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Shut Up. Suit Up. Show Up.


Full credit for this sticky mantra Shut Up. Suit Up. Show Up goes to Dr. James Hollis, prolific Jungian writer, therapist, and lecturer. I had the privilege of taking a class from him over the last four weeks based on his latest book of essays, Prisms. This last class was on the topic of aging, and it was full of wisdom...oh my. Reading and rereading my own notes is such a treat. Below is the meaning I took from this particular saying based on my notes (which could barely keep up with all of his wise ideas and exquisite language).


Shut Up. Hollis's advice to all of us who whine about getting older is this: just stop. Accept it, no one escapes aging. Yes, you will have aches. Yes your energy diminishes. Yes, you will lose people. Mortality is your other option. He recommends a daily reflection to help you lay claim to your life and enable choices that bring you alive.


Suit Up. Do your prep and take on the tasks of getting to whatever it is you want to engage in. Get ready. Cherish your aliveness and do what you have to do (suit up) to meet the world.


Show Up. Your life is here, now. Get curious. Engage. Notice. Resonate. What wants to be created by you, through you? You can ask this question more than once between now and your end. What will it take to not have fear govern your life? Do the tasks of personal liberation to show up to your own life.


To be able to enact these three ideas takes mindful work, of course...the tasks of individuation that include knowing and challenging your stories and habits.


What I've shared is a simplified version of a very deep conversation Dr. Hollis created during his lecture. I am grateful to the Jung Society of Washington and especially to Dr. Hollis for sharing his ideas and wisdom with such clarity, wholeness, and, I must say, contagious vitality.


Photo by Des Recites

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