Without perfectionism, there is unbounded freedom.

and why I'm starting a newsletter (again).

Hi friend,

George Poulos here — it’s been a while since I’ve sent out a newsletter. It’s nice to be with you again in this format. ♥

If you’ve been subscribed from a while ago, hello again! I’ve ported you over to my new newsletter platform, Substack, where I’ll be aiming to send out a newsletter every week or two. (I know it’s been a while, so if you’re no longer interested, you can unsubscribe at the bottom). And if you’re a new subscriber—hi!

This newsletter will be a place for me to share whatever I’m feeling called to share each week. It may look like a rambling letter, a poem, an insight from meditation, an update from my journey of creative entrepreneurship, or some combination of all of the above. I’ll also try to throw in links to any books, podcasts, music, etc., that particularly inspired me that week.

So… where do I even begin with this one? I seem to be emerging from a long period of hiding, where not only had I become very fearful about expressing myself online, but I also became rather depressed in general.

I’m not really sure how long this lasted or even when exactly it began—it sort of just crept up on me until I really wasn’t doing well.

After several months of being in this low period, I eventually “snapped,” and in a moment of desperation, hours before the deadline, I signed up for a Meditation Teacher Training (MTT) at Three Jewels NYC that I had been thinking about taking for quite some time.

During MTT, which consisted of 10 weekends of intensive training and teaching practice (we’re talking Friday nights from 6-9pm and Saturdays & Sundays from 9am-5:30pm), I met a teacher who seemed like he was speaking directly to me, I met an extremely likeminded community, I started meditating every day again, and I started posting on social media three times a week to fulfill a homework assignment, which was designed to get us comfortable with teaching meditation online.

(Each component of the training that I just mentioned was equally important, but I’m going to fixate on just the social media component here, because I don’t want this first newsletter to turn into the length of a book 🤣).

If you couldn’t tell from my podcast, I absolutely LOVE talking about meditation. Since childhood, I’ve been the kind of person who gets really obsessed with things and takes them way too far—for 19 years, for example, my obsession was skateboarding, and I obsessed so hard that I turned it into my career. And since around 2020 when I discovered it, I’ve been obsessed with meditation.

But during that period of hiding that I mentioned, I got really clammed up when it came to talking about meditation—or talking about anything for that matter. I felt self-conscious, like I was veering too far from my “niche” of skateboarding, like I didn’t know what I was talking about (impostor syndrome), and a whole host of other egoic fears.

And I think that’s why I felt a wave of relief when I first heard about the MTT social media homework assignment. Posting on social media about meditation is something I wanted to do really badly anyway, but was suppressing out of fear. And here was this incredible teacher of Tibetan Buddhism not only symbolically giving me permission to talk about meditation on social media by assigning the homework, but also telling me that I had to in order to complete the course! Also, all 80+ students in the course would be creating & sharing alongside me, and we would meet every Friday night to discuss our ups and downs with the posting on social media.

Basically, it was the perfect storm to help me push through all the impostor syndrome, perfectionism, and all the other fears that were holding me back, in order to re-enter a state of authentic creative expression.

And WOW does it feel good to express myself authentically — yeeeeehawwwww!!!!!!

(Well, half the time. The other half of the time, it’s really scary and triggering).

Anyways, as the weeks went on, I began to feel lighter and lighter, freer and freer. I distinctly remember it clicking in my mind that, oh yeah — I like expressing myself. Oh yeah — posting on social media! Oh yeah — I have a podcast, why don’t I do that again! Oh yeah, oh yeah! Honestly, I felt like I was coming back home to myself.

Being in that flow of creativity and expression during the training was so beautiful that since graduating in December, I’ve been doing absolutely everything in my power to not let the fear win and to prioritize showing up consistently and authentically at all costs. In other words, I’ve been fighting with everything I’ve got to stay out of the hole that I fell into before MTT.

Because what I’ve realized is that, even though in the moment it might feel safer to hide, at the end of the day, giving into that fear — by hiding, or putting a mask on — generates an immense pain that simply isn’t worth it. And not only is this form of hiding a disservice to oneself, I also believe it is a disservice to this world, because this world needs you authentic. This world needs your truth, your art, your expression, your love — now more than ever.

Think about it… what if all of the butterflies in this world were too scared to fly?

Flowers are meant to bloom, and butterflies are meant to fly. My friends, we are all flowers in the garden of this Universe, begging to bloom. We are all butterflies in the sky of this Universe, begging to fly. We are not meant to hide in this life! This world needs your expression, your poetry, your art.

And so… all of that is why I’m starting my newsletter again. ♥

To encourage myself, and to encourage you, to write the newsletter, record the podcast, make the youtube video, post the post, do the thing, whatever it is for you, to tell the truth, to show up, again and again, again and again, no matter how scary it gets, to show up again.

I’m excited to see you next week.

With love,
George

p.s. I’m teaching meditation weekly now on Patreon, and I’d love to have you. If funds are an issue, please reach out ♥

p.s. Replies are always welcome — what’s on your mind?

We are all flowers in the garden of this Universe, begging to bloom.
We are not meant to hide in this life.

Inspiring Me This Week

*Links in this section are affiliate links, meaning I will earn a small commission if you use them.

• Have you heard of Dan Koe? This video he made about his creator business that I came across on the YouTube algorithm not only blew my mind, but it actually spurred me to finally launch those Meditation Classes with my Patreon Community, which is another thing I had been procrastinating for a while out of fear. His advice gave me that “what am I waiting for?” feeling. After watching it, I decided I’d host my first class the very next day, and I did! (I’m proud of myself for that, and thankful for Dan’s encouragement & advice). I later bought his book, The Art of Focus, and I’m enjoying it so far.

  

• After several people in my Meditation Teacher Training posted about The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, I finally cracked into my copy that my friend Nick got me as a gift a while back, thank you Nick! It's been an amazing and inspiring read, and speaks to the journey of setting oneself free as an artist—very Artist’s Way-esque.

(Also, I’m just now realizing after pasting the images that both of these books have quite similar cover designs…we love a good synchronicity!).

With love,
George

(Did I just sign off twice?)