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Category: Living Well

Gandhi on Asking A Child To Stop Eating Sugar

Published on October 16, 2024

A woman once came to Gandhi with her child, concerned about her child’s habit of eating too much sugar.

Knowing how much her child respected Gandhi, she asked him, ‘Could you please tell my daughter to stop eating sugar?’ 

Gandhi listened and then replied, ‘Please come back in two weeks.’ 

The woman and her child returned two weeks later.

This time, Gandhi simply told the child, ‘Please do not eat sugar.’ 

Grateful, the mother thanked him, but she couldn’t help asking, ‘Why did we need to wait two weeks for you to say that?’ 

Gandhi said, ‘Two weeks ago, I was eating sugar.’“

Inner work prompt: What are you asking others to do that you aren’t doing yourself? Ask yourself: how can I get to a place where I can say what I want others to do without saying a word.

Do What Works—Not What’s Supposed To Work

Published on October 15, 2024

Your meditations, mantras, principles, ideals, self-improvement practices, etc. are only as good as what they’re able to get you to actually do.

In other words:

  • Your meditation is only as good as the amount of time it helps you to stay present.
  • Your mantras are only as good as the mindsets they’re able to keep you in.
  • Your principles are only as good as the actions they remind you to take and abstain from.
  • Your ideals are only as good as the life destinations they’re able to actually keep in the forefront of your mind.
  • Your self-improvement practices are only as good as the growth they’re able to yield over an extended period of time.

Said differently yet again, whatever works—in their ability to help you deal with life challenges—is what you should keep working.

…Not what the most popular influencer says you should do; not what the world’s best athlete recommends; not what your bff swears by… what works.

Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t try what you’re inspired to try.

It’s merely to say, trust what has a history of getting done—not just once or for a short sprint of time… but time and again over a longer period of time… a period of time that matches the amount of time you’ll be met with challenges from life…

The Good Ol’ Days

Published on October 13, 2024

After basketball today, a friend shared a story of how he used to ball from 9am – 1am when he was younger. He was talking about how—in the good ol’ days—he’d get woken up at 9am by neighborhood friends, play in his driveway for a few hours, then go to the park and play for a few more, then go to a different park and play a few more, and so forth until eventually he’d make his way back home and play until he wasn’t allowed to anymore.

In the afternoon, while hanging out with my family, my aunt was telling us how she’s going to get a knee injection and how, if that doesn’t work, she may need to get a full knee replacement. She was sharing with us how she simply can’t wait to get back to a place where she can walk and not be in unbearable pain.

During dinner tonight, while eating a fantastic bowl of Phö, my little sister—who’s not really my sister but pretty much is—was reminiscing about the good ol’ days when we used to have the OG squad over for Phö nights and we’d eat around the table together, play games, watch movies, and hang out for hours and hours on end… and how she missed those times.

Ah, the good ol’ days…

We all can think back to experiences that we miss.

But just as Yesterday’s You didn’t realize they were living in what Future You would consider “the good ol’ days,” so is it true that Today’s You probably doesn’t realize that you’re living in what Tomorrow’s You will consider “the good ol’ days” right now.

Put A Carrot Into Your Future

Published on October 8, 2024

If your days are dragging by and you regularly feel a sense of misery swelling up within the confines of your day, do yourself a favor and put a carrot into your future.

You know, like a concert or a spa day or a cabin reservation or a flight to a beach or roadtrip with a friend.

Being pulled forward towards something you’re really looking forward to is a much better way forward than trying to force yourself forward by smacking yourself with a stick (or metaphorically getting smacked by a stick from someone else) whenever you need a push in life.

Martial Arts At 63…

Published on October 7, 2024

I had a 63 year old women sign up for Martial Arts classes last week on Monday.

Today, she came back in and told me that it took her until Friday to fully recover from that Monday’s training session. Not because it was inappropriately intense or without proper modifications for her level… but because she had been taking care of a sick family member for years and hadn’t really exercised or stretched or done anything for herself throughout that time.

When I asked her how she felt about the coming class and if there was anything I could do to make it better for her she shook her head and said plainly that her new goal was to recover by Thursday after taking a Monday session.

And y’all… I cried a little bit inside.

P.s. I also published: The 10 Rules of Ikigai (for a Longer and Happier Life) + 6 Bonus Quotes from The Book

It’s The Effort That Counts

Published on October 4, 2024

One of my employees just turned 18… and I texted him happy birthday and added a bunch of exclamation points and emojis.

…His mom ordered him a *singing telegram* (a person dressed up in a frog suit who would show up in person and sing happy birthday to him), made an array of homemade cupcakes for him and his coworkers, and got him a stuffed frog as a gift so he could always remember the moment.

Sure, it’s the thought that counts.

But, it’s the effort that gets remembered.

(Re)Aligning Actions With Direction

Published on September 30, 2024

Some questions to reflect on as we close out the third quarter of 2024 and enter the final quarter…

Start by bringing to mind your goals/resolutions/intentions for 2024.

1. In what ways have you succeeded? What do these successes reveal to you about yourself?

2. In what ways have you failed/deviated? What does this reveal to you about yourself?

3. With this insight in mind, how will you either modify those original goals/resolutions/intentions or change them so you can better align your actions with your direction and close out 2024 strong?

For me, writing new long-form articles each week and creating two new Art of Forward Guides were two of my big goals.

I succeeded in drafting one guide and creating maybe five new articles. I failed at producing as much as I aimed simply because I didn’t budget dedicated times to those tasks.

My thought was I would do the long form writing and guide creating AFTER I finished my daily writing and quote curating. But, this rarely left me with any decent chunks of time at all. It takes at least an hour of dedicated time to work on longer form projects like the ones I wanted to create and I was mostly left with twenty minutes (if that…!) on a regular basis.

And so the adjustment I’m making is precisely that: adding in a dedicated hour on Thursdays and Saturdays to get this done. It almost sounds silly sharing this because of how obvious this is… but, oftentimes, it’s the simple—almost silly—adjustments that make the biggest difference.

…How about you?