Episode 147: With the End in Mind

Episode Summary

In our church, we have assignments (“callings”) that members are asked to fulfill. These callings are for only a limited amount of time, knowing that at some point we’ll be released from that assignment.

Kinda like our earth life: here for a certain amount of time before it comes to an end and we’re released.

I want to share some of the things I’ve observed from seeing my family fulfill and be released from their church callings, and how the calling concept can also empower us in our current earth lives.

You can choose how to feel at your release.
The only thing we take at release is what we’ve learned.
Actually, the one other thing that goes with us at release are our relationships - because love is eternal.
You don’t get a practice run.
You’re not going to do it right - but you can’t do it wrong.

Episode Transcript

Welcome to the 100% Awesome Podcast with April Price. You might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thought you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome.

Hello podcast universe! Welcome to episode 147 of the 100% Awesome Podcast. I'm April Price, I'm your host, I'm your coach, I am your reminder that you are 100% capable of creating more in your life if you want to. And I am here every week reminding you of that, because it's so easy to forget, isn't it as human to just forget, like in the fog of war, like what we're even doing or we're capable of, like why we're even doing it. And so, I just want to remind you that you are awesome, that you are doing great, that you are capable of so much and it's not easy, right? Your brain is going to put up such a fight. It is going to seriously protest any changes or growth that you want to make.

I was just on the treadmill this morning and my brain was giving me every excuse in the book to let up, to slow down, to reduce the incline, for heaven's sakes. He kept telling me, that's far enough. Why does it hurt so bad? It's not what Earth is bad? Why am I even doing this and even offered me, like, maybe I should try to get out of this? What was I thinking right? And on and on and on like, it really is a battle sometimes. And thankfully, like I have the skills to watch my brain, I have the skills to coach myself in those moments and keep going. And I don't give up, right? Because I know that what my brain thinks is dangerous, and unacceptable, and too painful and so alarming just never really is. I am capable of much more than my brain thinks. But it isn't always easy to talk back to our brain, and I know that whatever you are trying to create or change or become in your life isn't easy because you have a brain too.

And I know your brain is fighting you, I know it's telling you that you can't, and this is who you are. Doesn't matter anyway, and it's never going to work and we should just give up. And that's why you want to have a coach so that you don't have to fight that fight alone so that you can see the light your brain offers you and then never, never let them stop you from creating what you want. I know that I talk about this a lot like the huge differences that have been created in my life since I found coaching and and found out the truth about my brain and the way that it stops me. But I want you to know like those changes didn't happen all at once, right? They were incremental. They were daily choices. One thought really at a time. And that momentum and those thoughts they build on themselves, like four years ago, I never would have considered even going to the gym, let alone climbing the equivalent distance of Mount Everest, right? A year ago, even I wouldn't have believed that this endurance event was possible. Like, my brain still couldn't believe it.

And today it was telling me the same thing again that I am not capable of what I'm trying to do, but I I am continually building my life by talking back to my brain, by pushing back, by not accepting its limitations. And as I do that, I expand my life, expand my experience. As I expand my capacity, I'm constantly expanding what's possible for me, and expanding what I can create and how much I can love, how powerfully I can use my agency. And I just keep getting coached so that I can do that as I keep getting coached and I keep challenging my brain that I keep growing. So, your growth isn't going to happen all at once, but it will be inevitable if you work on your thoughts. We are changed when we change our thoughts and coaching is just the most powerful practical tool to be able to do that.

4:41
And so, I want to invite all of you to my next coaching group so that you can start that process right now. This is just the beginning and there is no reason to wait, it won't get easier. Your brain isn't going to suddenly get on board at some point. Your brain isn't going to protest less later, it's not going to get more comfortable, or less scary, or less expensive even, right? But if you want more, and you want to expand your life, and your love, and your capacity, start now and never stop. So, my next group starts in a few weeks, it starts the first week in April, and just so you know, there is a bonus for anyone that signs up before March 6th if you sign up for the group before March 6th, in addition to like all of the incredible group coaching and bonus workshops that you're going to get. You will also get two one-on-one individual sessions that you can use with me any time during that six-months.

So, maybe you have been wondering if coaching will work for you if it's right for you? And you know what to do about that, right? Like, find out, get on a call with me. I offer a free consultation call too so that you can see firsthand the power of coaching. And also, I just want you to know I'm going to offer a free class next Friday, March 4th at 9:00 a.m. Pacific. And I'm just calling it Is Coaching the Answer For Me, right? Is coaching the answer where I will tell you everything you need to know about my program so that you can make a decision about coaching. You can get coached on that call, you can talk about all your brain's protest to like why it doesn't think you should sign up? I will answer all of your questions about coaching so that you can make a decision. So, to register for that class and find out if coaching is the answer for you, you can go to my website aprilpricecoaching.com. There will be a button there where you can get registered for it, or you can simply text the word answer to 66866. And you can register that way if you text the word answer to 66866, you'll get a prompt where you give your email, and your name, and then it will register you automatically for that class. And then all of the links for the class will end up in your inbox, okay?

