The Mindfulness Lessons of Ted Lasso Season 4 Can Teach Us - Episodes 1 and 2

<p> Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole Again, the show that's here in support of the person you're becoming and a meaningful life. And this summer seems to be the summer of series. You already know that I'm doing a special A Perfectly Imperfect Union series to speak with everyday Americans on their thoughts about where we are at year 250.</p>
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<p>And drum roll, please. I'm happy to share that I'll be doing a Ted Lasso series recapping season four. It just got released a few weeks ago. And yes, I know I'm a bit behind. Other podcasts are also doing recaps, but my take will be a bit different. We'll do it in a Whole Again manner. During our travels out to Oregon to visit my mother-in-law and then back east to Rochester, New York, to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday, and that will be the focus on Friday's episode.</p>
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<p>I have been able to check out episode one and two of season four, and that's the focus of this episode of Whole Again. For me, the first three seasons of Ted Lasso were like an ointment for everything that hurt during the pandemic. It was like my Bengay. It could make all the parts that hurt feel a bit better, but it didn't get near all the sensitive parts that sting and burn, if you know what I mean.</p>
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<p>And if you know what I mean, you know what I mean. And like a lot of people, I've watched each episode more than once. Those times were special. It was like dating that special girlfriend or boyfriend when you're in college. You thought everything was possible, that this could be the one that would last forever.</p>
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<p>Who doesn't remember the great dates we had? That time when Ted told us that taking on a challenge was a lot like riding a horse. If you feel comfortable doing it, you're probably not doing it right. Or why a goldfish was the happiest animal on Earth, because it would forget everything in 10 seconds. Now, interesting fun fact, we humans can only focus on something for three seconds, which makes it quite interesting how we kick things around in our head forever, for years It makes one a bit curious, which leads us to that beautiful date in the pub playing darts together.</p>
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<p>When Ted said to be curious, not judgmental, which is a great Walt Whitman quote. Or that time when he told us that doing the right thing is never the wrong thing. What a great date that was. Or of course, my favorite, when he shared with the team that it's not hope that kills you. No, it's not hope that kills us.</p>
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<p>It's the lack of hope that comes and kills you. I believe in belief. And of course, from that, the Believe poster, which then they turned into Kintsugi art, come on. Hole again and Ted Lasso. We had such great possibilities. It was such a beautiful relationship. I thought it was gonna go on forever. But then we broke up.</p>
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<p>We need to graduate. We had to get through college. We had to go back to life after the pandemic eased. It was time to move on. So when Ted slipped into my DMs on LinkedIn, you know, because we both have professional lives now, and wanted to reconnect, I was like, "Huh? It's been three years." We had our thing.</p>
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<p>Our breakup was ugly. I cried I thought we could go on forever, as I mentioned. So now you wanna see me again? I don't know about that. And yeah, the World Cup and the whole thing, trying to bring back our old memories, rekindle the chemistry we had, yeah, it was a good effort, but I don't know. But he persisted, along with a big marketing budget from Apple.</p>
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<p>He's like, "Come on, let's, let's just go for a drink." But I thought, it's only one drink. What could possibly go wrong? It might be good to see each other again. You know, see if there's that spark. Maybe we can rekindle it. But I was nervous. I wondered, what if it's not like the old times? I wanna cherish those memories we had.</p>
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<p>If we get back together, do I ruin it all? But he wore me down, so I said yes. I was like, "Hey, it's only one beer. We can do one beer, and then if it doesn't go well, I can always leave. I can always call a Lyft or a Uber and be gone." But then I wondered, if we get back together, what do I wear? What do I wear to this date?</p>
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<p>Do I put on my FC Richmond sweatshirt? But that seemed a little too much, like I was easy, that I was just gonna get back together after one DM. No, I was not gonna play it that way. I was gonna play a little hard to get. So I wore an American football jersey, the Broncos, just to let him know where I stood.</p>
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<p>And I have to say, those first few minutes were a little bit awkward. We were trying to catch up. "What have you been up to over the last three years?" "Well, here's what I've been up to." We got introduced or reintroduced to the people in our lives, like, "Hey, what, whatever happened to Rebecca? Is Higgins still around?"</p>
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<p>Sometimes it felt like, well, maybe we can't pick up the magic once again, that we'll just finish this beer and then we'll be on our way. We tried, but you know what? We had our moment in college during the pandemic, but now it's time to move on. We have other things to watch on Apple TV, like Shrinking or Lucky.</p>
