Summer Series Ep 5: THIS Is The Bravest Thing a Person Can Do

MAGIC IN THE MOMENT IS NOW AVAILABLE: https://tinyurl.com/9vj477f6

In the summer of 2021 Simone Biles walked away.

The greatest gymnast who has ever lived. The entire world watching. Her team counting on her. And she stepped back and said I need to take care of myself first.

The reaction was enormous. And Clayton has been thinking about that moment ever since.

In this fifth and final installment of the summer series, Clayton goes deep into chapter five of his new book Magic in the Moment, a chapter called Self Care Is Job One. And he opens it with a case that he suspects most of us need to hear more than we realize. What Simone Biles modeled in Tokyo was not weakness. It was an act of supreme clarity that can only come from a still mind.

This episode is not about bubble baths and rest days. It is about the oxygen mask. The one every flight attendant in the world has been trying to get us to actually hear for decades. You have fifteen seconds of useful consciousness before hypoxia sets in. After that you are not helping anyone. You are one more person who needs help.

Clayton draws on the research of Kristin Neff and her three components of self-compassion, self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, and connects them directly to the sitting practice that most listeners already have in some form. He shares a story from his work in Stephen Ministry that reframed everything he thought he knew about caregiving. And he offers one question worth sitting with long after the episode ends.

What do you need right now that you have not given yourself permission to have?

This is the final episode of the summer series. And as Clayton says in closing, all five chapters taken together are pointing at the same thing. The practice of being here, really here, in this moment, with this person, in this life.

This episode is brought to you by Meditation for Leadership. Leadership happens in the space before the decision. Meditation for Leadership helps you pause under pressure, notice what is really happening, and choose how you respond instead of react. Visit www.meditation4leadership.org to learn more.