So, if you have been thinking about coaching but you aren't sure your brain keeps telling you like it's not for you, and all the reasons why you can't have what you want, I want you to come to this class. So, register right now while you're thinking about it 66866 and you just text the word answer, okay? If you have been thinking about it, if you like, have those nudges all the time to expand your life, I think those desires are there for a reason and you should be in coaching, okay? Onto the episode.

You guys, I am so excited about this episode, for whatever reason, I just feel like I've just had such like powerful thoughts recently and I wanted to share them in this episode. So, recently we have had a few releases in our family from some church calling. So, in our church we get assignments were asked to fulfill certain assignments and call those callings. And they are only most of the callings in our church are only for a limited amount of time, right? Well, actually, all of them are, and with any calling that you get, there is a release date. And so, you are called to serve for a limited amount of time knowing that at some point you are going to be released from that assignment and then you'll do something else in the church. But recently, my daughter Savannah was released from her mission, which means she's no longer serving as a missionary. And my husband, just a couple of weeks after that was released from his calling as a bishop. He had served for over five years, and it was time for him to be released as well.

And like watching them go through that experience of being released and like that, that assignment ending just reminded me so much that for each one of us, there is a release date to our life. Like, our lives, of course, are limited and we all have a release date, we don't know when that will be. But it is inevitably coming. There will come a day when there's no more to do, when there's no more to learn, when there's no more practice, when there's no more growth here on Earth available. And as I have watched David and Savannah experience their releases and kind of wrestle with the difficulty of that and the changes that that has brought in their lives, it has brought to mind some things that I wanted to share with you that I think will be powerful for you to think about in your life.

9:41
So, for just a few minutes, I want to share the things that I have learned watching them be released. And have you think about your life in the same way with the end in mind, knowing that one day you will be released from mortality, and this time of learning, and growth will be over? The first thing I want you to think about is how you want to feel at that release date. And I want you to leave without regret. Now, of course, regret is a feeling, right? which means that it is created by our thoughts, which means that no matter what, we never have to choose regret. We never have to think about our lives with regret. But I also think that our opportunity here as humans is incredible. It's unique and it is precious, and we don't want to let fear, or doubt, or insecurity, or any other emotions that our brain creates. We don't want to let those emotions keep us from everything that we could do and we could experience while we are here, right?

Like, I always think of the parable of the talents that Jesus gave, and he talked about the three guys who were given talents and told to go and expand them, right? To increase them. And one of them was so scared about losing it, like he had so much fear, he just hid it. And I think like that is really and truly an experience that many of us are having. We have all been given like so much opportunity to come and learn, to come and grow, to come and choose to come and figure out how to use my agency to create what I want. And so, many of us are listening to our brains, which are telling us, like, you might feel you might be rejected. You might look stupid, like this might never work. You might not be capable of this. And these thoughts are keeping us from making the most of our time here. Now, remember, it is never going to serve us to think we could have done more, and to look at our lives with regret, right?

Because the truth is, we are always doing exactly what we can. We always do exactly what we're capable of given our current thoughts. So, I don't want you to use this to look back on your life and be like, oh my gosh, I've wasted so much time in fear. I've wasted so much time believing my brain and that creates regret for you because the truth is, we are always doing the best we can. We are always living our lives the best way we can, given the thoughts that we have given our current set of knowledge. And so, I don't want you to look back now with regret. I just want you to recognize that at any point you are allowed to change those thoughts. At any point you are allowed to talk back to your brain, and expand your capacity and get something else. If you feel nudged to do more, to create more, to use your time, and your gifts, and your agency, to expand like your capacity, you don't have to waste that chance.

When it's all said and done, it really is only fear keeping us from trying. And that fear is always just made up by thoughts and stories and sentences in our brain. And I never want anything made up to keep me from having the experience I want here on Earth. The second thing I want you to recognize is that the only thing we take at release are the things that we've learned, what we've learned about ourselves, what we've learned about God, what we've learned about our relationship with him, what we've learned about loving other people. Like, the only thing we take when we're released is the knowledge, and skills that we have developed during our assignment.

