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Month: October 2022

Black Belt You

Published on October 10, 2022

What does the black belt version of you look like?

For me, as a 20+ year martial arts practitioner, black belt represents something much greater than combat or performance abilities.

Black belt represents potential fought for; potential realized; potential unleashed.

It’s a firm commitment to the realization of a greater version of yourself. A version that’s disciplined; focused; confident; respectful; generous. A 2.0 version that’s built to handle to challenges presented by life.

What does your black belt version look like? Even if you never plan on stepping foot into a Dojang (although I think it’s beneficial for most everybody)—a deep visualization practice can produce a life-changing image.

Because once you see this version clearly in your mind, you can finally start to reverse engineer your way to that 2.0 you. Without it, 1.0 you is all you’ll ever know. And you can’t reverse engineer to what you don’t know.

Close your eyes and start building.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Life’s Precious Beat [Poem]

Published on October 9, 2022 
I often find myself stuck
Somewhere in the middle
Of capture and surrender
Of live now and remember
Of render and let it be

I don’t often feel
Like I get it quite right
Like how to remember
What wasn’t captured
Or fully absorb
What’s seen from a screen

But every now and again
I capture a moment
Or surrender to a scene
And briefly find my footing
As I rebalance to the rhythm
Of life’s precious beat

P.s. This poem was inspired by this picture.

Content Fridge

Published on October 8, 2022

Every time you click your mouse, you fill your content fridge.

If you click the clickbait, don’t be surprised when you open your content fridge and see junk.

That’d be the same as picking junk at the grocery store, and then getting home and being surprised when you open your shopping bags.

…Junk?! How did this happen?! That grocery store sucks.

No. It’s not the grocery store’s fault—it’s what you picked.

It’s the same for what you see on media as it is for what you see in your shopping bags.

Just as you resist junk food while food shopping, resist clickbait when clicking.

For what you pick will only continue to show up in your life (and will ultimately be what you consume) over and over and over again.

I sip on coffee while I write these. If you enjoy these posts, you can support my future work by supplying me with one of my next cups of joe here. ♥

Intrinsic Value

Published on October 7, 2022

Don’t write to beat other writers. Write to give gifts to readers.

Don’t read to beat other readers. Read to receive gifts from writers.

Don’t create to beat other creators. Create to realize the gifts inside of you.

Don’t share to beat other share-ers. Share to help people on similar paths as you.

Extrinsic rewards have their place… but never lose sight of intrinsic value.

When we compete, we adopt a winner/loser mindset—and sometimes lose sight of the intrinsic beauty of the tasks we’re choosing to do in and of themselves.

When we contribute, we adopt an abundance/ win-win mindset—and get to experience the intrinsic beauty… not just in the tasks… but in the effect they have on the people who you’re no longer looking to as “losers”—but as community/ team players who are helping raise the tide… just like you.

P.s. I asked what the best feeling(s) in the world are. Here are the answers. I hope they bring perspective and joy to your day :)

The Voices In Our Head

Published on October 6, 2022

Within the landscape of our mind isn’t just one voice.

There’s the voice of the Ego and there’s the voice of the Self.

Ego arises effortlessly. It’s one of the byproducts of being emotional, social, imperfect creatures.

  • When we experience undesirable emotions, Ego fights for immediate comfort (e.g. suppression).
  • When we experience social hierarchy, Ego fights for expedited means to the top.
  • When we experience imperfections, Ego fights for distraction.

Self doesn’t arise. Self is tapped into as a result of inward effort. When we find ways to tap into this infinite wisdom, then we find different answers to the same human conditions:

  • When we experience undesirable emotions, Self accepts their presence and allows them to flow.
  • When we experience social hierarchy, Self returns to authenticity and reminds us of our own journey.
  • When we experience imperfections, Self reminds us of our infinite, untouchable worth.

Ego is comparative, competitive, and comfort oriented. Self is authentic, gift giving, and long-term oriented.

The dynamic worth noting here is that the Ego wants to be the only one heard. It’s loud, obnoxious, and wildly distracting. The Self is subtle, quiet, and speaks in whispers.

This is the root cause of much of our inner conflict and self-imposed suffering.

They are both answers to one of our fundamental driving forces as humans: to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Ego, however, isn’t a good guide. It’s interested in the immediate gratification and pain avoidance. Self, knows that this usually leads to compounded long-term pain. It’s the Self that can best guide us forward. But, if we never take the time to quiet the Ego… we’ll never hear it.

Your Mind Is Infected

Published on October 5, 2022

…All of our minds are.

With negativity, judgment, doubt, hate, jealousy…

It comes with the territory of being human—we’re emotional, comparative, imperfect creatures.

Knowing this—embodying this—we can begin our work of healing.

If you ignore this and pretend like your mind isn’t—you can’t.

Never assume your mind is immune to infectious beliefs.

Stand guard to the door of your mind and actively send soldiers of positivity, acceptance, belief, love, and compassion to confront the rebel infections trying to overtake your mind.

In other words: speak—both inwardly and outwardly—with the aim and intent of being cured as consistently and as often as possible.

And slowly, slowly… you shall be.

P.s. I’ll be hosting a LIVE chat on Twitter about the Ego and exploring if it’s our enemy or if it can be used to help us in life. Details here.

Better Pain

Published on October 4, 2022

Life doesn’t suddenly decide one day to stop being challenging.

Not when you’re rich. Not when you’re retired. Not when you’re on a beach.

Challenge will always be present. And with challenge comes pain.

Run from the pain? And you’ll only multiply it for later (because you’ll have to deal with the pain that comes with later PLUS the pain that you ignored).

Confront the pain—and you’ll free your future self of some of that compounding pain.

The goal is to face today’s pains today so that you can confronting new, inevitable, better pains tomorrow.

…Better pains?

Yeah, the kind of pains you’d prefer to face—that you *get* to face—because of the work you did yesterday. You know, like exercise pain versus cardiac arrest pain. Or like a hard conversation pain versus lost relationship pain.

Delay confronting pain long enough and it will eventually become unbearably painful and/or absolutely unavoidable.

Your choice.