No Guru Required, Plot Twists, and a Cosmic Bully
In today’s edition of Burke’s Bits:
Stop Finding Yourself. Start Showing Up.
A Marketing Tip
What I’m Reading
From the Research File
Pun of the Day
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Stop Finding Yourself. Start Showing Up.
I spend time on social media. A lot of time on different platforms. Some to play games on, some to engage in deep thought discussion, one to check in with people I know, and a couple to get a feel for how current events are impacting people’s lives.
I came across a post from a respected business woman. She was annoyed and frustrated by the sheer numbers of people who twist themselves into pretzels just to exist. And it got me thinking.
Since COVID, I’ve seen a large increase in the number of people who wear their ‘trauma’ on their sleeve. What I mean is…they proudly post about it on social media. It’s a big part of their identity. And they don’t sound very smart.
They fly across the world for “medicinal journeys.” They take vows of silence. One woman didn’t speak to her husband for 30 days as part of her self discovery plan. Funny how the silence didn’t apply to her guru boyfriend. That ended about how you’d expect.
Ice baths used to be enough. Now we need to sit underwater with a straw for five hours to “find ourselves.” (yeah, there’s a coach out there selling this as a part of a retreat).
What exactly are do they expect to find down there? I really don’t want to see the pictures of wrinkly skin and stiff joints.
I see people chasing healing like it’s a limited edition drop. One guy online has been on a “self healing journey” for years. Every new detour his restless mind takes becomes a brand new course he sells. Same confusion. New packaging.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
Talk to someone on their deathbed. Sit with a 100 year old. Listen close.
Life is not that complicated.
We make it complicated. We keep searching for why we are not fulfilled enough, evolved enough, healed enough. We treat ourselves like some rare puzzle that needs decoding.
You do not need a month of silence.
You might need someone to tell you the truth.
You are not that special.
You are special to the people whose lives you touch. That’s it. That’s the magic circle. The rest of the world is busy living their own story.
You are a speck in a very big universe. And that is not depressing. It is freeing. It means your job is simple. Be better for the small group of people who love you. Leave their world better than you found it. Because when you die, that’s it. No encore.
And how much time are we wasting trying to “figure ourselves out”?
It can get selfish. We obsess over our wounds, our triggers, our journey, our growth. Meanwhile, there are dishes in the sink, kids who need stability, friends who need a call, neighbors who could use a hand.
You are not a complicated Rubik’s cube. You are a human. Sometimes kind. Sometimes selfish. Sometimes brave. Sometimes a mess.
Happiness usually shows up when you stop staring at yourself long enough to serve someone else.
Look in the mirror and give yourself a reality check. You are another person trying to make it. So is everyone else. One solid goal should be to leave things a little better for the people in your life.
That is the mystery. There isn’t a secret level.
And here’s the part people don’t like.
If things go wrong in your life again and again, you might be the common thread. If people consistently have the same complaint about you, pay attention. If every relationship is “crazy,” it may be more than your picker that’s off.
It takes guts to say, “Maybe it’s me.”
Do I believe in therapy? Yes. Medication when needed? Absolutely. Tools matter. Support matters.
What I don’t believe in is turning self improvement into a personality. Or a performance. Or a dramatic spiritual obstacle course.
Sometimes growth looks like sitting down for five minutes and saying, “I can be selfish. I can be wrong. I can do better.”
That’s it.
You do not need four plant ceremonies in Central America. You do not need to fast for weeks. You do not need to post every emotional breakthrough online.
Put your phone down. Live your actual life. Stay in the middle of it. The messy, ordinary, beautiful middle.
Be honest about your flaws. Be honest about your strengths. Take responsibility. Make amends when needed. Do good where you can.
The endless search for personal salvation usually ends when you stop searching and start owning.
Simple. Not easy.
Just simple.
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A Marketing Tip
Most businesses sell like this:
“We’re great. We’re fast. We care.”
Cool.
So does everyone else.
If you want an edge, stop praising yourself and start educating your buyer.
Here’s how.
