The Lobby

Welcome everybody to an episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim Rasul, and you’re listening to the podcast where we recognize in the middle of your game of life, whether you’re up by 10 or down by 20. We all need halftime talks to uplift us, inspire us, and even challenge us to bring that level of performance you and I both know is going to take to W I N today, who finds us in a peculiar space where we have an episode that deals with something a little intangible, something I can’t quantify, but I can definitely describe. And what we’re going to be talking about today in this episode of half time talks is within the category and classification of mindfulness.

It is a conceptual idea that I like to term the lobby. Now we all know what a lobby is, but I mean something a little different, but yet still the same when I describe this idea of the lobby. And I think as we develop our own, cultivate our own practice, our own, we can begin to actually transform the quality and trajectory of our life. If you’re interested in being your best, you know, if you’re interested in performing, if you’re interested in inspiring, if you’re interested in being present, then maybe, you know, the lobby is something that you’d be interested in hearing. So without further ado, let’s get into the episode and see exactly what we’re talking about with this here.

Lobby a concept that I think society has been flirting with. It’s become a little cliche kind of pop culture now that you have apps and all kinds of podcasts contemplating the virtues and values of what I’m going to describe as mindfulness. And I think a lot of people mean similar things, but, you know, left to our own devices and capacity to organize ideas, I think we mean different things, and personally, I have a handful of practices that I would consider in the realm of mindfulness. My morning routine is mindfulness. I wake up, freshen up, and then I sit for 15 minutes and focus on my breathing.

Focus on my breathing to the function of detachment. That kind of detachment where the momentum of the day has not carried me forward, where any ideas of what I should do should be, or how I should behave, I release. I release into what I would call a paradox state, a state of presence and a state of aloofness. And in that I breathe and if ideas come up, I breathe them away and do my best to clear my mind, to create a space of seemingly emptiness. A lot of people will call that meditation, I’d agree, but it doesn’t have to be. It could just be a quiet time alone.

Another practice that I do, which involves breathing, is a little bit of yoga. If you’ve ever done yoga, it’s also connected to breath. Breath that is connected to movement with each inhale is a step forward, or a movement. And exhale is a transitional movement from there over the course of 15 minutes, or how long that yoga session is, nothing else from your life can intrude within the moment. It requires a presence to your body, to your breath, to your vitality. And while you’re striking certain poses or doing dynamic movements or just sitting still and stretching into yourself, there is a quality of mindfulness, and the last core aspect of mindfulness that I engage and participate in, seemingly on a daily basis, is some form of reflection.

And I like this idea of reflection because I want you to think of the surface of a water and how clear you can see the world in the reflection of the water. As that water is disturbed, it creates ripples and vibrations which distort that reflection. And so in my journaling, in that cartridge of ink that touches the paper within that book that I call a journal. Journal is an opportunity to still the water, and I journal what comes to the surface, the image of not just myself, but myself with the world. As I look down in the face of the water, I write. I still my mind, I quiet my mind and allow that inner intelligence within me.

Share a perspective, share an idea, share a thought, share a trajectory of a vision with me. Now, these are aspects of what some considered mindfulness, and I do. These are not all the rituals that can be done, because you can easily enjoy a walk, you can pet your dog, you can find any way to sweep yourself into the similar state. And it is the state which we crave. It is that state where all energy and no energy exist at the same time, where there is movement and stillness, where there’s vitality and presence and a certain level of personal awareness, where the disordered mind is quieted, and that ordered mind is capable of sharing insights and ideas about how to move forward now.

We all have constructed our rituals, some of these things that we do over time we we feel the benefit from. And not all of these things are for a transactional value of an outcome, but overall, they do have a transformational value in the present. They are our capacity to calibrate, to tune into to attend, to look at that word, attend. You have attention. Attendance. Attending attunement, right? It is bringing our attention to that intersection of time and space in the form of ritual, and I love it now, what accompanies the successful calibration of self is this notion that I’m bringing to you in this episode today called the lobby.

