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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Who Is A Strong Person?

Published on June 14, 2024

Last week, my martial arts students and I reflected on the question, “Who is a rich person?“

This week, we reflected on, “Who is a strong person?”

And the question I asked to help them gather their ideas was, “Who is one of the strongest people you know in your life?” And “Why?”

…And not a single person mentioned someone because of their sheer physical strength.

Each person mentioned somebody because of their emotional and/or mental strength.

They mentioned people who showed resilience, grit, patience, kindness, and courage in the face of adversity and unfairness in life… Parents who brilliantly juggled family, career, health, and more in spite of incredible challenges… People who were diagnosed with life threatening illnesses yet maintained a constructive outlook and found ways to carry through.

While physical strength is certainly impressive, the takeaway for me is that it’s built mostly for the individual… whereas emotional and/or mental strength is a strength that benefits every single person that individual interacts with.

I’m sure you have crossed paths with a muscle-head who was an absolute a-hole… who was, yes, utilizing a type of emotion and/or mental strength to develop their physical strength—but it was for the sole purpose of vanity… it was for themselves.

Whereas the people who develop their mental strength—by building discipline, courage, focus, respect, etc… or the people who develop their emotional strength—by practicing mindfulness, patience, openness, and do inner work… become sources of strength for us all.

P.s. One of the strongest people I ever knew was my great grandmother. Here’s why.

Order Matters

Published on June 13, 2024

I can get into a flow state for writing much quicker when I follow my normal routine of inspirational primers (uploading quotes from various sources to MMQ) → nap → coffee → write.

It’s much harder to get into a flow state for writing when I do something more like I did today which was inspirational primers → nap → coffee → look up flights → search for cool EDM concerts → playfully imagine fun vay-and-day-cation itineraries → write.

Those added variables of flight, concert, and trip planning would have been MUCH better inserted at the end of the writing session. Because it doesn’t take any priming, focus, or discipline to playfully do trip planning. It’s fun and automatic.

Writing, however, requires each of the above in sacred measure, proper order, and more.

Otherwise, at least for me, my Muse feels betrayed… overlooked… ignored… and will require copious amounts priming, attention, and discipline (aka blank page staring), due in full, to make up for it.

Order matters.

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

Why Do Martial Arts Forms / Patterns?

Published on June 12, 2024

In Tae Kwon-Do, we practice forms—traditionally constructed and precise patterns of moves—for a variety of reasons.

To the untrained eye, one might wonder what their purpose is… here’s a traditional form I performed in 2015 for context.

…They certainly don’t look like moves you might use to defend yourself. Which, as most people might understand it, should be one of the primary goals of training in martial arts.

To which I’d say it is… and that they actually are… moves to help you learn to do exactly that.

…The translation just isn’t literal.

In the same way an allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning… forms are carefully constructed (artistic) patterns of moves that are densely saturated with hidden meaning.

…Which makes them one of the most important mediums through which our art’s sacred lessons are handed down from one generation of martial artists to the next.

To those who look at and judge it by what they see on the surface… the lessons will forever remain a mystery.

But, to those who humble themselves enough to become a practitioner and try… and learn… and experiment… will slowly… slowly… reveal a world dense with knowledge and lessons that will forever change how they engage with the art and mystery of life.

Today’s inner work prompt is this: what’s something you only understand superficially that you’d like to get to know more deeply? Be it a spiritual text, a culturally rich form of movement, or even yourself… pick something, block out some reoccurring time for it, and begin to explore.

There’s far more than what’s on the surface.

Meaning > Fun

Published on June 11, 2024

If your top criteria for doing something is that it be fun… then you’ll eventually regress to doing things that give comfortable thrills, dopamine hits, and easy wins.

If your top criteria for doing something is that it be meaningful… then you’ll push yourself to do things that are uncomfortable up front, but long term rewarding… things that are accompanied with progress, deep-seated gratitude, and fulfillment… things that challenge you to fail, learn, and grow.

Fun is for lazy Sundays, nights out with the boys, day trips with the girls…

Meaningful is for career paths, health and fitness efforts, community service, legacy…

The trick is to do meaningful work that you also have fun doing that you’d STILL DO even during the times when it isn’t so fun (no meaningful work is fun 100% of the time).

Expecting meaningful work to feel like an arcade isn’t practical. What you can expect, however, is to feel a deep sense fun/joy/reward from meaningful work that superficial “fun” work could never provide.

