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Category: Living Well

“Please, Help Yourself”

Published on December 1, 2025

While dropping off flyers at houses for the door-to-door food drive, one house had a box of snacks on the porch with a sign that read, “Please, help yourself :)”

This came in stark contrast to just about every other house that had “Beware of Dog” posters, “You’re Being Recorded” warnings, “No Soliciting” notices, “Protected by Whatever Security System” signs, bolt locked storm doors, barking dogs, extra fences, etc.

It was a brief window into the life of a mail/delivery person and how cold and hostile it can feel going onto people’s property… not that there’s anything wrong with anything listed above… but what a nice gesture at one of the busiest, most stressful times of the year for their line of work.

Flashing Your Life Before Your Eyes

Published on November 26, 2025

The benefit to having your life “flash before your eyes” is that you get it back… after those terrifying moments of feeling like it was lost.

…And the gratitude that comes with it is unmatched.

I had my life flash before my eyes recently and unmatched gratitude was slapped into my perspective in a way that’s hard to achieve through gratitude journaling.

And what came from it wasn’t just a few moments of contentment, but an overall slower pace… a more undivided attention throughout the day… more carefully placed actions and words with each interaction…

I hope you don’t experience a terrifying moment. But, I do hope you’re able to flash your life before your eyes and really elicit the power of the unmatched gratitude that accompanies it.

It really is unbelievable that we’re here…

What Lessons Do You Take Out Of Martial Arts Into The World?

Published on November 19, 2025

…Is one of the questions I fought over yesterday. My answers came quick and felt surprisingly solid once written. Each borrowed from another great human who came before… being shared with you today so you might borrow and share them into other corners of the world.

1. Be the change you wish to see in the world. This is a lesson drilled into me by the head master himself. He preaches constantly how important it is to lead the lifestyle you’re promoting. If you’re teaching discipline, be disciplined. If you’re teaching health and fitness, be healthy and fit. If you’re teaching respect, be respectful. And so on. We need to be who we want our students to become.

    2. Never underestimate the power of a small group to make change—for it’s the only thing that ever has. Helping one student with a single martial move can be discouraging when we hear about influencers influencing millions from a single post… but, it’s only because the perspective is wrong. It’s not about comparison, it’s about gift giving. It’s about doing what good you can with what you have. It’s about starting somewhere and committing.

    3. Life grows in proportion to courage—be bold. I’ve stepped onto some of the biggest sport martial arts stages in the U.S.—and I nearly crapped my pants each time. Which is precisely what courage is: feeling fear and doing the thing anyway. So many doors have opened for me since then. The same with the courage it has taken to publish these writings daily or speak publicly or do something insane physically. Life grew for me after each step taken into the realm of fear.

    Going From Reading To Riffing In A Public Speaking Setting

    Published on November 17, 2025

    Most of my part-time martial arts instructors, at the end of a class they teach, will read a typed out “Mat-Chat” to the class as a way to connect the physical training to the mental/character development.

    Some of the more senior instructors and masters will look at the “Mat Chat” topic and then riff on it based on what comes to mind for them in those moments and from their extensive experience.

    How does one get to the point of being able to “riff” on topics, off-the-cuff, and do it in a professional setting to paying clients in a way that’s confident, yet concise and provides a high enough value?

    Simple: by investing enough time, energy, and effort into the topic. Eventually you’ll absorb enough of the key points and ideas that you’ll be able to speak freely about them without the prompt of the pre-written words.

    If you want to be able to do better than just regurgitating what’s on the paper, you’ll have to do deeper dives that extend beyond the paper itself. If you only ever read the paper, of course that’s all you’ll be able to talk about because that’s the only source you’ll have to pull from.

    …You have to expand your sources. You have to interact and examine more closely the material. You’ll have to be more curious and intentional with the topics at hand. You’ll have to do more inner work that’ll allow you to unpack and relate personal experiences. You’ll have to go above and beyond.

    …That is, if you want to be able to do something that’s above and beyond what the rest can/would do.

    Being Busy Is A Choice

    Published on November 17, 2025

    Dear busy person,

    It’s good to remember that being busy is a choice. And that you don’t have to do everything during the day that you do…

    …When, in fact, you choose to do it all because each task outweighs the consequences of not doing it (otherwise, why do it?).

    …And if that’s true, then why do it all with resentment? With anger? With upset? With anxiety? With rage?

    …If it’s true that doing each task is your top choice for things to do in that moment because it outweighs the consequences of not… why not do it with joy? With presence? With humor? With care? With grace?

    Why not try to really enjoy your busyness rather than try to hastily get to the busyness finish line (is there even such a thing)? Don’t you think busyness is precisely what life is made up of? If not that, then what? And if life isn’t experienced in the bulk of the everyday, then when?

    …Something to reflect on throughout your day today. :)

    In The Smallest Of Corners In The World

    Published on November 16, 2025

    How nice to walk into a quaint, quiet café and sit with two or three other customers… with one owner of the café serving you and the other owner sitting with a customer in a booth having a relaxed conversation.

    No sense of urgency. No there-just-to-get-a-paycheck. No resentment in having to serve or do the work. No tapping feet or staring at the clock. No doing the bare minimum or avoiding ways things could be made better.

    …Just a couple regular folks, making an honest living, by providing goods and a service that’s worth more than the money it costs, while doing it happily, in the smallest of corners in the world…

    …Precisely where a few people could really use it and, as far as I could tell, really appreciate it.

    How To Keep The Fun Alive In Things We Take Seriously And/Or Work Really Hard At

    Published on November 15, 2025

    1. Alignment: Make sure you’re aligned with whatever it is you’re serious about and working really hard at. If you’re playing a sport to please your parents (because they’re living vicariously though you) or you’re practicing law because a younger you thought it would pay a lot of money (turns out, you also have to pay a lot in stress and time committed)—then obviously, it’s not going to be fun because you’re not doing the thing for you. See maybe you don’t align with the sport your parents are pushing you to play… but, you do find yourself drawn to a different sport or can’t help but doodle and draw when you’re passing time. Doing things because you enjoy the means is play… doing things because of a specific end is work. Prioritize doing more of the things you would do even if you weren’t being paid to do them—things that maybe you’re even paying to do. Enjoying the means is the crux to having fun.

    2. Prioritize play: Once you’re in alignment, the second part is to give yourself permission to not take yourself so seriously and be more playful. Being playful is a mindset and a skill that’s developed just like any other muscle. Maybe you joke more or answer questions in silly ways or smile in the midst of busyness or cheer somebody up who’s beating themself up or model taking responsibility in a more lighthearted way… Ultimately, this step isn’t something that should require too much conscious effort… it’s something that should naturally arise when you’re aligned and you’ve given yourself permission to do so.