Now I want you to picture yourself as the C, E, O, of y, o, u, and imagine your corporate headquarters in the most palatial office with the most executive suite. And in that suite of offices is your office equipped with the most amazing electronics, gadgets, interior design and space and comfort, anything that you can imagine. And as the CEO of y, o, u, it is your duty to perform the executive functions, itself, the vision, the purpose, the intention, the broad, sweeping trajectory and the momentum of this company stands on your shoulders, and we have hired out the staff to run and operate this and one of our most coveted positions is our secretary.

Now I know in my offices, we will see people occasionally, people will want to interact and exchange with us. They will want to share their perspective or give their opinion or present their view of life one way or another. So as they come into our offices, what greets them. The lobby is a space. It is a buffer. It is the mucilage that sits between the skin and the fruit. It is that protective barrier that is there to buffer created space between what separates you and the external world. As they enter the lobby, the Secretary figures out who is relevant, what is relevant to actually intrude into your space.

And if a meeting is granted, the Secretary announces them. And so you still have time to prepare. You have time to organize your mind, time to calibrate yourself, even in a little bit of time between them going from the lobby to your office, and now you can be clear with your intent, clear with your vision, and understand that they cannot hijack your emotions. They cannot trigger a response because you have. That space called the lobby, which separates you from that external reaction and allows you to respond according to your vision, to live in a moment as your purpose on purpose. And so this lobby is a coveted, protected space that we practice into place.

So the lobby accompanies these little rituals of mindfulness. They allow us to be present in the world with that buffer, with that buffer that allows us to observe situations without fully jumping in and reacting emotionally. It allows us to observe, perceive and witness the disorder in the world and still make that clear intention of who we prefer to be, and at times, the dominant energy transfers itself to us. But as we stabilize, as we balance ourselves with these mindful rituals, we are capable of emanating, projecting and demonstrating who and what we want to be in the world. I understand the value of the Lobby because in previous iterations of self.

I thought I did it. I let go of some of these practices. I wasn’t daily on my meditation or my reflection or my journaling or my yoga, and I thought that just because I did it before, I could do it again. Just because I practiced it before, means I have access to it now, and I learned that’s not truly the case. These states that we prefer the knowledge that we want to express, the life that we want to emanate, is accessible based upon how you’ve trained and what you’ve practiced. Because unless it is active within you, it is a memory. It is a memory that might make it easier for you to summon it in the moment, but it definitely doesn’t guarantee it.

So, cultivating the lobby, practicing the lobby, exercising the essence of what creates that that zone, that space, and what is that space? It’s emotional, it’s physical. It’s a psychological space where we can move unimpeded by obstruction. It’s a space where we can move freely, and that space that gives us the flexibility to find balance, to root before we rise, as they say in yoga, to find balance in our step before we move forward. Is what as we practice the core of who we are in those quiet, subtle moments, be it in meditation, be it in yoga, be it in reflection, be it in any ritual that we can construct and practice that shifts our consciousness into a state of expectation of being the best version of ourself.

We have to do it, not because of the transactional value, but we witness the transformational value it has on our entire life, not in just a specific domain, but overall, across all the borders and into the oneness with every aspect and how they’re all interconnected. So this is the lobby. What little thing can you do to find a little peace of mind? What little thing can you do that you can begin to practice as what I’ve previously termed as a non negotiable daily habit? Can you give yourself that space? Can you begin to work toward achieving that non trigger triggerable space, where reaction seems a little bit inaccessible, and the relevance of how you respond is based upon your vision.

Version of what you are aspiring toward, what you are pursuing, who you are becoming, and that version of you that wants to represent itself in the world takes precedence. Thank you for listening. This has been another episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim Rasul. Make sure you go listen to our other episodes. This is all evergreen content that at any given point in time you can come back to reference and share, share with a friend. Man, the more who knows, the more we grow, and the more we grow, the more we’re inspired to grow it. So you guys have a good day and until next time, stay cool, stay true and be you peace. You.