Category: Living Well

An Inner Work Lesson From The Movie Up (2009)

Published on March 10, 2025

In the opening scene of the movie Up, we’re immersed in a five minute recap of the life and love shared between the two main characters of the story: Carl and Ellie Fredricksen.

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s must watch animation. Here’s a link.

For whatever reason, this scene popped into my mind today as I was thinking about life and love and relationships (once you’ve seen it, you’ll understand) and it got me thinking about Carl and Ellie’s dynamic.

The above link doesn’t show it, but essentially Ellie comes crashing into Carl’s life when they’re kids and just lights up his world. She’s talkative, energetic, and filled with a contagious sense of adventure. Carl doesn’t talk much, is portrayed to be a little awkward, and seemingly defaults to routine and what’s comfortable.

…Inside each of us is both a “Carl” and an “Ellie,” eh?

What I got to thinking about as I replayed this dynamic is how important it is to try and nurture the “Ellie” that’s inside. Not that there’s anything wrong with the “Carl,” but waiting for an “Ellie” to come crashing into and light up your life simply isn’t a good strategy.

The one that tends to show up is simply the one we choose to feed with the nourishment of our attention and energy. There was a point in my life, for example, when I could distinctly identify as being mostly “Carl.” But, since I’ve started nourishing my inner “Ellie”… I’ve made so many new connections and experienced countless incredible adventures.

Which is all to say… being the “Ellie” who does the crashing and lighting up… my friend… is an excellent strategy.

Beautiful Alignment

Published on March 7, 2025

A friend of mine was telling me today how his wife just recently went mega viral on IG.

After decades of doing it in her kindergarden classrooms, she decided to start documenting and sharing how she takes her kids on imaginary travel adventures each Friday during the school year.

…And these aren’t just any run-of-the-mill, close your eyes and let’s imagine some travel adventures.

This women goes the extra mile… literally.

She’ll travel the globe during her summer vacation months and document videos addressed to her classroom that she’ll play for them at that specific “trip” the following year…

She’ll transform the entire classroom into an airport and airplane so the kids can learn how to navigate an airport, what passports are for, what to do with luggage… and she even invites flight attendants to make guest appearances…

And while she’s playing the videos back from her worldly travels, she’ll have first-hand things the kids can interact with… she’ll teach them about cultural differences and appropriate ways to behave… she’ll even have them do imaginary camel rides, cliff jumps, and mud masks.

And all I could think while my buddy was telling me this was… yes.

…Just yes.

How many teachers out there are miserable because they’re too busy daydreaming about travel…? And then while they’re finally traveling, they’re miserable because they’re thinking about going back to work…? How many of us non-teachers do the same thing?!

What this women has done is found a way to bring both into beautiful alignment.

And with a little reflection… initiative… and creative problem-solving… maybe you can too?

P.s. This is her IG.

The Power of Alignment + A Full & Present Heart

Published on March 1, 2025

My sister went to Toronto last weekend for her birthday.

While there she spent most of her time exploring quaint and classy bars and restaurants.

And during her explorations, she stumbled upon a small restaurant that was semi hidden in an unbusy mall.

And something struck me as being incredibly inspirational about this restaurant as she was describing it to me.

She said the women who was running the restaurant was one of the most kind, sweet, and present women she had ever met. She wasn’t there to do a job or get tip money. She was in alignment. It was as though she had a dream and was evidently living that dream in real time.

And it brought to mind for me the person who chooses a path… and then walks that path with a full and present heart.

All too common in today’s world are people who choose a path… and then spend all of their time walking that path looking at other paths… and comparing… questioning… envying…

You’ll never feel fulfilled walking a path this way.

Which is why it’s so incredible to come across someone who is in such alignment.

You don’t need to be a CEO, multi-millionaire, silicon valley startup founder to feel fulfilled. All you need is alignment and a full, present heart. And sometimes, that looks like a small restaurant that’s semi-hidden in an unbusy mall.

…Don’t complicate it.

On Changing Stupid Business Practices

Published on February 27, 2025

Such a simple idea that could significantly help customer oriented businesses: treat customers the way you would want to be treated as a customer.

I have been stunned at how I’ve been treated by several major companies lately and it just makes me wonder how such disconnected practices and systems have been put into place?

Like… YOU, customer service representative, would HATE the very experience you’re putting me through right now if YOU were the customer… How have we gotten here? Why is it like this? How can we change it?

Some of you reading this are in customer oriented businesses. And I encourage you to challenge your practices and systems and see if they pass the above test.

And some of you maybe aren’t. But, you certainly interact with them regularly. Keep pushing back against bad practices and bad systems. Keep voicing your frustrations and suggestions for improvement. Keep voting for good business with how you spend your money… and stop giving money to companies who have bad business practices.

Big change never happens all at once.

…It happens slowly, slowly. One push, one shove, one vote at a time.

Balancing Prep And Go

Published on February 26, 2025

One trap I’ve fallen into in the past is spending too much time preparing and planning—and not enough time experimenting and doing.

I recognized this in myself very early into my DJing journey.

I was spending SO. MUCH. TIME. downloading music, filling in meta data, setting hot cues and memory points, and creating playlists…

So much so that I was barely doing any actual DJing.

So I’m trying to more mindfully walk this balance between prep and go. Because, yes, too much go and not enough prep leaves you confused, disjointed, and without a coherent sound… but too much prep and not enough go leaves you just as confused and disjointed as you come face to face with the decks.

So much of life is about finding the balance between these two.

…About sorting through the infinite information that’s available and acting on what’s chosen.

…About building book smarts, but also street smarts.

…About picking a direction and just as importantly… walking the path picked.

How are you doing with this balancing act?

Relationships Are Like Social Media Feeds

Published on February 19, 2025

The relationship you have today will not be the relationship you have tomorrow.

Not with your spouse, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your parents, your siblings, or yourself.

Relationships change as quickly as your social media feed.

And like your social media feed… what direction your feed goes depends entirely on how you interact with your feed today.

…Not in how you intend to interact with your feed or how you plan to, hope to, or want to interact with your feed… but in how you actually interact with it.

Invest in better content, connect with better people, better utilize block/mute/unfollow… grow. Do the opposite… regress.

Invest in better experiences with people, take more initiative in surrounding yourself with better influences, better enforce your boundaries and prioritize your mental health… grow. Do the opposite… regress.

Nothing ever stays the same. Remember this as you’re deciding how you want to actually act today.

Hardening Your Mind

Published on February 17, 2025

When I lift weights… time crawls.

When I train martial arts or play a sport… time flies.

Some people will tell you to only do the things that make time fly.

…After all, why suffer your way through exercise, for example, when you could be getting it in in a fun way?

And while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing the fun route… there is something to be said about learning how to discipline yourself to endure the type of temporary suffering that leads to lasting benefits/rewards, too.

Because once you can learn to do it for, again, weight lifting as an example… not only will you be hardening your body… but, you’ll be hardening your mind.

And a hardened mind isn’t only useful for lifting weights…

It’s one of the most useful tools for every single other endeavor you ever come across in life.