Skip to content

Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Mental Stretching

Published on April 7, 2024

Before intense exercise, we stretch (or at least we should).

We do this to prepare the body for what’s to come. We extend our muscles to their maximum range and hold them there so as to tell them, “I might need to take you to this point at some point—don’t freak out; don’t get pulled; don’t rip. I need you to perform at peak capacity and I want to conclude without any injuries from the process. What’d you say, muscles? Are you ready to do this?!”

What a brilliant practice.

One that I think more of us need to adopt for more than our bodies—but, for our minds, too.

How often do we have mentally intense days? I’d bet all of the time.

…And how often do we mentally stretch for those mentally intense days? I’d bet rarely, if ever.

What if, instead of rushing out of bed late and jumping into the mentally intense challenges of the day cold, groggy, and stiff… What if we spent a few minutes each morning doing some mental stretching? What if we reviewed and renewed our principles and values? Or recited the mantras or prayers that guide us? Or visualized our day unfolding and preemptively planned for curveballs or possible contingencies?

…I’d say, what stretching does for our intense workouts physically, so, too, will it do for our intense days mentally.

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

Clogged Sinuses

Published on April 7, 2024

My sinuses have been clogged all week.

…Like clogged to the point where I swallow and my ears get plugged leaving the world noticeably muted and my only unplugging strategy being to plug my nose and blow into it really hard until they re-open.

…Sorcery, I tell you.

Maybe you’ve experienced it, too?

Couple that with the nose running like a faucet and you have yourself a pretty annoying set of symptoms.

I share this not to complain.

I share this because I just realized, at 6pm into the day, that both symptoms are gone.

Like, I haven’t blown my nose once today and I’ve swallowed all day without plugging my ears.

…And I didn’t notice even though I’ve been up since 7am.

A timely reminder, I’d say, that so much of what we have to be grateful for aren’t just the things we have… but the things we (finally) don’t.

Inner work prompt: Come up with a list of ten things you’re incredibly grateful you DON’T have today.

This Life Is Enough

Published on April 6, 2024

“Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.”

Matt Haig, The Midnight Library (Page 277)

How much unhappiness has been generated in our modern world by the constant comparisonism exacerbated by social media?

…Young kids (and adults) with nothing BUT potential and time and unique aptitudes beating themselves up… counting themselves out… sabotaging their futures because of what they see other people doing with their lives… thinking to themselves, “I wish I was them…” “I want THAT life…” “My life sucks compared to…”

When really, if we subtracted all the comparisons, turned off and forget about all the media posts, and grounded ourselves back into reality—our reality—the truth is as clear as the smile that fills a baby’s face… or the laugh your best friend makes… or the tears that stream down your lover’s face…

…The reality is “Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.” And this life, filled with all of that and more, is as enough as any other life we might be living. Happiness is happiness is happiness… we just have to open our senses (once again) to experience it.

Prove It

Published on April 4, 2024

Never let a day go by without having taken at least one step towards self-actualization and your greater goals.

One step forward, every day, should be the strategy; the mantra; the resolution.

It’s that one deliberate action taken today, done with that greater future in mind that proves you’re serious about the realization of those goals.

And it’s the consistency of choosing to do it every day that proves you’re ready to take on the full scope of what those goals will demand.

Because visions of a greater future minus seriousness only leaves a person unable (unready) to handle the demands of what that greater future will require.

…Which isn’t to say your greater future will be demanding and burdensome… it’s merely to say your greater future will demand the greatest from you / of you.

…Demanding and burdensome is what happens when you step into that vision before you’re ready and able and you’re left scrambling trying to be someone you’re not (yet) and attempting to solve problems you’re not evolved / qualified enough (yet) to solve.

But, when you are at your greatest, your life’s greatest challenges become the usual; the norm; the expectation; the task that’s equal to your ability; the challenge that’s equal to your strength.

…And what better place to be than actively solving the greatest (most exciting) problems your current self only has the ability to visualize?

P.s. Don’t have a clear picture of where you want to go in life? My guide can help. 30% off for a limited time.

The Measure of Your Love

Published on April 3, 2024

I think love can most accurately be measured in moments of presence.

Because moments spent thinking of the past or spent spaced out and imagining the future aren’t moments you can also overflow in the now.

The moment your mind leaves the now… your love leaves with you.

Which isn’t to say we should never visit the past—there’s a time and a place for that.

And it isn’t to say you should never visit the future—how else can you chart out your life’s path?

It’s merely to say, the measure of your love isn’t equal to the total time spent with another person any more than it’s the measure of the total time you’ve spent with yourself.

Those who measure highest in self-love are the ones who have spent the most time in presence with themselves—working through the heavy, turbulent, crap times as much as they might’ve spent soaking in the more light, joyful, easy times. And so it is for those who measure the highest in joint love, too.

…If you’re looking for love, looking to rekindle a love, or looking to deepen your current love, I’d say, start with here.

Inner work prompt: Your turn. How do you think love can most accurately be measured?

Love; In A Moment [Poem]

Published on April 2, 2024

I had everything
I ever wanted
In a moment

Nothing about past
A subtracted future
Like meditation—times three

I had everything
I ever wanted
In a moment

Nothing about me
A subtracted identity
Just we; plus perceived

I had everything
I ever wanted
In a moment

Nothing about weather
A subtracted monotony
Just adventure; every degree

I had everything
I ever wanted
In a moment

Until I didn’t
Past, future colliding
Weather, monotony, past, me…

I had everything
I ever wanted
In a moment

Until that one
Life subtraction—you
Set the rest… free

P.s. You can read my other poems here.

The Path With Deviations

Published on April 1, 2024

Modern society prescribes a pretty generic path to “success” that amounts to something along the lines of: Good grades in school –> Good grades in college –> Good performance reviews in career –> Good compatibility in marriage –> Good financial situation from earnings –> Good kids who get to go to a good school and start the cycle over again for themselves –> Good retirement knowing you did well for them as parents –> Good grandkids –> So forth.

What’s fun to think about sometimes is how the generic path to success has nothing to do with your path to success—because it’s something that can only ever be defined by you.

…And how your path could change at any point along the way that amounts to something more along the lines of what success feels like to you, by you. Maybe including deviations like –> Crappy grades in school so picked up a trade / specialty skill instead. Or –> Took a gap year after school and traveled on the other side of the planet, just because. Or –> Had a really cool business idea and was aligned with really cool people so went for it. Or –> Was sick of my daily grind so started a side hustle that turned full-time hustle online. Or –> Got offered a once in a lifetime opportunity and I said “Yes.”

What’s even more fun than thinking about the above… is doing the above. The generic path can be fulfilling—no doubt. But, there’s also no doubt that the path filled with deviations concludes with a little more certainty—a knowing of what came from the thoughts instead of being left at the end of the generic with a haunted feeling of… “What if…”