Powerful And Unpolished

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Ever wonder why success doesn't always equal fulfillment? I'm Tim Salmons, and with 30 years experience as an actor and a career spanning work in the blue collar corporate medical field, as well as public service industries. I've seen and experienced the human condition at its best and worst. Here on powerful and unpolished, we will explore the everyday traps, draining our energy and hindering fulfillment. This isn't just another success podcast.

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It's about breaking free from patterns that hold you back and limit your potential. Join me on this transformative journey as we explore and identify limiting traps, detach from draining patterns and rediscover the power within, creating a life that is truly powerful and unpolished.

Tim: 00:52

Good day, everybody. Welcome to Powerful and Unpolished. I'm Tim Salmons. I'm your host. We are doing another solo this week and the subject matter this week is around the winter solstice the winter solstice.

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Here in the northern hemisphere on the planet, we are getting close to the shortest day of the year, the longest night of the year, so it's the darkest time of the year. And I wanted to specifically do this subject or this focus for the simple fact that nature and the universe is always reflecting back to us information, awareness, learning, feedback, if you will, and having this practice of the winter solstice of some of it, see it, see it as it's the lifespan of the sun, and it's on the longest day or the shortest day, the longest night. It's considered the death of the sun and then the rebirth going into the next day because then the days start to become longer. And there's a number of different holidays or focuses or celebrations around this time of season, around this specific natural transition in the world. Why I wanted to focus on it today was the metaphoric experience of these are our these are our darkest days right now, and darkest days doesn't have to feel or mean or become an experience of negativity.

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The one thing I love about the darkness is it really gives contrast to allow the light to shine. And oftentimes when we get caught in our own internal reactionary state, metaphorical state of darkness, we often go to places that are commonly called depression or, sadness. And that may be very true. You may have, you know, experiences of being depressed or experiencing sadness, but there is a reflective. There is a a contrary energy awareness that's opposite of what that is And oftentimes, I feel that it is lost on a lot of our folks in the population.

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The sadness, sometimes, the sadness that we're experiencing or that we're feeling is a reflection of how much love we have to give that we're not actually in relationship with. We're not in relationship of giving that love, of sharing that love, of engaging with that love. So the opposite of that is the sadness, sometimes the loneliness that goes along with it. But part of the reason why that sadness or that loneliness has the the pining or the experience that it has is because we have so much love within us. We have so much joy and peace and experience to give and share, but it's not getting out.

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And maybe part of what's not getting out is we're blocking the light. We're blocking that essence in us. We're waiting for something else to give us permission to share this light, to share this love, to share this this joy, this peace, this experience. I believe is part of the human condition. I've experienced it before.

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And then when I realized that I was my own blockage, what could I do to open up? What could I do to create transition, to create opportunity, not to deny the sadness or the loneliness or to try to cover it up, but to just be so real with it that I have this sadness because I love this much. And that allows me the ability to be able to choose on, okay. I'm experiencing sadness, but my focus is on love, on the love that I have, the love that I experience. And quite honestly, I didn't plan on having this podcast go into, you know, a love dissertation, if you will.

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I really wanted to bring consciousness and focus and awareness to the gift of the darkest time of the year is the opportunity for us to step in, lean in, step up, and shine our light. If you are waiting for someone else to give you permission, you have given away your power. And I'm not talking about power over anybody else. I'm talking about your own internal empowerment. And that is one thing that this opportunity of this time of season of the shortest day and the darkest and longest night is for us to have the initiative to make the choice to step out and engage the world and shine your light.

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This was a concept that was gifted to me years years ago. I was working with a patient. I was in a, an EMT at the time, and I was a technician in an urgent care center. And around the holiday season, I, you know, I also have a background in theater and, and acting and performing. So I like creative things.

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And that time that year, this was probably 15, 20 years ago, but that time that year, I really stepped in and just started decorating our house. We don't we didn't have small children. We didn't have grandchildren, but it was really just an expression of putting color and creation and creativity and expression out into the world, having fun with it, playing with it, enjoying it. And so I did it, you know, just just to really kinda scratch that itch of, wow. What does this look like?

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And I'll tell you, it's a lot of work. It takes a lot of initiative, but I did it. And it was nice, and it was really kinda cool because there were a few houses scattered throughout our mountain region that had some lights, but not a lot. And it wasn't a competition. There wasn't no competition of like, oh, I'm going for this person or I'm going for that person or, or, you know, we're competing against another house, nothing like that.

