Category: Archives

The full collection of explorations.

“Is That A Buddha?”

Published on July 17, 2025

I donated blood today.

And for whatever reason, I was being short with my answers and quiet.

Sensing this, the guy doing the blood drawing didn’t try too hard to start a conversation, just was doing his job quietly and efficiently.

Right after he stuck the needle into my vein and the blood starting swirling down the tube out and away from my body, he asked me two simple questions:

“Is that a buddha?” —Referring to my tattoo. “No, it’s a reading warrior.” —And then continued to explain what it represented to me.
And “Are you reading anything good right now?” —An easy segue from the above discovery.

Which resulted in a fine conversation that lasted the rest of the appointment. He recommended several books to me and I to him.

The takeaway for me is to, yes, meet people where they are and if they’re being short with their answers and quiet—maybe don’t force the opposite kind of energy onto them. But, maybe don’t assume they’re in a bad mood or hate you. A few simple questions are always classy when interacting with unknown or sullen people.

The “Green Monkey” Strategy

Published on July 16, 2025

An 8 year old martial arts student of mine was having a breakdown in the lobby today.

When he finally opened up to me, he said he was having a “really bad day” and his mom was forcing him to take the class in spite of it.

After thinking about it for a minute I asked him, “Do you know why mom is trying to force you to take class today?”

And after a few moments of contemplative silence I told him, “It’s because of green monkey.”

You can imagine the facial expressions that followed—which was partially my goal.

But, it lead to a very important point.

I told him that our minds are awful at negating thoughts. Meaning, if we tell ourselves not to think about our “really bad day”—all we’re going to think about is our really bad day. Just like if I told you not to think about a pink elephant—you can’t help but think of one.

What I suggested was mom wasn’t trying to make him miserable… mom was simply trying to give him a “green monkey” for his mind to focus on for a while—so that he didn’t have to dwell on his really bad day any longer.

By attending martial arts class and moving his body, pointing his mind at specific techniques, and connecting with other students and instructors—he would undoubtedly feel better. Certainly more so than continued dwelling would make him feel.

And guess what…?

He said it made sense… went to class… and left class jump kicking with a smile on his face.

Never underestimate the power of the “green monkey” strategy in your life.

To Enjoy While Not-Doing

Published on July 15, 2025

“Sitting by the fire at Allegany, listening to the creek, watching the critters, and losing oneself in the fire burning down is the absolute gold of getting away to anywhere. My love of Finger Lakes the same. Yes, it’s great to get out to the wineries, or hike a trail, but it’s better to get back and watch the water…”
My father

This was a reply my dad sent to my post, “Add Sitting To Your Travel Itinerary—Yes, Sitting…“

…Which was about how you can learn just as much from a place by mindfully sitting as you can from actively sightseeing.

But, I think you can also enjoy as much from a place by sitting—by a fire or body of water—as you can from doing (e.g. hiking a long nature trail or Jet-skiing).

In fact, what’s interesting about your ability to enjoy while remaining still… is that it’s reflective of your ability to enjoy—pure and simple.

The thing about doing, doing, doing is that it’s a form of active entertainment… there’s constantly refreshing scenery, there’s dopamine hits, there’s things to do with your body and places for your mind to curiously explore… it’s easy to enjoy while doing.

But, it takes a much more mature mind to enjoy while not-doing. To enjoy while sitting still. To enjoy when things are calm, when there’s no quick dopamine hits, when there’s nothing to actively do or think about…

This is the kind of deep enjoyment that comes from deep inner work… and it eventually gets to the point where it surpasses even the most incredible of active entertainments/adventures…

“MEDITATE!”

Published on July 14, 2025

A student in the martial arts school I teach at was having a complete meltdown in the lobby the other day.

I was in an office doing paperwork when I heard, “Let me GO!” “Let ME GO!!” LET ME GO!!!”

What was happening was this child’s mom had to leave him at the school with his uncle because she had an appointment—and he did NOT want her to go.

I gathered both the student and the uncle into my office so the mom could leave.

