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Month: March 2022

Forced Clarity

Published on March 24, 2022

You can’t force clarity.

Clarity is something that needs to be surrendered to.

Like when you’re in the middle of a big life decision—stuffing more “solutions” into your mind will probably only further confuse the matter. When what’s really needed, in most cases, is less stuff altogether so that the quiet, unmistakable voice that speaks from deep within can offer its solution based on the depth of knowledge that’s already there.

Try to force the mudded pond to settle and you’ll mud it more.

Surrender to the settling process and the pond floor suddenly starts to come into view.

Creation Renewed

Published on March 23, 2022

Creating is self-expression in its rawest form.

We take already expressed things from the world, mix and mash them up with our ideas, and end up with a never before expressed thing that we get to share.

Which is why, the ultimate win from a creation is a renewed desire to create.

Because self-expression isn’t something that’s ever done—it’s as living and as breathing as we are. And the more we create—the more we express ourselves—the better we get to know ourselves.

It’s also our creations that act as the very foundation of our legacies—what better way to be remembered than by referencing what we uniquely expressed?

With that in mind, here are some gentle reminders for you to keep in your back pocket as you continue to create:

  • Treat “success” cautiously—it leads to contentment and distractions.
  • Treat “failure” cautiously—it leads to frustration and disappointment.
  • Both success and failure can improve the creating process, but they often lead us astray.
  • With each experience, the ultimate goal should be to quickly discard what isn’t useful, carefully apply what is, and return to the work humbly and with a deeper understanding (of ourselves and our work) than before.
  • If the byproduct of what you’re creating is leading you further and further from creating—something is probably wrong.

Remember, the ultimate loss from a creation is an extinguished desire to create.

Social Media Mindfulness

Published on March 22, 2022

To be mindful is to observe and label thoughts, feelings, and sensations in the body in an objective manner.

When we subject ourselves to the firehose of information that is social media, we lose touch with our objective understandings and become distracted and manipulated.

…We’d be naive to think our current state(s) isn’t being affected by our digital environments.

And regardless of the type of information (not all media is created equal), the real problem is in the wildly disproportionate amount of time people spend consuming vs digesting.

The reality in today’s world is that people’s appetites to consume is ever growing and the time they’re allotting for digestion (of said information) is ever shrinking.

And without digestion, consumption can have harmful, toxic, dire effects—which is precisely what many of us are experiencing.

If we’re going to use social media mindfully, we need to establish boundaries from the consumption and make more space for digestion.

This means space minus the phones. Conversation minus the screen(s). Walks minus the ear buds. Showers minus the Siri and Alexas. Waiting minus the feed-refreshing. Driving minus the podcasts. Experiences minus the highlight reeling…

…Life without the penetrating influences of everybody else’s life experiences.

Time to just settle and be.

Missed [Poem]

Published on March 21, 2022 
Be someone who’s missed
They said

So I spent my life
Collecting notifications
From distant platforms
To prove to myself
That people think of me

I thought
But something was missed

Little Wins

Published on March 20, 2022

Little wins I’m proud of today:

  • When in a hurry, I stopped and hugged a dear friend (vs waving while rushing).
  • I practiced 3 minutes of stillness while microwaving (vs practicing 3 minutes of media consuming).
  • I said “no” to the cake.

Little wins matter, too.

When Help Hurts [Poem]

Published on March 19, 2022 
When someone needs help
But, they aren't asking
For the help they need

Because they need help
Asking for that kind of help
I can't help but to hurt

How to make sense
Of what's helping too much
And what's only going to hurt

When hurt is what helps
And help is what hurts
It has to come from them

But, what if it can't?

Why So Serious?

Published on March 18, 2022

I like nonfiction.

I like self-improvement podcasts.

Heck, I like all things personal growth related.

But, sometimes…

I like blasting good music, thumb drumming, air guitaring, and forgetting about all of that.

It’s called balance.