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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Your Mind Is Infected

Published on October 5, 2022

…All of our minds are.

With negativity, judgment, doubt, hate, jealousy…

It comes with the territory of being human—we’re emotional, comparative, imperfect creatures.

Knowing this—embodying this—we can begin our work of healing.

If you ignore this and pretend like your mind isn’t—you can’t.

Never assume your mind is immune to infectious beliefs.

Stand guard to the door of your mind and actively send soldiers of positivity, acceptance, belief, love, and compassion to confront the rebel infections trying to overtake your mind.

In other words: speak—both inwardly and outwardly—with the aim and intent of being cured as consistently and as often as possible.

And slowly, slowly… you shall be.

P.s. I’ll be hosting a LIVE chat on Twitter about the Ego and exploring if it’s our enemy or if it can be used to help us in life. Details here.

Better Pain

Published on October 4, 2022

Life doesn’t suddenly decide one day to stop being challenging.

Not when you’re rich. Not when you’re retired. Not when you’re on a beach.

Challenge will always be present. And with challenge comes pain.

Run from the pain? And you’ll only multiply it for later (because you’ll have to deal with the pain that comes with later PLUS the pain that you ignored).

Confront the pain—and you’ll free your future self of some of that compounding pain.

The goal is to face today’s pains today so that you can confronting new, inevitable, better pains tomorrow.

…Better pains?

Yeah, the kind of pains you’d prefer to face—that you *get* to face—because of the work you did yesterday. You know, like exercise pain versus cardiac arrest pain. Or like a hard conversation pain versus lost relationship pain.

Delay confronting pain long enough and it will eventually become unbearably painful and/or absolutely unavoidable.

Your choice.

Interesting

Published on October 3, 2022

You thinking that somewhere else in the world is more interesting than where you are right now is precisely what’s making here… uninteresting.

  • There’s an unfathomable depth to every person you cross paths with—start getting curious about it.
  • There’s a mountain of insight collecting dust on bookshelves near you—crack open some covers and let it free.
  • There are canvases that are just begging to be turned into art literally everywhere—pick a medium and start sharing your creations.

When everybody becomes uninterested in everything else—of course everything becomes uninteresting.

All it takes is one person’s spark—one person’s interest—to change the way all of us see something we thought we’ve already seen a hundred times before.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Rushing Feet [Poem]

Published on October 2, 2022 
rain scattered
wind thrusting
feet rushing
to escape

why run away
from that which I
was made?

one day
I will be rain
and gusts
pouring down
and pushing into
somebody else’s
rushing feet

and wouldn’t I
unable to speak or say
want them
to slow
and feel
and appreciate
...me?

Where People Are More Interesting

Published on October 1, 2022

There isn’t any one place in the world where people’s inner worlds are disproportionately more deep and rich.

Depth and richness is everywhere.

This is true even for the people who you cross paths with in coffee lines, drug stores, and supermarkets.

You don’t have to travel to France, Greece, or Bali for more rich, deep connections.

You just have to be more curious and open to having deep, rich conversations.

P.s. I compiled a list of 101 Thoughtful and Provoking Questions to Ask To Get To Know Someone in case you’re interested.

The Work Of The Wise

Published on September 30, 2022

Sometimes we come across content that makes us pause, nod, and even talk out loud.

Whenever that happens, it’s a sign of resonance.

And when something resonates with you, the reason why isn’t always obvious.

Sometimes, sure, it resonates because it just plain makes sense and you agree.

But, other times, it might be more than that.

Other times, it might be resonating from a chord that was struck deeper inside of you.

And in this case, using that content as a means to do some inner exploration can yield tremendous insights.

Insights that help you better understand why you think and act the way you do.

Insights that have the potential to shift the direction of your life when they’re realized from a deep enough place.

But, if all you ever do when you pause, nod, and talk to yourself is keep scrolling… you’ll forget. And the resonance will fade.

And what a shame that would be for your future self. The one that’s depending on you to take care of them.

What if instead, we made space each day to explore the things that resonated with us—in both the good ways and the bad.

Because there are (should) be things each day that strike our chords (if not, you need to subscribe to more interesting content).

What I have found to be true sometimes is, the more time I have to think about it… the deeper the reasons why might be buried.

So be patient. Relentlessly block out distractions and potential interruptions. And dig.

This work is too important. This work is too often overlooked. This work is the work of the wise.

Head And Heart

Published on September 29, 2022

Sometimes our head moves fast and our heart moves slow.

Sometimes our heart moves fast and our head moves slow.

In each case, we should facilitate a compromise and have them meet somewhere in the middle.

Because both the heart and the head should be honored for what they know.

P.s. Today, I hosted a LIVE space on writing and how it can help you live a better life. Here’s the replay. Conversation starts at around the 6 minute mark. Enjoy.