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Category: Making A Difference

Our World Sucks

Published on August 17, 2022

Wishing the world was a better place is nice—but not useful.

Complaining about how bad of a place the world is—is the opposite of useful.

Talk is cheap. And what our world needs is far from cheap…

What we need is the good stuff… the gold… what we need is more do-something-about-it.

I asked: What’s ONE thing you’ve either added or subtracted from your life that led to more inner peace? Here are the answers. I hope they help.

Imperfect Help

Published on August 3, 2022

There are no perfect people helping imperfect people.

Only imperfect people helping other imperfect people.

Don’t let perfectionism hold you back from helping—it’s a lie.

You’ll always be imperfect and now is always a good time to help—no matter how imperfect you may feel.

Today’s post was inspired by this tweet from Jeremy Ginn. Thank you.

The Immortality Of Kindness

Published on July 1, 2022

Have you ever been the target of a random act of kindness?

Have you ever wondered how far back the inspiration for that act goes?

Maybe not far at all.

Maybe that stranger just spontaneously acted.

Or maybe it goes back centuries… back to a medieval time when a farmer gave a homeless fellow some crops for free—just because. And they paid it forward and so did the next fellow and so on.

Maybe kindness ripples through time like waves in a pond—temporarily elevating each water particle touched by the wave until gracefully returning them back to where they started.

Maybe it’s that temporary elevation that gives us the perspective we need to carry on with a lighter heart; a more caring heart; a more kind heart.

For it is only when we are elevated that we can more clearly see what was holding us back down below. And we gain an understanding that becomes a new guiding light for when we find ourselves back down—as we inevitably will in life.

But, we are not lowered to where we started—no.

We are lowered with new eyes. Eyes that have seen and felt an existence at a higher plane. And once we see what is up above, we can’t unsee it; once we feel what is up above, we can’t unfeel it.

And maybe this is the cause of perpetual kindness. People infectiously sharing what elevated them, onward and outward to the outer banks of society and for the duration of all time.

And maybe all we need to do to activate that sometimes seemingly dormant desire is remember that beautiful perspective we each once had.

Seed Planter [Poem]

Published on June 19, 2022 
I am forever
A seed planter
Burying potential
in the endless mud
Of our collective mind

Some will grow
Many will die
What comes to be
Isn’t for me
to judge or define

I am not sun
I am not nutrients
I am not water
I am forever
a seed planter

What’s planted
In the mud
Of your mind
Is for the elements
Of your life

To nurture or decline

Too Cool For School

Published on June 16, 2022

Today, I had the privilege of presenting a martial arts driven character development class to nine groups of Kindergarden through 8th graders.

It was highly rewarding and the message I was able to share felt well received.

When the 8th graders (13-15 years old) arrived for their session, however, the apprehension and self-consciousness was thick in the air.

Just about all of the kids were more concerned with what each of the other kids thought and wouldn’t so much as stand up without a strong enough prompt.

They had other things on their mind—boys, girls, being funny, being liked, being noticed, looking cool, looking rebellious, looking like a part of the group, etc.

And so I offered them a simple invitation: I’m here to show you how martial arts can add value to your lives. If you want to learn how, step forward. If you’d rather not, step back.

And I wish I could say they all stepped forward—but, they didn’t.

Only a group of about 6 (out of 30ish) did.

And so I focused all of my attention on those six. I even huddled them tight after the session and gave them more than I planned on giving—as a thank you.

It’s so easy to feel like we’re up against the majority in our lives—and often we are. And it can be tempting to just slide back and blend into mix of the group—certainly nobody would blame you.

But, to step forward in confidence? In spite of the group decision? At risk of social consequence?

This… my friends… is where leadership is born and how any noteworthy change—is made.

Flowering Reality

Published on May 27, 2022

Thinking love is not the same as expressing love.

Thinking kindness is not the same as expressing kindness.

Thinking gratitude is not the same as expressing gratitude.

When you move your most beautiful thoughts into reality, the byproduct is a more beautiful reality.

Beautiful thoughts left unexpressed are quickly buried beneath the forever churning soils of the mind and the result is a forgotten about seed and unchanged reality.

Help flower our shared reality by intentionally nurturing, harvesting, and sharing all of what’s beautiful inside of you. However and whenever you can. Our reality needs it.