So, when Savannah left her mission, when David got released from being the bishop like, they didn't get to take anything with them. My, my husband has nothing to show for his work, for the hours, for the tears, for the sacrifice, except what he has learned. Except who he has become, except the thoughts that he has developed while he's done that work, right? And actually, that's all he needs to take with him. None of that matters. But what we have learned, that is the reward that is the gift, the growth we receive, and it is the same for you when you leave this life. You won't take the body that you've worked hard on, you won't take the money that you've saved or earn, you won't take the business that you've built or any of the contributions that you've made or the books you've written, and nobody's going to care how many marathons you can run. Like, none of that is going to matter, not really, except you will take everything you learned as you did those things, as you overcame your brain, as you conquered your fears. All of that skill, all of that knowledge that goes with you, and that is the point. And all of the effort you put into overcoming your brain and doing hard things so that you can learn more about yourself and your capacity and your ability to create and expand your spirits, growth and glory and becoming. That's what matters, all of our effort just results in learning it results in knowledge, it results in being able to use our agency better to choose what we want.

It's an increase in the skill of agency, and all of that goes with you, right? I've talked to you about this before that God is so perfect at using his agency. He has that skill, and as you overcome, like your brain in this Earth-life, you gain more of that same skill. Now I kind of lied there because the third thing that I wanted to say is like, actually, the the one other thing that goes with you at release is your relationships, the bonds that you made during your service, right? During your life, during your work. Those bonds don't disappear at release, okay? Love is eternal, it never ends, right? It never fails. And how you love matters, and not just for here and now, not just because it makes your Earth life experience so much sweeter, and so much nicer, but it affects eternity as well.

16:36
I heard a podcast from Tommy Reves who's just, you know, an amazing, inspiring athlete runner, and he battled a form of cancer that almost killed him. He was in like a coma for many months, and he said like he had, like all these experiences where he could see he calls it the in-between, right? Where you could see both sides, you could see Earth, and and everything happening there, and he could see the other side, right? And he talked about how the next life like just beyond us, he said it's not just all magically resolved on the other side, just because like we've passed, you know, we've been released, right? It's no different there than it is here. And like, this is so true if we think about it because God doesn't love just because he's on the other side and it's easy over there somehow, right? Like it's like some sort of like magical experience to love us on the other side, right?

He loves by choice. He loves by agency. He is using his agency to think about us and to create love for us, right? That is that's what makes him God. That choice that he is able to make that we aren't always able to make, right? And this is the same for us. And right here in your human body, in this Earth-life experience, this is where we get to do that practice. This is where we get to practice the skill of love. The work is here, the work is inside you, it is not outside of you. It's not up to them. It's not up to the behavior of other people. It's up to the choice you are making the thought you are thinking about the people in your life. And the better you get at that skill, the better you get at choosing love. Like that skill goes with you, and the relationships that you create. The time that you spend the energy you spend loving, all of that is eternal. It goes with you.

So, for so many years of my life, I knew I should love, I wanted to love, but I had no idea how to do it. Like, I didn't know how to make my heart feel something that it didn't. I didn't know how not to be angry. I didn't know how not to have a hard heart. I didn't know right? And coaching taught me that I was making a choice. That feeling was never just happening to me. I was making it every time I had a thought about someone, a thought how they should be different, a thought, how like they were wrong. And this knowledge that love was always available to me, it was a choice, it was one thought away. It changed everything for me, and I am so grateful to have figured that out while I'm here on Earth so that I can practice it again and again. Right before you get released, I want you to get as much practice with that as you can.

I recently keep telling my children, they're young adults and like dating and thinking about like the next step in their lives, marriage and family and all of that. And I keep telling them like, just find somebody that you're willing to practice love with. Like love isn't going to be automatic, even with that person who is most precious to you. It's it's never easy. Our brain is always offering us the alternative to love. So pick someone that you want to practice with. Pick someone that you're willing to do the practice with. And someone who will allow you to practice and fail over, and over, and over, again and forgive you and and like, let you try again. That is what it is all about and all of that work that we do that goes with us at release, okay?

Number four, I just want you to know and I mean, I know you know this, but it just occurs to me like again, as I watch Savannah and David, that you do not get a practice run at this rate. So, like as David and I have thought about his years as a bishop, like we joke and we've said, like, if only we knew then what I know now. Like, there are so many things that I would have done differently, right? But like, we don't get a do over. We just like we got the call and he got the call, savannah got the call and like, we don't get a do over, right? There isn't a practice run. You are just like in it. And what I want to tell you is that like so many times in our lives, we look at our lives and we're just like, oh my gosh, like, I didn't know what I needed to know to do this, to do this right the first time, right? And we just like, kind of beat ourselves up about that kind of wish we can have a do over, right? But I want you to think about this, we don't get a practice run at it because we don't need one, not because we're doing it perfectly, but because perfect isn't the point, right? It is not too late to change what you're doing.