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It was, it was about adding and contributing to anybody who did anything. Like if someone put a candle in the window and that was all they did, oh my God, I loved it because it was them shining their light in the world. It didn't have to be grandiose. It didn't have to be like what I was playing with. It just was this nice little expression, and I appreciate it.

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I appreciated any and all between. And then there were even the houses that were dark. Maybe they were dark on purpose. Maybe they were dark because they were in reactionary state, and they were in their own struggles and it wasn't their time of year that this is what they were ready for. But having that ability, having that awareness to be able to to appreciate all levels, all levels.

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So ironically and this was shortly after I just had, been married to my wife, and there's a small town that's just down the hill from us. And the small town, they had a house lighting, contest. Well, the mountain that we're on actually wasn't part of that town. So and I didn't even know they had this competition or whatever was going on. But one day during that holiday season, someone showed up on our doorstep, and they were asking for my wife because, you know, her name was on on the the mortgage of the house at that time.

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And she I said, no, she's not here. And they said, well, here, this is, this is, he didn't say gift. He said, this is your reward. There was a competition, and you guys took first you won first place. And I was like, what?

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And, you know, it was it was nominal. It wasn't a a big amount, but it helped to cover a little bit of the electricity that year. But, they gave us this thing, and I was like, wow. This is nice. So going back to, working at the urgent care clinic was I had shared this with one of the patients I was treating it at the time, and they just shared back to me.

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They reflected back to me this awareness that it was a, it was this blessing. It was this natural blessing that came to me because I was shining my light in the world. And that is I have told this story to a number of people, and the gift that that patient shared with me was just an eternal gift, and it helped me to go deeper in my awareness of what this time of year means for a lot of people. Some people are very much struggling, but maybe part of their struggle is they're feeling so much love, but they're not feeling the experience of expressing that love, And it's showing up in ways of darkness. It's showing up in ways of of sadness, of loneliness, and it's very real.

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It's not easy to confront. It's not easy to flip the switch and say, oh, I'm just gonna be happy and I'm gonna go out and I'm no, it's scary to engage, to be vulnerable, but it is also a practice in that vulnerability that helps us to access that energy, that that energy of love, that energy of uniqueness and essence and divinity that's within us. And this is an important idea. This is an important concept available to us that the universe reflects to us every year at this time of the year, and it gives us that ability to reflect if we are asking quality questions of ourselves, of our situations, if we are asking quality questions of our future, of what we want to create in this world. So remember, the darkest time of the year is really an amazing gift.

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And for us, the story the story of Christmas is really a reminder of that. The darkest time of the year came this birth of light, this birth of opportunity. And if you think we had dark times now back in back when the story was being experienced and and unfolded in human time, it almost seems like those times were exponentially much darker than ours now. And a number of those folks survived and thrived and carried forward these gifts that are available to us. So now that we're in the time of the year, the darkest time of the year, I just ask and challenge you to reflect.

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Are you shining your light? Are you shining the light for yourself? Are you giving yourself grace? Are you giving yourself self love? Are you appreciating all the levels that are available for those who are like you and those who are not like you.

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That is the opportunity and the gift that this time of year offers to each and every one of us and realizing that, you know, some of the traditions that celebrate the sun dying and then rebirthing, you know, it's it's it's also that reflection of how we are blessed and honored by the sun that we have because if we did not have the sun, most likely there would not be life on this planet, And so it's realizing all of the energy exchanges that go from a personal internal practice internal exercise to a community social exercise of engaging with strangers, engaging with family, engaging with anybody around us, and having some grace for ourselves and for them. And also opening up to a greater awareness that nature is constantly reflecting back to our little human minds and our little human beings, how we can more optimally have a relationship that can flourish and thrive. So I challenge you to be graceful with yourself, to be graceful with those around you, and I just wish you a peaceful, joyous, wonderful, impactful holiday season celebrating all the holidays. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and every other holiday that's out there that deserves to be honored and respected for the individuals that it speaks to.

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I wish you much love and much joy moving forward. I hope this has been something that has helped you brighten your day and shine a little light into your world. And I look forward to speaking to you on the next podcast in the new year. And until then, I wish you all the best. Cheers.

Tim: 16:56

Thanks for joining me today. If you've resonated with any of the stories or insights shared today, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Your support means the world, so feel free to share your thoughts using hashtag powerful and unpolished podcast. Until next time, stay powerful, stay unpolished.