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<p>But at the tail end, it started to pick up a little bit of that old energy. Thank God for Higgins. I just love what he brought forward when he went to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame and had that wonderful quote from Satchel Paige about no man is born uncommon. And the great thing about that is that we all have the ability to be uncommon And being uncommon doesn't mean it's all about the trophies and our followers and all that jazz that we put up on social media.</p>
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<p>It's more about how we show up with dignity, with empathy, how we show up with excellence every day. And I learned during this first episode that we weren't going back. We weren't trying to rekindle the FC Richmond men's team relationship. No, we were talking about starting a brand-new relationship with the Lady Greyhounds.</p>
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<p>Yes, Rebecca wants Ted to come back to coach the new women's team. Ah, that's a twist. That's a wrinkle. So as the credits rolled on episode one, we talked about maybe a second episode, another date. I thought maybe, maybe we can rekindle all that Lasso folksy charm We can have a little fling over the next eight weeks, give us something to think about, to distract us from all the craziness in the world.</p>
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<p>We all need a little good Ted Lasso energy. So I agreed to a second date, a second pint of ale. And let me tell you, oh, that second date, ugh, felt like old times. That's the Ted I know. It felt like 2022 all over again, except that we met someone new, Alice Chilton, the assistant coach on the Lady Greyhounds, the person that Rebecca passed over and offered the job to Ted.</p>
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<p>And Ted, in his way, started to dive into all the beautiful origin stories of the players and Alice. And in Ted's way, in the show's way, they highlighted something that needs to be highlighted. It's really the lack of women head coaches in soccer, but actually in all professional sports. Only 22% of female teams are coached by a woman.</p>
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<p>And when you look at the NBA, less than half of the franchises have female coaches. It's outrageous. There are plenty of women to coach all these teams. And I'll add, when you look at the men's side of the equation, whether we're talking about soccer or football, basketball or baseball, hockey, there are no women coaching men's teams.</p>
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<p>This is something that has persisted long enough, and in Ted's way, in Lasso's way, he brings attention to it. Much like Higgins' impromptu visit in episode one to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame For many people, it opened their aperture up, their awareness up, which is a part of mindfulness, to how great the players were in the Negro Leagues.</p>
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<p>And in episode two, Lasso sheds a light, not in an overt way, but in a way for people to be more curious and pull the thread just a little bit to discover that there's simply not enough head coach representation by women across all of women's sports. This episode felt like old times. The magic is back, and I can't wait for episode number three.</p>
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<p>And I'm very curious how everything unfolds, especially in light of what's happening here in America around the pushback on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Do we have a situation here with Lasso that we're gonna talk about openly the importance of representation? 'Cause certainly there are plenty of women who are competent to be head coaches.</p>
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<p>Will we talk more openly about the importance of allyship in building cultures that matter, cultures that can do hard things? I think the message is clear, regardless of the pushback that we see, is that great cultures do amazing things, whether we're talking about a culture that's on the pitch, on the court, on the field, or in our communities and our corporations.</p>
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<p>Diversity matters, as does inclusion. We all wish to feel like we belong, that we deserve a shot at being the head coach if that's what we desire. And having different perspectives can help shape our thinking. No, diversity, equity, and inclusion isn't something to push back on. It's not something to run away from.</p>
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<p>We're not better when we just put a white dude who is incompetent in the role because that's what makes people feel comfortable. There are plenty of women who can coach a European soccer club and lead a corporation. We should celebrate diversity and inclusion, not push back on it. And I hope this theme gets pulled through in the upcoming episodes.</p>
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<p>So stay tuned for more to come.</p>
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<p>I'll have the recap of episode number three with no spoilers for you next week. Until then, I hope you'll check out the series I'm doing, the other series, A Perfectly Imperfect Union. I'll have another episode of that series for you tomorrow, and of course, new episodes of Whole Again throughout the week.</p>
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<p>But until all that, let's remember to celebrate our scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience, and don't forget to have fun storming the castle.</p>
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<p>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, michaelobrienshift.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.</p>
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<p>Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this, and we've got you.</p>