Something that comes from seeing others and feeling yourself improve… that comes from building something of value and awe… that comes from seeing your art/ creative visions come to life… that comes from thank you letters and unprompted gifts… that comes from changing lives.

Fun-only is almost always absent of meaning. Meaning-only almost always includes some sense of fun. Maybe not immediately, but almost always over the long run.

An Ounce Of Patience Is Worth A Ton Of (Inner) Peace

Published on June 10, 2024

On my drive to work this morning, I pissed a guy off very much.

While crossing the street in the middle of traffic, he started yelling and swearing at me for driving too… slow… because I didn’t drive past him fast enough which made him slow down his stride and (god forbid) wait an extra few moments before he could finish his jaywalk.

Looking in my rear view mirror, he didn’t continue in any kind of hurry either… just continued walking across the street, mumbling to himself, with anger oozing from his mannerisms.

The experience as a whole couldn’t have cost the guy anything more than 10 seconds. And yet, probably cost him upwards of at least 10 minutes from his exacerbated response… maybe even hours—who knows. And here I am, furthermore, thinking about it and writing about it hours and hours later.

Coincidentally, as the universe would have it, I discovered and uploaded a quote to MoveMe Quotes today that said, “Patience is not passive, it is concentrated strength.” And this little experience does a great job exemplifying why.

Ten seconds of patience—concentrated strength—could have given him and me (and anyone else involved) an exponential return in time saved from anger/ frustration/ and irritation… time that could be used instead for joy/ presence/ creative thinking/ etc.

And to those who take the time to develop that concentrated strength and actively flex those patience muscles in their every day lives—thank you. Not only is the ROI phenomenal for you, but it is for all of us. Your strength gives us more time and space to develop ours—and for that I am (we are) grateful.

The Worst Awning Creaking

Published on June 9, 2024

I have a metal awning covering the front door of my house.

It has been making an awful creaking noise whenever the wind picked up for the past few weeks.

It’s definitely not new and is something my mind started budgeting for as soon as I started hearing the screech. I figured I would first budget time to see if it was something I could fix myself. I could call over my handyman dad and see if whatever was loose could get tightened and we could clean her up—leaving her good as new.

If that didn’t work, I figured I would budget money for a new one and I started thinking about different colors and styles I might choose to replace it.

This went on and on in the background of my mind since I started noticing the reoccurring sound several weeks ago.

It wasn’t until I actually went outside today and took a closer look that I realized all of that horrible creaking… and screeching… and reoccurring annoyance…

…Was from one singular, oh-so-tiny bush branch—no bigger than my pinky—that was rubbing up against the front of the awning in such a way and at such an angle that it made that obnoxious noise.

I reached up, broke off the branch, and voila… problem solved.

How often is it the case that we do silly things like this? Make something oh-so-tiny into something way bigger than it needed to be? Something that could’ve been solved at the outset with a little up front investigation and energy… but got delayed and blown out of proportion instead…

Oh, how much energy I (we) could have saved…

Traveling the Distance

Published on June 9, 2024

Today, the Martial Arts Association I’m a part of hosted a black belt and higher level degree test for 80 candidates.

Each earned their way onto that testing floor from years and years of consistent hard training and well displayed martial arts culture / respect.

And each outlasting many of their peers who started on the same journey with them. Maybe only 1% makes it all the way from white belt to black belt. And maybe .01% makes it to the higher degrees. Their dedication carried them forward to a place where most never travel.

And so it is with everything we do in life.

There’s nothing wrong with stopping something you’re no longer passionate about or choosing to explore other areas of interest. But, do that too much, and you’ll never get to travel to that place where only the smallest of percentages get to.

What you pick doesn’t matter per se… what matters is that you pick.

And that you give what you pick your absolute best shot… through thick and thin… when it’s sunny outside and when it’s rainy… when you’re feeling lazy and when you’re feeling on top of the world… when you’re feeling low and when you’re feeling unstoppable…

Traveling the distance is what gives us roots. It’s what gives us depth. It’s what gives us wisdom.

Miyamoto Musashi said, “To know ten thousand things, know one well.” …And this is what he means.

Go deep in one specific domain and the rest of the universe reveals itself. Submit to your lazy nature and dilly dally your way from one thing to the next to the next… and you’ll forever only understand what’s on the surface.