What if the Olympics aren’t just about medals—but about how to welcome every emotion life brings?

Watching the Olympic Games stirs something deep within us—joy, heartbreak, pride, fear, admiration, even anger. In this episode, inspired by Michaela Shiffrin’s gold medal performance and Rumi’s poem The Guest House, we explore how sport mirrors life. Every race, every setback, every triumph reminds us that a meaningful life isn’t about chasing happiness—it’s about making space for all of it.

1. Learn how Rumi’s Guest House poem offers a powerful framework for emotional resilience
2. Discover how Olympic athletes model mindfulness, perseverance, and grace
3. Reflect on how welcoming every emotion can help you live with greater depth and meaning

Press play to explore how the spirit of the Olympics—and the wisdom of Rumi—can help you embrace every visitor that knocks on your door.

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 Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again, the show that can help you navigate today's uncertainty with mindfulness, resilience, and grace. And today I'm on an Olympic high. The Olympics are not over. As I record this, we still have a few more days until the closing ceremonies, but I just watched Michaela Schiffrin win the gold medal.

In women slalom. And I was overcome by a sense of relief. She has struggled for so long in the Olympics, even though she's the goat. You can put her right up there with Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan. Tom Brady, Simone Biles. McKayla is the goat. So watching her struggle with all that she's had to go through over the years losing her father races where she didn't perform well, has been heartbreaking.

So when she went today, there was a sense of relief, but also pure joy. And with me, I can cry with the best of them. So when she crossed the line, I was in tears. I was so excited for her. And I know not everyone here loves sports, but there's something about the Olympics in this tight container that only lasts for a couple weeks, which makes it quite different than most major sports.

There's a collection of amazing emotions and inspiring stories, and in this brief period of time, it can feel like we're all on the same team. One of my favorite poems, which I've shared here on whole again, but I'll share it again now because when I think of the Olympics and all the different feels that I feel.

Those watching feel, I think of Rumi's Guest House. It goes like this. This being human is a guest house every morning, a new arrival, a joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as a unexpected visitor. Welcome an and entertain them all. Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house, empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door, laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent. As a guide from beyond. So when I think of the Olympics, I think of the guest house because every morning there's a new arrival.

Heck, with every event, there's a new arrival, a new emotion, a new feeling, a new sensation, and here at Whole, again, I believe creating meaningful life is. Chasing happiness or trying to be 5, 10, 15, 20% happier. It's about creating the space where we can welcome all the visitors to our guest house, inviting them all in, standing at the door, laughing as we do.

And when we watch the Olympics, we feel a range of emotions as we take in. All the stories from the athletes. Last week I shared an episode on Lindsay Vaughn. I was up early the morning. She was skiing downhill, and I just felt the sadness when she crashed, only 13 seconds in to her run. Then I felt disgust when I started to see the sexist response online to her crash.

That's what the episode was all about. But in her same race, the American Breezy Johnson won the gold medal. Pure joy. I felt that feeling of mudita or watching the US women play hockey and the trust that's involved when you have to skate where the puck is going, not where the puck is at. And when it comes to the skating events, weather.

Speed skating or figure skating. We also feel all the different emotions. I felt delight when I saw that the US team won the gold medal, but also despair for Ilya and his disappointing performance. But I also appreciated his vulnerability as he shared really throughout the whole Olympics, how much pressure he was under.

How medals don't define who he is as a person. Amen to that. And as I've watched over the last 12 days, I've also felt fear another emotion. Because when you look at the Winter Olympics compared to the summer games, at least it feels like there's more danger in the events at the winter games than the summer games.

And you could also appreciate the emotions that the athletes were feeling. Those emotions of anxiety or nervousness as they towed the line before their competition began, or the sense of overwhelm because the games are so big. Of course, there was also a sense of groundedness. The mountains, the dolomites.

Give us that as well as that feeling of awe. Of course, every athlete knows that she needs balance and equanimity to perform up to her potential. And as a viewer, there's great respect and admiration for the athletes just in making the games and compassion and empathy for those that don't perform the way they wanted to because we can all.

We can all understand that feeling because we've all been there, maybe not in sport, but in some aspect of our lives, and there was also great pride, the host country, Italy, they outperformed expectations. It was so awesome to see all these athletes as they come together, bring us so much. Again, even if you're not a fan of sports, hopefully you're a fan of life and we experience the range of emotion from joy to sadness, from anger to delight.

That's what sport provides. And also the inspiration that there are people out there taking steps towards mastery. We can start to believe that we too can do hard things. Yes, we won't go to the Olympics, but there are plenty of hard things that we are called to take on, and like that spirit of an Olympian, we can figure out a way forward because like every athlete there for us to live a meaningful life, to create it, to perform up to our potential.

It requires us to be mindful. Just like every athlete in Italy with mindfulness, there's space. There's space to be thoughtful about how they trained and how we show up. There's space to be grateful and kind and compassionate. There's even space to see the stories we tell ourselves, especially the ones that hold us back from our greatness, and we can do something about them.

Every athlete, and I think almost every human could benefit from a practice of mindfulness. It may not look like sitting on a cushion for 20 minutes a day. Having some type of contemplated practice is so beneficial in tuning into our bodies, our hearts, and our minds, and each one of them did not have a linear path to the Olympics over the years.

They all had moments of great progress and setbacks. They suffered from injuries and broken bones and moments where they didn't feel whole again. Just like us, and they also found a way to be resilient. They found a way to get back up just like we can and approach their sport and their competition with as much grace as possible.

And we get to do the same through sport. We can learn so much and we can take what we see. All the emotions that we feel, all the lessons from these athletes and weave aspects of their story and their approach into our lives. We don't have to take on everything, but maybe just one or two, maybe three things that we can weave into our lives as we pursue and create the life we desire.

Which can a beautiful ripple into the world, just like every athlete in Italy. And a key to all this, like Rumi writes, is to be open to all the visitors that come to our guest house. We welcome and entertain them all. So I hope you'll join me in adopting that attitude, that mindset. As we travel forward together

and as always, thanks for being here. Thanks for being part of our community. And if you haven't yet, join me over on Substack. I hope you will over there. My handle is milkshakes with Michael. I explain why I use that handle when you join me over there and over there I share writing. Teaching and I host live meditation practices throughout the week with other like-hearted humans just like you.

So I hope I'll see you over there. Until then, keep pedaling and keep putting a beautiful ripple into the world. I appreciate you

and if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, Michael O'Brien schiff.com. And sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect, and join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here at Whole Again, and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this. And. We've got you.