Go read your competitors’ one, two, and three star reviews. Yes, the ugly ones. The complaints. The refunds. The “never again” comments.
That’s your gold.
Now, in your marketing, become the consumer advocate.
Teach your prospects what to watch out for.
“Here’s what most companies don’t tell you.”
“Here’s why this usually breaks.”
“Here’s the hidden fee nobody mentions.”
“Here’s why cheap ends up expensive.”
You are not attacking - remember, you’re not mentioning your competitor by name. You are informing.
When they leave your page to “do research” and see exactly what you warned them about, you win credibility without saying another word.
You just installed a filter in their brain.
They won’t just read other sales copy.
They’ll judge it.
That’s the difference.
Stop hoping they come back.
Give them a reason to.
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What I’m Reading
📚The One by John Marrs
So I finally read it. The One. The DNA-match thriller that feels like Match.com on steroids.
First thing? This story moves. Like sprint-to-the-bathroom-during-commercials fast. Each chapter flips to a new character at just the moment I’m hooked, so I have to keep going. It’s basically a page-turning relay race.
Now… the characters. They’re kind of like window shopping on a really busy street: interesting, sure, but not deep or soulful. You don’t exactly feel their existence, you feel the plot breeze by them. And honestly? For a book built on twists and revelations, that’s fine.
The whole premise — genetic “perfect matches” — is weirdly fun and unsettling at the same time. It pokes at what we expect from love and how far we’d go for a neat answer, even if it feels a bit sci-fi cookie-cutter. I mean, really, what teen girl didn’t dream of the perfect soulmate match? Yeah, this book taps into that feeling.
So here’s my takeaway:
If you want deep emotional connection, you will walk away shrugging.
If you want fast writing, cliffhangers, and twists that make you forget you have a life, this is your jam.
In short: shallow but addictive. Hard to put down, even when you think you see some twists coming.
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From the Research Files
aka random bits of info you may or may not be able to use in your life
From the Research Files
Somewhere out there, past the lovely twinkle of the stars and the tidy diagrams in astronomy textbooks, there’s a bully we can’t see.
It’s called the Great Attractor.
Even the name sounds like it should have a cape.
Here’s what we know.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is moving. Not in a poetic, “time keeps marching on” way. In a literal, measurable, hauling-through-space way. And it’s not just us. The Virgo Supercluster and thousands of other galaxies are moving in the same direction.
Toward something.
That something sits roughly 150 to 250 million light years away, in the direction of the Centaurus constellation. We can’t see it clearly because it hides behind what astronomers call the Zone of Avoidance, which is basically cosmic clutter blocking the view.
But we can measure its pull.
Galaxies are not just expanding outward from the Big Bang like polite party guests leaving at the same time. They also have “peculiar velocities,” which is a very calm scientific way of saying, “They’re being tugged.”
The tug is strong. Strong enough to drag entire galaxy clusters along like grocery carts with busted wheels.
So what is it?
We don’t really know.
It’s classified as a gravitational anomaly. That’s science for, “Something massive is there.” Some researchers point to the Norma Cluster as part of the story. Others zoom out and say the pull may be coming from an even larger structure known as the Laniakea Supercluster, which our Milky Way calls home.
But here’s the part that gets me.
We are being pulled somewhere. Our entire galaxy. All of us. Every cup of coffee, every bad decision, every love story, all quietly moving in one direction because of something we cannot see and cannot fully explain.
That does something to your sense of control.
The universe is not static. It’s not neatly shelved. It’s dynamic, shifting, flowing toward forces we barely understand.
And the best scientists in the world will look you straight in the eye and say, “We know it’s there. We know it’s massive. We know it’s moving us. We just don’t know exactly what it is.”
There’s something honest about that.
Sometimes the most responsible answer is not certainty. It’s measurement plus humility.
The Great Attractor reminds us that mystery is not the absence of knowledge. It’s the edge of it.
And we are all, quite literally, along for the ride.
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Pun of the Day
Overeaters Anonymous 888-888-8888
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
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With Gratitude,
Charlene Burke
If you think someone else would enjoy reading my random thoughts and shared every Sunday