22:01
We get to change every day, every time we choose a different thought, we get to change and your life is not set in stone, okay? Like how it began, how it's gone for the last decade is not how it will end, right? I remember Savannah talking about like those first days on the mission. She just kept thinking like, oh my gosh, what did I do? Did I ruined my life, right? And then at the end, she was just like, I never want to leave, right? Like, her thoughts completely changed. And so, what I mean by all of this is that like, I want you to be compassionate with yourself for how you have lived with the knowledge you had. And knowing that it's not too late, I don't need a do over this moment right now, I get to change this moment right now. I get to think a different thought and I get to create a different result, a different outcome in my life, like now is the time.

We aren't going to get another shot, but we do get today, and whatever has happened in the past doesn't create time. You get to choose another thought right now here in this moment, and it will change your life. Along with that, I just want to offer you that like so many times, as I watched David and Savannah go through these experiences, like it was hard, the assignments were hard and they were heavy, and it felt like sometimes like, Oh, I can't do this, like, I just want to be done with this, right? And I think that is so true for us as well, right? Like sometimes life is just so hard and so heavy, and we look around at all our mistakes, and we just think like, what's the point? Like, I don't get a do over, I just give up. I think I can't go on and my brain wants to talk me out of even trying. And it's just like, listen, it's just, it's too hard to just give up, and just settle. And your brain is really good at selling that to you, okay?

But like this, is it right? There isn't another try, we can't just settle, we can't just give into our brain. So, like the other day, I was watching this romantic comedy, and one of the characters was talking to the other one, and he said, Listen, life is short, but it is also the longest thing you will ever do. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that is so true, right? Like, there is a release date, but also we're here and this is the longest thing we're ever going to do. And your brain wants you to give up and settle and think that it can't be different. But this is the longest thing you're ever going to do, and if you want it to be different, it can be. You don't have to just like, write it out and say, Well, this is the best I can do because this is the longest thing you will ever do. I think you should fill it up with all the things you love. Live it in the way you love. Do the things you want, have the health and the money and the relationships, and contribute in all the ways you want. Like, love it. Enjoy it, make the most of it. This is it. We're not doing it again. And like, spend your time doing the longest thing you're ever going to do in the way you want to, and when your brain says no, let's give it up, you got to answer back, you got to get coach, you got to fight for what you want instead of what your brain wants.

The last thing that I want to give you that I have like observed as as we've gone through these releases is the idea that like you're not going to do it right, but also you can't do it wrong? And so you should love yourself for every effort along the way and be proud at your release. So, David and I like I said, we talked a lot about like man, we did not do that perfectly. Okay like we made a lot of mistakes along the way. I joked with the congregation on Sunday that I was like, we should have an airing of grievances and you guys could tell us everything we did wrong and we would just be like, totally right anyway. But the phrase that keeps coming back to me comes from that like, really annoying Christmas song, Little Drummer Boy, where it says "I played my best for him." And like, I keep thinking about that in terms of like David's Bishopric and me being his wife as we did that like it was not perfect, like I didn't do it right all the time.

But also, I can't do it wrong because I'm always playing my best for him. We are always living our lives the best way we know how, we are always doing our best given our current capacity. But also. We have the unlimited ability to grow that capacity to grow in our abilities. Like, we are always doing our best, and we can love ourselves and be proud of ourselves. And also that best is not the upper limit. It can change, it can expand. We have higher gears. We have more skills we can acquire. So, I just want to say like, love yourself where you are for what you get, for the imperfection of all of it and know that you are always doing your best, but also know that it isn't the end of your progression, that it isn't the ultimate of what is available from you or for you. There is always more that comes from the generosity of God who gave you this life and says expand it in any way that you want. Just like the parable of the talents, go, create, expand like whatever you want before you're released.

Okay my friends, that's what I have for you today. I just noticed, like I was very passionate. I hope that like you feel inspired to make the most of your time here on Earth. Your life is so precious. And for every one of us, there will be a release date. You have right now to live a life without any regrets, to learn and grow as much as you can to make the relationships you want in this life and the next to enjoy yourself, to progress and get all the things you want while you love yourself along the way. And just know that like the very thing that makes this experience possible, that makes your life possible, your brain, that is also the only thing ever in the way of living your life that way. And that's why I love coaching because it allows me to get my brain out of the way and have the exact life experience I want to have while I'm here. And that is available to every one of you. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening, and I'll see you next week.

29:29
If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you have heard me talk over and over about how awesome coaching is, and at some point you have probably wondered, Yeah, but is coaching the answer for me? I would love to help you answer that question. I am offering a free class on March 4th to answer your questions and help you decide if coaching is right for you. You have to be registered to get a link to the class, so go to aprilpricecoaching.com or text the word answer to 66866 and get registered. I'll see you there.