Month: March 2023

Beginner Presence

Published on March 31, 2023

There is an intimate connection between learning something new and presence.

Lately, I’ve been finding myself entering deep, meditative-type states when doing tasks that are completely novel to my normal routine.

I’ve been learning new martial art styles, playing organized basketball, doing Baptiste yoga… and in each situation find that because I have to hyper focus on the minutiae, my mind empties of all other thoughts.

When I’m carefully coordinating strikes with blades in my hands, or trying to read the defense as I lead an offensive play on the court, or try and move my body in accordance with a class of perfectly in-sync seemingly preprogrammed yoga robots… it’s as though there isn’t enough computing room for anything else.

I can’t strike precisely AND think about business stats.
I can’t dribble or shoot accurately AND think about people problems.
I can’t yoga flow AND worry about upcoming events.

It’s when I’m in that fully immersed space, as a beginner, where I’m able to keenly focus on what’s happening, where I am, through all of my senses. Which, coincidentally, leaves me in a much better place to handle whatever was on my mind before as it gives my brain a rest, a recharge, and a boost into the rest of the day.

Would recommend.

Warmth and Light

Published on March 30, 2023

We are at our best when we’re radiating the warmth of love. Not towards one person, per se, but towards all of life.

And that warmth, as mentioned yesterday, is generally a composition of patience, kindness, joy, forgiveness, and gratitude.

Which means, a great question to consider as you go about your day and handle tasks, requests, surprises, confrontations, challenges, manipulations, curveballs, frustrations, adversities, irritations, unmet expectations, etc…

How can I use this or how can I respond to that in a way where it feeds the fire of my love (aka my patience, kindness, joy, forgiveness, and gratitude)?

Because if you’re unable to find a way to have it do either of those things… then the byproduct will be a more blocked love. It’s a binary path. We’re either feeding the fire of our love or blocking it.

And unless we’re finding ways to constantly feed those inner flames… it will slowly cool, fade, and eventually suffocate. And that’s the last thing we need in this already cold, harsh world.

What we need are more people who have found ways to perform at their best and can serve as brilliant sources of warmth and light—not just for themselves… but for us all.

P.s. This became the introduction for: An Exercise In Forgiveness—To Help You Let Go Of Anger and Find Peace

What Is Love?

Published on March 29, 2023

Love is an unconditional warmth that radiates outwards from a person’s center towards all other beings. More specifically, a warmth that’s really just a majestic composition of patience, kindness, joy, forgiveness, and gratitude. Different people are made up of different compositions, but each unique composition has the same outward radiating result.

Love is not selective. Love brings warmth even to those who are cold, impatient, rude, upset, angry, and/or ungrateful. Which isn’t to say we accept, ignore, or make it our mission to change these behaviors. It’s merely to say, as the backyard fire pit warms anyone and everyone who climbs near… so, too, will love warm anyone and everyone who steps near.

What you see when people radiate warmth towards some, but act ice cold towards others is blocked love. When too many layers of cold, corrupt, malevolent, manipulative, hateful, “un-burnable” actions/circumstances gets piled on top of a person’s innate love… they’re only able to partially radiate warmth on sides where there are unblocked openings. And cold towards all is a sign of a completely smothered love.

What you see when two people devote their love specifically towards each other isn’t selective love per se. What you’re seeing are two fires who enjoy each other’s warmth so much that they decide to combine to create a bonfire. This magnifies the warmth that either individual could radiate alone and creates a combined effect that (unconditionally) warms at scale.

When a combining of fires has the opposite effect (and cools), you know it isn’t a love that’s meant to be. Love shouldn’t be something that only makes one or two of us warmer… love is something that should warm us ALL.

