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Category: Feeling Fulfilled

Setting Your Uncompromised Soul Free

Published on September 5, 2025

While at Burning Man, a campmate made a comment that resonated deeply with me. She said, “I’m very selfish when it comes to Burning Man. I’m happy to introduce, give people the 101, and even travel with friends to and from the burn. But, while there? I need to be completely free. This isn’t just building, gifting, and dancing—there’s a spiritual component for me. And like any spiritual journey in life—I need to follow my uncompromised soul.”

This goes back to one of the points I made in yesterday’s post: Do more alone… together requires compromise and while there’s nothing wrong with that, there IS something wrong with never following your uncompromised soul.

My first year at Burning Man, I went completely alone and knew nobody there. Since then, my soul has found and connected with so much of what it needed. From workshops and classes to art and expression, from trial and tribulation to triumph and celebration, from one-off conversations to deep and long lasting connections… there are spiritual happenings that can only happen when your soul is given that uncompromised freedom.

Again, this isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with compromise. Sharing time and experiences with others also feeds the soul in equally nourishing ways. It’s simply a reminder to balance shared, compromised experiences with solo, uncompromised ones—not just at Burning Man, but in whatever ways your soul needs in everyday life.

The Secret To A Rich And Filling Life

Published on August 23, 2025

The secret, I think, to a rich and filling life… are rich and filling moments.

…Moments that are made rich and full with an unwavering devotion to the present, what’s real, and what’s right in front of our face.

The idea is as simple, yet as hard as it gets:

When sitting… just sit… be with yourself… resist the urge to chronically be doing something.

When walking… just walk… be immersed in all of the worldly elements.

When talking… just talk… be completely and totally consumed with the words.

When eating… just eat… be mindful of the experience as a whole and savor each bite.

When dancing… just dance… surrender to the pull of your soul… without fear and as un-self-consciously as you’re able.

When working… just work… do the damn thing with as much excellence as you can manage.

…And as much as you can: minimize and subtract all that distracts you.

It’s far too easy to never be where you are.

…Which, I’d say, is the antithesis of the rich and filling life.

Random Theory About Live Music

Published on August 13, 2025

Random question: If I asked you to place your hand where you think your soul hangs out, where would you place it?

…I don’t know about you, but my hand tends to go somewhere between my heart and my stomach—near the very center of my being.

If this wasn’t you, then go ahead and just disregard the above two sentences.

Okay, now random theory about live music: one of the reasons we love it so much is because we can align the very center of our being with the type of music that we innately and have always indescribably loved… and we can feel it vibrate into that sacred center—what some might describe as our soul.

Which is also why I think we love to sing our favorite songs—because the vibrations from our voice box resonate into that same place.

…And whatever vibration our soul has always been craving, is finally shaking its way inside.

…And for that brief span of time—everything in our world feels aligned, in rhythm, and alright.

P.s. This extra post is being sent to make-up for the one missed on Friday, August 8th, 2025.

Investing In Ways That’ll Make Life Fly By

Published on July 28, 2025

It’s ironic… the people you spend time with who make time go by the fastest… are the ones you should continue to invest in.

Not because you want your days, weeks, months, years, life to fly by… but, because “flying by” is one of the surest signs we have of time well spent.

On Having “300” Kids

Published on July 27, 2025

People will occasionally ask me if I have kids.

“…I have 300” I’ll sometimes jokingly say—referring to my 300ish martial arts students.

But, the more time I spend around parents—and get an *actual* look at parenting life—the more I realize how much of a joke it is to say that.

Parenting life is no joke. And I know all of the parents out there know it. But, to those who think they know it, but aren’t, let me just tell you—you don’t. There are as many different ways of parenting as there are parents.

And the thing that blows me away more than anything else is seeing parents devote everything they have (and more) to figuring out how to best educate/mold/raise their child to become a great person and community member. From the second they wake up (or maybe more properly put—get woken up) to the second they go to bed (if that ever even happens)—it’s all about that child or the children.

And what an incredible devotion it is, indeed.

This is all to say: shout out to the parents out there doing it. Devoting everything they have to the next generation even if it’s at the expense of themselves. Not all parents make the decision to parent—but if you did… and you are… thank you.

…It’s something I feel you might not hear often enough.

Meet Safa

Published on July 7, 2025

Safa is 84 years old. He’s a born and raised Bosnian. He worked as a copper artist—hammering and contorting the metal from his own store in Mostar—for 30+ years. He’s incredibly light on his feet—jumping up from seated positions, skipping while walking, and spontaneously dancing when his spirit calls for him to. And is the living embodiment of ćejf.

I got to spend an entire day with him, sipping coffee and 0% beer for hours at a time, touring through some of his favorite local restaurants and artisan shops, and hearing stories from his life.

Of everything we discussed, here are three highlights I thought were worth sharing:

1. I asked: Do you exercise? He said (and I’m paraphrasing here): Never (formally) a day in his life. He always just worked hard—hammering away in his copper shop. And he was always trying new things physically—like “L-Sits,” “Planche Holds,” one arm pull-ups, hanging from a bridge with one hand, or even high jumping from bridges into the water below. He said the more he successfully did things physically, the more confident he became with himself and the more he continued to try. One of his favorite things to do was “bust jacked people’s egos” by one-upping them. And he said the other aspect that really helped with his physicality was that he always spent a lot of time with women (lol).

2. I asked: What are some of your favorite memories? He said the time he spent with his wife.

3. I asked: What are some of his regrets? He said not being able to build the family he wanted and help raise his son.

Ćejf

Published on July 5, 2025

Pronounced /chey-if/: not just a Bosnian word but a way of life. It’s a slow and silent enjoyment of something or someone; it’s a deep satisfaction or contentment; it’s what I wrote yesterday about coffee culture.

And it’s not just coffee that we might be doing wrong… maybe it’s food too? I did not see a single drive thru restaurant my entire time here in Bosnia. Not one. Because here, drinking coffee and/or eating “to-go” is almost blasphemous.

Coffee/food is something meant to be consumed slowly… something to be shared generously… something that’s supposed to elicit a deep contentment in-and-of the act itself.

The idea with ćejf is the same idea that many of us daydream about as we kill ourselves working 9-5 jobs. We imagine ourselves sitting on a beach, by the turquoise water, sipping on a margarita—experiencing ćejf.

Or even more simply, getting home after a long day, kicking off our shoes, loosening up our tight clothes, and finally sitting in our most comfortable chairs next to loved ones—to experience ćejf.

The problem is that too many of us are far too busy to experience ćejf.

…We wake up and we’re already late for work. We rush to work, but only want to be back home. Exhausted, we pick escapes and quick dopamine hits via screens and ignore everything and everyone around us in reality throughout.

Ćejf is not something that can be rushed.

…Just like anything of quality can’t be rushed.

And if you’re the type who is always rushing… it might be worth thinking about whether there’s enough space and time in your day/life for ćejf to slowly… silently… gracefully… seep its way in.