Once there, the uncle—who was very compassionate and well-intentioned—was matching the child’s temper-tantrum with flustered, emotional energy as he offered suggestions for calming down: “It’s going to be okay!” “You’ll see MOM LATER!!” “TRY YOUR MEDITATION!!”

Seeing that this was only feeding the tantrum, I asked the uncle to leave so I could work with him individually.

Once gone, all I did was sit in front of the door (so he couldn’t chase mom into the parking lot), legs crossed in half-lotus, and… meditated.

Here’s what happened:

His temper-tantrum slowly burned out.
He sat quietly in his chair with his upset face on for a while.
And after about 20 minutes, asked me, “…Now what?”

And I said, now we get you some water, walk you into class to either watch or participate, and you go home to see mom so y’all can hear about each other’s days.

And that’s exactly what happened.

See, the uncle was right—meditation was a fantastic idea (especially if it was something I intuited they had done/been working on).

All I did was model meditation instead of insisting he “MEDITATE!” while in a flustered state.

Write Your Own Damn Script

Published on July 14, 2025

Something amazing I saw on social:

“Sung Kang’s character, Han Lue, in the Fast and Furious franchise, is often seen snacking, and this is directly related to Han’s history as a smoker. In the original indie film Better Luck Tomorrow, where the character originated, Han was a chain smoker. Sung Kang decided to replace smoking with snacking in the Fast and Furious movies, as he felt it was important to not portray smoking as a cool habit to young audiences.”

I can tell you first hand, after watching Peaky Blinders and being completely captivated (borderline obsessed) with Cillian Murphy’s character Tommy Shelby—smoking seemed like an interconnected part of the character that would be hard to manifest without the cigarettes (fun fact: Cillian Murphy was never actually smoking cigarettes in any of the episodes—they were herbal cigarettes made without tobacco or nicotine).

And hearing the intentionality behind Sung Kang’s decision to take smoking out of the picture altogether was such a refreshing story to hear. Sometimes, I think we forget about the power we have over our own decisions and ultimately, our destiny. Just because others have portrayed something in a certain way (smoking = cool), doesn’t mean we have to. And just because somebody had something written in a script (doctor = only successful path), doesn’t mean we have to follow it verbatim.

You can alter your script. You can change the direction of your script. Heck, you can even write your own damn script from scratch. But, it all starts with intentionality. And intentionality comes from inner work. Without it, you’ll never know any better than to copy/paste what everybody else is doing and telling you to do…

No Turn On Red

Published on July 13, 2025

If you have to turn right on red at a light where you’re not allowed to turn right on red… and you know that but you choose to risk it anyway… You’re too busy.

…And not even in schedule. I’m talking about in mind.

P.s. Yesterday I sent out the final post (for now) of my Bosnia reflection series. You can read all 12 reflections here.

Jumping From Bridges For Money

Published on July 11, 2025

That’s right… there’s a guy at the highest point of this bridge (in Mostar, Bosnia), standing over the guard rail, with one foot hanging over the side. [Image link if not shown above.]

And yes… there are people walking casually past him.

This is apparently a regular occurrence. A tourist attraction of sorts, where, once the guy collects enough money, he will jump into the water some 67 feet below.

But, after speaking to a born and raised Bosnian who knew a lot about the young men of that age… it runs deeper than just being a cash-grab or adrenaline seeking sport…

A lot of the young men in the region grew up in a war torn world. A world that was devastated with ruin. A world where thousands were brutally killed—many of whom where members of these young men’s families.

And yes, the Bosnian war ended when they were relatively young… but, their world certainly didn’t just go back to normal after that. For many of these young men, there were no schools… there was no family support… there was no community structure at all.

And because of all this… and the unimaginable amount of grief and challenge… they do today all they know how: bartending… boat tours… and yes, jumping from bridges.

A lot of times you’ll hear people in modern society complain about the job market or fuss over trivial matters in relation to their job. But, can you imagine living in a world where all you have is a third grade education? …Maybe there is more opportunity for us than we might be giving ourselves credit for.