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Category: Living Well

Intentional Space

Published on May 27, 2026

One of the reasons my work office got so cluttered and messy was because there were so many things that didn’t have a “home.”

I would be given beautiful cards, thoughtful gifts, art pieces, timeless pictures, and sentimental trinkets… and I would have to shove them into one of the limited places I had any open space at all.

And having worked in the same martial arts school for 20+ years… you can only imagine the amount of stuff I had crammed around.

One of my major goals this past weekend, when renovating and redesigning my work office was to give everything an intentional space—both for the things I was already given, and the things that would come.

I spent hours and hours going through it all, organizing it, imagining the appropriate space for it, shopping for the right pieces, and building/designing it—with my sister’s help, of course.

And it turned out beautifully. I’m very proud of the space and feel not only lighter from having removed all of the clutter and mess, but more joyful because so much of what was buried in a tiny drawer is now being featured on the walls and has space to breathe.

A bunch of a good thing shoved into a tiny drawer doesn’t do you or anybody else any good. And sometimes, that’s what’s making us feel bad—whether consciously or not. And all we have to do is give all of the amazingly good things we’ve already been given a home where we can see it, feel it, and experience it on a regular basis—rather than just always wishing for more and more.

I Felt Out Of Place

Published on May 24, 2026

I’ve been working out of the same office for almost two decades.

And not once have I given it a full design update.

What I’ve done throughout the years is simply add.

I’ve added more and more art to the walls, shoved more and more files into my one cabinet, pinned more and more pictures to the more and more cork boards that I would buy…

And over the past few months, for the first time in those almost two decades… I felt out of place.

…Like where I was working, my office, was no longer accurately depicting who I was, what I was about, and what I wanted the impression to be.

And so this weekend, I gutted it. And I’m re-designing and re-organizing it from the ground up (with my sister’s help). After the work I put in tomorrow, I’ll have invested upwards of 24 hours into this project.

And you know what, I can’t wait to get back in there and keep working on it. Because what I’m doing isn’t work… what I’m doing is evolving in real time.

…And it’s finally rippling outward from just me and into my workspace in a way it never has.

Bowl-Size

Published on May 21, 2026

Like fish, we typically grow in proportion to the size of our environment.

Put into a bowl, and we’ll grow bowl-size.

Put into the ocean, and we’ll grow ocean-size.

If you find yourself feeling stuck at “bowl-size,” try swimming into bigger environments. Or focus so much on growing yourself that the bowl-size simply is no longer a good fit.

There’s a whole ocean out there. For all of us. In every field and life dimension.

The question is… what size feels Goldilocks right to you?

“How Do You Go Back To Regular Life After This?!”

Published on May 19, 2026

…Is often a question I’ll ask myself after an incredible music show.

But, the answer—as it is for most things in life—is that too much of a good thing can turn even that incredible thing into a bad thing.

If I was to go to music shows multiple times a week or even every weekend—I’d stop appreciating them as much.

It’s an observation I even made last night when listening to that legendary 2-hour set by two of the world’s best DJs: what makes them so great wasn’t just the banger after banger after banger song choice… it was the tension they expertly built throughout the show.

They knew how to build your excitement and anticipation… hold you in that peaked state… leave you levitating and wondering and anxious for what’s next… and then drop the banger of a track that gave you that euphoric release.

…And then they do it again.

But without the build… you don’t get the same feeling because there’s not really a drop.

And that’s what the space in between does for you in life: it allows your excitement, anticipation, and curiosity to build.

So that when you reach that peaked state and are levitating and just on the brink of being able to experience whatever it is in full… you are properly primed for a completely satisfying drop.

Energy Follows Alignment

Published on May 18, 2026

I played 3 hours of intense basketball today.

Afterwards, I was spent.

…Walking to my car even felt like a chore.

And as I was driving home, I remembered I still needed to mow the lawn.

…And it felt like pushing a weighted sled at the gym for 45 minutes after running a half marathon.

But what’s interesting is later that night, I watched a legendary DJ set on YouTube that I’ve been meaning to watch for months.

…And for two hours, I danced in front of my TV without so much as a grimace—in fact, it flew by and left me feeling light as a cloud.

It was an incredible reminder that energy follows alignment. And if you’re fighting with yourself for energy, maybe it isn’t your energy levels so much as it’s your energy inhibitors and drains.

…And worth meditating on is how alignment can help fix both.

Only “Just Enough” Planning

Published on May 13, 2026

While at a music show this past weekend, I was chatting with a guy about how incredible our spot was… we were literally leaning onto the stage a few feet away from the artists performing.

And he yelled back into my ear (it was really loud)—“It’s one of my mantras, man! Everything always works out more perfectly than I ever could’ve planned!”

And he proceeded to tell me how he embraces this mantra as much as he can in his daily life.

…Only just enough planning and leaning into the magic of the universe for the rest.

And I really liked that.

Because it’s almost a guarantee that things won’t go exactly according to plan—it might as well be a law of nature. And if you expected everything to—then your day will be ruined when it doesn’t.

…But if you planned just enough to cover the major bases, and leaned into serendipity and spontaneous opportunity for the rest, then if/when things go “wrong,” THAT will be what you were expecting anyway, and you’ll be too busy navigating your “perfect” night in real time to even care or notice.

On The Importance Of Defining “Your Best Life”

Published on May 11, 2026

In order for yesterday’s strategy to work, however, there needs to be some honest conversation and inner work done around “living my best life.”

Because if “living my best life” is used as an excuse to live your most comfortable, distracted, instant-gratification-style life… then not only do I think you won’t find the best relationship of your life… but I don’t think you’ll find your best life.

Living your best life should actually look much like the opposite of the above.

It should look a little scary—like skydiving, or signing up for a dance class, or going up and talking to the person you find attractive. It should look present—like dinner with friends minus the phones, or walks surrounded by nature, or time spent alone meditating or creating or reading. It should look like an ongoing investment into the future—like healthy eating, or mindful movement, or skill-building from a place of beginner’s mind.

When you lean into that zone of discomfort and can keep your nervous system calm and ego quiet enough to proceed forward from that space consistently…

…Then, yes.

…The rest, I imagine, will take care of itself.