Episode 137 – The Jumanji Beat Within

This is Rebecca Clark Episode 137 responding to the Jumanji beat within this podcast is for anyone that knows they haven’t yet found and offered up their best work but are compelled to seek it out and do it. Are you ready to move your desk? It’s funny that every time I start a podcast for the week I have to look up my own podcast to see what number I’m on because it’s getting harder and harder to keep track of numbers. I know when I first started it was very easy for me to go, oh you have to listen to episode five because in it you can hear my son talking about cars. And so I’ve always remembered that cars is episode five, But now I really cannot remember the number of most episodes, even though when I think about, it episode 100 sticks out because it was so well timed with when my grandfather turned 100 years old that that sticks in my mind. but not many others do. So this is an interesting podcast episode today, I was going to share with you something different And I’ve mentioned this before that sometimes when I go to share something, I feel inspired to share something else. And my inspiration right now comes from a movie that our family watched about a week ago and it was Jumanji and it was the 1995 version of Jumanji which was not based upon a game, but after the movie became popular, there have been Jumanji games created in the movie Jumanji, A young boy is going to his father’s shoe factory. And somehow on the way on the way back there’s this construction site and he hears this drumbeat and he goes down into the site and he keeps going and following the sound and comes to the part of the wall that’s just a dirt that they’re pulling away for the whatever they’re building and he reaches in and grabs some box or chest or something. And inside of it is a game and the game is what is making the beat. What I thought was very interesting about the scene is that no one else seemed to hear the beat, right? He was the only one that seemed to hear it. And as the movie goes on, there’s only certain people that hear the beat of this Jumanji game, of course everybody gets impacted by it, right? But it’s fascinating to hear that that beat was only heard by him. And of course, underlying all of this is that it was meant for him, that that was a beat that only he could hear. And I thought about this and thought, wow, this is so interesting. It’s just like so many things in our lives where we feel compelled from within to pursue something. And often the people around us don’t understand why and they don’t care or they think we’re crazy or whatever their reasons. And let’s be very clear those are there reasons because obviously you have your reasons and somehow there’s a desire within to pursue something or try something and it’s very fascinating because I know I’ve done this with people before. I thought why do they want to do that or they shouldn’t do that right there. Just, it’s not in their skill set or it shouldn’t be in their skill set. Right. I remember I had this feeling years ago when a woman got certified to teach a course about crucial conversations and I just thought she was really bad example of having crucial conversations or crucial confrontations I think is the other book and she had read the books, liked them, got certified and was teaching it and didn’t realize that along with teaching it, it might be good to be someone who is an example of this that emulates this or has this attribute, but you know what? She went for it and she did it and maybe she did it because she felt she had something to learn and grow from in that I don’t know her reasons. I just know that I judged her for her reasons right? But something deep inside of her wanted to do that. It was important to her and I’m going to make the assumption that she actually helped someone in that journey. And I’ve come across a few people lately that have said, you know, I felt compelled to do this work and yet no one around me seems to think that I should right, that it’s not important or who do I think I am to pursue it. Or isn’t there something better you could do? They could have more immediate results. And I thought a lot about this because I thought, you know, I have been compelled to do certain things in my life and some things have not worked out the way that I thought they would when I pursued them. But yet I am lucky that I’ve taken the time to look back and reflect and realize that oh, I pursued that and it was important to pursue it because I learned something in the process. And one of the things I learned is I don’t want to do it anymore, right? Or maybe I just want to take one piece or part of it forward with me. Or maybe it was a stepping stone in some way it didn’t look like a stepping stone on the surface, but it really was a stepping stone underneath. And so it’s very interesting to me. Lots of things are interesting to me and I’ve been told I should look for some other words to describe, interesting, but it’s interesting to note how many people do not agree with what we’re pursuing sometimes or do not understand it or make fun of it. And I’ve talked about this before in an episode about the disdain that people may have for us, but in reality there is often an internal Jumanji beat that we feel compelled to follow. And I really think that this was given to us by a higher power. I think that it came with us because there’s something there that is meant for us to pursue because it’s part of our purpose, right? It’s what we offer. It’s something that would help us. It’s a talent we’ve been given or something that we feel the inkling or the impression to pursue. But we are usually given that inkling because we will enjoy doing it and if we practice will get really great at it. And because somewhere in there is our purpose in helping others, helping others improve in that area or make progress in ways that they would most love. And so I encourage you this week to think about what that beat is within that desire that compels you, that you feel like you need to act on because there’s something in there for you to learn, right? And it’s interesting that no matter what other people think the beat is still there and it’s almost like it waits for you to respond. And that’s what I loved about how the movie showed that no matter who was walking around the boy, he got to a point where he was so laser focused on getting to wherever the source was of that beat and pursuing it to see what happened, that everything else fell away. He didn’t even notice that they were looking at him or wondering what he was doing there and why his search was so important. I think it can be the same with us if we keep honoring the beat and moving toward it as we do that pretty soon, all the obstacles will fall away or appear to be out of our view and we can get some real clear direction and answers and find that box with the game in it. Okay. And of course, another great reminder for me was once you get the box, the game does not end right. It’s just the beginning. Okay. I hope you have a great week, happy thanksgiving. I’m so grateful for you and so grateful to be on this journey. I’ll talk to you soon. Mm hmm. Thanks for listening to the show today. 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