finishing my 249th song
I also yesterday raised the price to have a call with me from $99 to $234, because some people suggested in my open chat that I do so. At the same time, I set up some other subscriptions and discounts for people who schedule calls. And I finally got my Petra's house party music video rendered as well, and cranked out my 249th song today, right before this. If you enjoy these everyday reflections, you can watch my newest videos in my Life playlist.