It can sometimes feel like no matter what you do, those old patterns will always be there. You do the work and they're still freakin' there.

I was once touring a (very dark) underground cave system with my family, and only the cave tour guide had a light. In my 8-year-old-perpetually-distracted-by-oo-there's-a-cool-thing mode, I looked away and the tour kept moving. They went around a corner so it was pretty dark, but I knew if I just kept walking I'd find them. So I walked. And I walked. And I started to hurry. And my brain did a screech and went "oh no, I'm living in a dream"  because for some reason every step I took didn't move me forward - it was like I was on a treadmill, and it felt like the ground was sliding under my feet as I worked and worked and stayed exactly. in. the. same. place. 

Half of my brain was fascinated (was I in a dream? did reality suddenly warp? was I not even real?) and half of my brain was panicked because I could hear everyone moving away from me and I didn't particularly want to live alone in a cave for the rest of my life. So I did what any intrepid adventurer would do: I called for my mom.

My mom rallied the tour guide, my dad commandeered a spare flashlight, and they came swooping back to save me. I found out that I had turned away from the path by maybe 45 degrees and was facing the slightly sloping wall of the cave. The ground was slick clay and with the incline I was indeed walk-sliding to stay in place. 

(This is Colleen, by the way, because I wanted to tell the cave story.)

Now if you're looking for the point in the story, it isn't "yell for your mom when things get tough"(although that is a time-honoured tradition). 

The point is that even though the walking in place wasn't getting me anywhere, it also wasn't not getting me anywhere. 

The first 10 steps were about moving me forward. The next 10 steps had me questioning what was going on. The next 20 allowed my fight or flight to ratchet up enough to have the motivation to take an action - because what 8 year old wants to admit they've managed to not know how to walk down a path? But with enough motivation, we do something new, and the momentum we have from the previous actions has us moving forward pretty darn quickly with a whole new clarity.

That's what happens when you do the work and let it move you forward - things that felt complicated and stuck suddenly become obvious and easy (I'm telling you, the rest of that tour was exciting now that I knew what the problem to avoid was, and knew how to move forward under my own steam).

Things shift, "I'll do it later" problems turn into "I'll solve it now" answers, paths open (literally, that day!), and things gain momentum.

And apparently TDD has been doing  the same thing. Because suddenly a bunch of things that had been simmering quietly in the background all kind of…clicked.

1. NAP Is Officially Trademarked 

Dana has been developing The Black Belt Mind since forever started. I've been fine-tuning and evolving NAP (thank you to all the people who have jumped in and helped me do that by doing the work with me!). And now?

We are #officiallyofficial and #officiallytrademarked!  🥳🥳

It's a real thing. I mean, it was always a real thing, but now it's out there, recognized by whatever governmental powers that be as A Real Thing. So now it's NAP™, which is wild.

The Lesson?

The work you're doing is you giving yourself the permission and momentum to move forward - even if it feels like you're running to stay in place. There is no wasted energy in the work you do.

 2. We Are Building a Searchable Newsletter Archive

Hello, metaphor much? You've gotta love a good metaphor: Life is a roller coaster; he marches to his own drummer; we're reaching for the whole enchilada. And oh yeah - stories are tools.

We love a good story with an insight, but we only share them when we think they can be useful tools for you - and more than a few folks have asked where the earlier tools were kept. So we built the toolbox. It, too, as of this newsletter, will be Officially A Thing.

We're slowly uploading old newsletters here to a searchable database, so by the end of the week there will be more up here, and you can come here in 6 months and type 'cave' you'll find this! 

The Lesson?

When things inside get uncluttered, you can finally see what wants to be built next - and actually do it.

3. We’re Now On Pinterest

I always thought of Pinterest as the land of kitchen renovations, quotes in pretty fonts, and people trying to figure out what to make for dinner. And it is. But turns out it's also one of the biggest places people go when they're asking

"Why am I doing this?"

"How do I stop this pattern?"

"Why do I keep thinking about that stupid thing?"

And other questions that can rattle around in your head and distract you with the noise. Which means we should probably be there too, because we love helping you stop the rattling.

After all, people apparently keep voting it "the friendliest social media" out there. And there can't be too much friendliness these days.

You can search for "Your Digital Dojo (with Dana and Colleen)" or just click here to go to: https://ca.pinterest.com/yourdigitaldojo

The Lesson?

There are a lot of good people out there, and healing is more findable than you might think.

So Welcome to Our Searchable Newsletter, our New Trademark, and our Pinterest profile! 

On the surface they look like three completely different things, but to us they feel like the same pattern we see over and over again with people doing this work:

You keep showing up. You keep taking steps. Sometimes it feels like you're moving forward. Sometimes it feels like you're running in place. But momentum builds anyway.

And then one day something shifts.

Things that felt confusing suddenly make sense. Decisions become obvious. Doors open that didn’t look like doors before. Clarity shows up like it had your address all along and just stopped for a snack on the way.

So if you ever feel like you're doing the work and nothing is changing…

Keep going.

Sometimes you're a lot closer to the path than you think.

Yours in progress over perfection, 

Colleen & Dana

TheDigitalDojo.net