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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Passing On Pain

Published on January 11, 2022

Healing doesn’t come from passing on pain.

At first glance, the idea of taking pain, packaging it up, and giving it away sounds sensible.

In the same way that taking garbage that’s overflowing, packaging it up, and sending it out to the curb might relieve your nose of the pain it’s stench thrusts upon you when you near it.

But, pain isn’t garbage that you can just dump off at the curb for another person to carry.

In fact, pain isn’t something that’s removable at all.

Pain is the crack in your house’s foundation. It’s the constant flooding of your basement. It’s the leaky roof, the broken plumbing, or the rotting wood.

It’s structural.

And there’s no moving out of this house. This body, this mind, this spirit—is the only real house you’ll ever have.

The only way this house heals, is if you do what’s required to get it fixed.

The information for healing is out there—for houses and for humans. It has never been more accessible.

It’s the solving—the doing of the work—that’s hard. And if you’re not up to the task of fixing something structural with your house alone—just admit it!

…And then get someone who can help.

Ideally, someone who knows how to fix structural problems and is a professional in their field.

You wouldn’t hire “just anybody” to fix a crack in your house’s foundation, right? So, why would you ever consider doing that for your most sacred home?

Ignoring structural problems and spewing the pain of it all on others—is no solution at all.

And only adds more wear to the houses of those in your own neighborhood.

This post became the introduction for: 28 Poetic Quotes from Inward by Yung Pueblo on Healing, Pain, and Love

Sitting With A Raging Mind

Published on January 9, 2022

Sometimes, meditating might make you feel anxious.

Of course!

…Because you’re choosing to confront an anxious mind that’s full of clouded, mudded, raging thoughts.

Here’s the thing: the means to settling an anxious mind isn’t done by stirring it up with more information, stimulation, and distraction—it’s done by giving it the space it needs in absence of those things.

Sitting with the discomfort is the means.

And what you might realize, is that your raging mind—like a child raging with a temper tantrum—does eventually relent to the space, boredom, and non-stimulation of a good timeout.

The only question is, can you be firm enough to put your mind in timeout or will you continue to let the child of your mind rage?

The Magic Of Perspective

Published on January 7, 2022

Yesterday, my hometown got 18 inches of snow.

All at once.

And when I looked out the window—all I saw was work.

But, when I looked out the window later that day, I saw a boy across the street jumping and playing in it.

And I didn’t see work anymore.

I saw magic.

Not In A Hurry

Published on January 5, 2022

Not in a hurry is an excellent sign of being committed to the process.

Being in a rush is an excellent sign of being committed to the destination.

Being committed to the destination without being committed to the process is an oxymoron of sorts. Because arriving to a destination isn’t possible without undergoing the process.

Which is precisely why so many people fail to arrive at their destinations.

They’re in a rush. They’re forcing things along. They’re definitely in a hurry.

The general goal seems to be to arrive without having to go through the work of traveling.

Which, of course, isn’t how arriving works.

What if, instead of trying to rush, force, hack, hurry, or expedite your way to a far and away destination—you found ways to make the goal more about enjoying the process?

Because the thing about rushing is that it implies you don’t want to be where you are or doing what you’re doing. It implies you’d rather be somewhere else (in a future fantasy scenario).

And the reality is, we’re going to spend the sweeping majority of our time traveling and only but a micro-fraction of it arriving. And to spend anything more than a moment in a state of misery, contempt, or hate is wasteful—let alone a few years (or *gulp* decades).

And so the question you should ask yourself is: am I enjoying the pace of my process or am I actually just rushing to arrive?

Because being in a rush might counterintuitively prove to be far more wasteful than not being in a hurry after all.