Schedule, Eliminate, Delegate

Published on March 28, 2023

Dear busy person,

It’s best to stop worrying over everything you have to get done… and just start getting something done. If you can manage it, block out distractions and get going on the most important thing, first. This will give you the “it’s all downhill from here” feeling that’ll carry you through the rest of the day. If starting feels cripplingly hard, do the easiest task first and snowball some momentum from there. Either way, get some momentum. And do everything you can to maintain that momentum one task to the next. It’s the easiest way to get it all done. Remember, it’s the starting that’s hard. And it’s the worrying over everything you have to get done that makes starting feel cripplingly hard. Play “start; stop; start; stop” all day and you’ll only add unnecessary resistance to your task load. Less think; more do. And at the end of the day, do your future self a favor and schedule, eliminate, and delegate every possible task you can before the start of the next day. Pick apart a giant snowball enough and it eventually collapses back into snow. Same is true when you have a giant snowball of tasks weighing on your shoulders at the start of a day. Pick it apart enough (by scheduling, eliminating, and delegating) and suddenly, there’s no giant snowball to focus on anymore. Only a day blanketed with snow that you can manage one shovel full at a time.

Sincerely,

Your inner work person

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

The 3 Crucial Mind Tools For Clarity

Published on March 27, 2023

1. We meditate to settle the sediments of our mind.

By removing outside stimulation, we allow all of the swishing, swirling, and convoluted thoughts to relax into a kind of order: the crap moves to the bottom and the important rises to the top. Through meditation, our mental priorities become more clear.

2. We journal to filtrate.

We begin by scooping a spoonful of thoughts and pour them down onto paper or screen. Then, through a careful and focused effort, we update and revise what’s poured out so as to make those thoughts more clear, concise, and aligned. What results becomes the new, filtered spoonful that gets poured back in.

3. We speak with professionals of the mind to utilize their high-end filtration systems.

Therapy allows us to, essentially, pour our thoughts through the highly filtered mind(s) of somebody else so that we’re able to get a level of clarity we’re unable to provide for ourselves. Also, when something dangerous, toxic, or overly complex comes up through the filtration process—they can swiftly help us minimize or neutralize the threat. This can be extremely beneficial for the particularly dark and/or murky mind—especially in the initial stages of filtration.

The bottom line is this: our mind is either our greatest asset or greatest liability in life.

The use or disregard of these three tools can largely determine which category our mind falls into. All three aren’t required—any one of these tools alone can lead us all the way to the “asset” category. Applying two or all three, however, is a particularly effective strategy. One that I’d say, if you haven’t already, you at least consider.

There’s More To The Story

Published on March 26, 2023

I had an incredibly sobering moment today on the basketball court.

While playing with 12 other guys and in the midst of non-stop madness consisting of dribbling, shooting, jumping, sprinting, cutting, grunting, picking, rolling, fouling, falling, etc… and in a happenstance moment where time slowed down to a crawl for a brief moment…

I saw, hidden behind one of the player’s ears and peaking out just ever so slightly from his sweaty, overlaying hair… a “;” tattoo.

Now, for those who aren’t familiar, the people who generally get a semi-colon tattoo are suicide survivors. Its meaning is pulled from the dictionary definition of a semi-colon and essentially means there’s more to the story.

Looking at this dude… and in the midst of a chaotic, enjoyable, flow-state kind of time… I never would have known.

And it was a sobering reminder that everyone we meet is living a life as rich and as complicated as we are who are oftentimes facing battles we know nothing about looking at their outward appearance.

…It was a sobering reminder to be kind; to initiate connection, and to try not to judge.

And I hope it might be for you, too.

P.s. 101 Acts of Kindness To Help Recalibrate The World.

Time Blocking Made Easy

Published on March 25, 2023

Macro: 8 hours sleep / 8 hours work / 8 hours life.

Which means: 50/50 split either daily or weekly between work tasks (things we do for survival) and life tasks (things we do for fulfillment).

Pro tip: Take life tasks as seriously as work tasks. Make formal blocks for family / friends / nature / adventure / reading / writing / hobbies / doing nothing / etc.

Bottom line: Those who master how they manage their time… become masters over the fate of their lives.

P.s. Do you struggle over the thought of your life’s fate? My guide The Art of Forward will help.