I write 1-minute insights daily. Below are my latest. Like? Enter your email to get updates.
I help busy people do inner work.
I write 1-minute insights daily. Below are my latest. Like? Enter your email to get updates.
I remember a time when I was a young teenager and I was asked to teach an adult martial art class knife concepts.
I can vividly recall feeling wildly underprepared and underqualified—we had only ever practiced and trained basic concepts at this point in my martial arts journey.
I also distinctly remember there being an adult in this class who intimidated me. Even though he was a lower rank, he had this aura that gave me the impression he knew combative concepts—maybe ex-military or law enforcement or just serial martial artist.
And because of those two forces I remember hesitating, stumbling over my words, getting red in the face…
And I remember it as clear as if it were yesterday… the moment I looked that student in the eyes and he gave me that, “you’ve been exposed” look.
…And boy did I hate that feeling.
We ended up taking knife out of our program shortly thereafter to focus on other areas… what’s interesting, however, is that as of late, I’ve found myself feeling strongly pulled towards learning knife concepts again.
And I suddenly have this insatiable desire to learn as much about it as I can—even though it’s still not something that’s being taught in our school.
My inner work thought today was wondering if those two events are connected…
Wondering if a seed was planted in that moment all those years ago that’s grown into this big energy I’m feeling for that topic today…
And I wonder for you if there’s a similar experience from your past that might contain a topic worth exploring and reinvesting in today?
Whether you’re born privileged or born poor…
Whether you grow up with a large family or are raised as an only child by a single parent…
Whether you have 50 friends or one friend…
Whether you graduate top of your class with a Ph.D. or drop out after high school…
Whether you climb the corporate ladder or work minimum wage jobs throughout your life…
Whether you have kids at 16 or 46 and whether you have 1 kid, 4 kids, 8 kids, or none at all…
Whether you are neurotypical or neurodivergent…
Whether you have exceptional abilities or a disability…
Whether you travel the world or live in the same place your whole life…
Whether you have access to all of the latest technology or none of it at all…
All of the above have examples of people—both alive today and from throughout history—who have lived incredible lives despite their starting or ongoing circumstances.
So long as there is an unfolding path in front of you, there’s a chance for self-actualized beauty, inspiration, and awe in one’s life.
Where the argument can’t be made, however, is when innocent people’s paths are abruptly and tragically ended.
And right now, there’s a genocide happening in our world—in 2026—in Gaza.
As of today, 21,000 children have been confirmed killed in Gaza since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, 2023.
…Children.
Little people who will never get the chance to walk their path towards self-actualized anything in their life.
…And the killing is still happening today.
My mind can’t grasp it. My heart breaks. My soul feels enraged.
My inner work thought of the day is simple: Free Palestine.
I used to think there was something wrong with me because I didn’t know how to speed read.
I couldn’t turn off the “voice” in my head.
I couldn’t use my peripheral vision to read multiple words at the same time.
I couldn’t read faster than my natural pace allowed for and retain anything read.
Then I realized reading isn’t something that needs to be rushed anymore than lovemaking is.
Reading is sacred. Reading is intoxicating. Reading is transformative.
Reading is something that needs time… patience… effort… undivided attention… surrender…
It is only then that the real pleasure is found.
…Not in the efficient extraction of information.
…But in the savoring of the adventure, insight, and/or transformative experience being shared with you by another human across space and time.
Getting to out…
Getting to face-to-face and in person…
Getting to you…
Getting to eye contact and approaching…
Getting to a line… or a move… or two…
Getting to shamelessly…
Getting to intimately…
Getting to, “What’s your number?”…
Getting to, “I’d love to…”
Getting to, “Let’s spend the night together…”
Getting to, “I like you…”
Getting to, “Let’s move in with one another…”
Getting to, “Will you be…”
Getting to, “I love you…”
Getting to, “We’re going to be…”
Getting to, “Congratulations, it’s a…”
Getting to, “I do…”
Getting to sit and watch and wonder…
Getting to raise a human better than me or you…
Getting to build and connect and share…
Getting to read and write and stew…
Getting to legacy that’s carried…
Getting to the most evolved version of me or you…
Getting to bedside with me…
…Or me with you.
Yours won’t read like this or in this order…
Some lines won’t make their appearance at all…
Getting to through should always be carefully contemplated…
For indoctrinated is probably already you…
Order matters only to the orderer…
Getting to lived is whatever it means to you…
Even if that means starting over yet again…
Be thoughtful… be deliberate… be picky…
And most importantly… be true.
P.s. You can read my other poems here.
Yesterday, on the day of my uncle’s wedding, I got a text from his fiancé—soon to be wife.
She texted me playlist links, music signal cues, order of events, and other details pertaining to the DJing and emceeing of the wedding.
She had so much faith in me to rise to the occasion that she casually sent it to me the day of the wedding itself—details that I hadn’t seen or heard about prior to that text at all.
…And that trust?
…That faith?
…That casual belief that was lended to me in that moment?
Absolutely made me rise to the occasion to make sure they had the best day of their lives.
In that moment… in the few hours leading up to the wedding… there was no room for worry or overthinking.
And even though my mind wanted desperately to go there—I kept it focused on the love and generosity of their trust and belief.
And it was through that energy that we were able to make some wedding magic happen for two people who I admire, respect, and love dearly.
And when somebody lends that kind of trust and belief in you… maybe you, too, can alchemize it into a magical kind of energy…
Synergy is the idea that 1 + 1 = 3.
Your results alone. Plus another person’s results alone. Equals less than the results of us working together in creative collaboration.
I’m sure you can confirm this based on previous first hand experiences in your life.
What’s also true, however, is 1 + 1 = 1.
Your results alone. Plus another person’s results alone. Equals more than the results of us working together in creative inhibition.
And I know you’ve worked with people who can confirm this idea.
So the question then becomes: who’s who in your life?
…And how can you spend more time with the people who create that synergistic effect on work results?
…But maybe most importantly (since this focuses on what’s within your control vs what’s outside of it): how can you better facilitate creative collaboration vs creative inhibition? I.e. How can you be a better synergy facilitator?
…Can you be a better listener? Can you be more kind? Can you create a more safe space? Can you ask better questions? Can you offer a more playful, fun energy? …And so on.
Because you can either invest in the above inner work to potentially create a results multiplier in your life or you can keep throwing your hands into the air, complaining, and choosing to just, “do it all yourself, because working with others is a waste of time…”
The choice is yours.
Yesterday, I had an autistic adult take one of my group martial arts classes.
…And I’m almost positive I left feeling more inspired than he did.
To paint you a picture, he was as excited to take this class as Hulk Hogan would’ve been to get on a microphone in the middle of a wrestling ring and talk smack to a crowd of raging “Hulkamania” fans.
He was practicing his moves (which he hadn’t learned yet) in the office one-way mirrors, was excitedly greeting everybody who walked past to tell them he was going to be “battling for his new belt” today, and had about a thousand and one questions about martial arts and the school and myself that never quite satiated his appetite—and this was all before the class even started.
Once I got him into the class, he enthusiastically did every bow and handshake and followed each respectful tradition requested… he put his entire life force into each of the techniques taught… and he gave off an infectious energy to the other students he worked with that rippled its way around the room and raised the vibration of the whole class.
By the time the class was over… it was evident he had a blast. He couldn’t stop asking when he could come back and what other moves he could do and how he could get his white belt.
And yet ironically, it was I who found myself thinking, “I wish I was more like him.”
Completely present. Wholly engaged. Infectiously enthusiastic.
…Seemingly zero other worries or concerns in the world.