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Matt Hogan's Blog Posts

Caring Enough To Do Our Part

Published on March 3, 2024

Today, for lunch, I ate at a local Mexican restaurant.

I ordered a bowl that I told them I was going to eat there.

And yet, they covered my bowl with a plastic lid… they put my dressing in a plastic to-go cup… they put my meal in a plastic to-go bag (my table was 10 feet away)… and the forks were all single wrapped in plastic on the side…

…And nobody blinked.

…Not even one second thought.

So I took my food to a table… took off the lid… poured on my dressing… unwrapped my fork… and sat there and just looked at all of the wasted plastic that I was going to have to needlessly throw away…

Next time… I’m going out of my way to request no lid. I’m going to ask for the dressing to be put right on top. I’m going to ask they don’t put it in a bag—a tray will do just fine. And I’m going to see if I can bring my travel reusable silverware.

Obviously, not wasting plastic isn’t in any of the employees’ job description. But, maybe it should be in our job description as humans living on this earth.

Because plastic is a problem—a major problem.

…And everybody is pointing at big companies and government officials to solve the problem.

But, if we can’t care enough to do our part in our day-to-day… don’t you think it’s pretty hypocritical of us to think “they” should not only do theirs—but enough to cover ours, too?

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

I Am Relaxation; I Am Here; I Am Now

Published on March 2, 2024

I struggled for a while to find the words today.

I stared at the blank screen. I went for a walk. I tried pressuring myself. I tried referencing old writing ideas… I even tried replaying old experiences in my mind.

And to no avail.

It wasn’t until after two-ish hours that I caught a whiff of a potential takeaway…

Struggling to uncover what’s inner is never time wasted—so long as you stay true to the struggle.

…The thoughts I had to go to certain websites for inner inspiration were nothing more than distractions leading me away from my inner focus.

And the thoughts I had to pressure myself so that I could more quickly squeeze the inner were cheap attempts that only resulted in juice from superficial layers.

And the thoughts I had to expand on old thoughts fell short because I was no longer connected to that frame of mind—faded inner experiences.

It was just before I started (finally) writing this piece that I found myself repeating the following lines as personal writing advice: “I am not this tension; I am not these distractions; I am not these words of yesterday.”

“I am relaxation; I am here; I am now.”

“…And what do I honestly have to say about it?”

Do-Gooders

Published on March 1, 2024

Today my friend told me about this support group text that his friend started.

The friend would simply pick a person and send to the group, “Hey guys, let’s all support Mike today.”

And Mike would then become the focus of that group’s gratitude, encouragement, and support. Be it through messages, phone calls, random acts of kindness, gifts, stories, or whatever. All random name selection and came with no catch—it was simply about creating a small group of do-gooders.

And I just thought this was the greatest little big idea that I simply had to share.

Imagine how great that would feel to be the picked person for that day…

Imagine how great it would feel to be the person making others feel great for the day…

Imagine creating your own little group of do-gooders in your own family/ friend/ community group and how great it might feel to run it for a year…

Imagine starting it tonight…

Bald for Black Belt

Published on February 29, 2024

Traditionally, in the martial arts organization I work in, students were required to shave their heads for their black belt or higher degree test.

The reason was that it demonstrated humility (that you are more than your hair) and created a military-like camaraderie between candidates.

Over the years, however, due to some candidates’ religious beliefs and otherwise strong-standing beliefs about their hair—we’ve made it optional. And have since been exploring alternative means we can offer that can build a candidate’s humility all the same. Things like no make-up or jewelry for a month, no brand name clothes for a month, no social media for a month, etc.

Not only is it good to offer alternative options for those who can’t or won’t shave their heads… but it brings into conversation those who style their hair shaved all of the time anyway… the ones who get no humility benefit from the practice at all. Furthermore, girls were never made to follow this requirement and it allows them to have alternative options for humility practice, too.

…If the purpose is humility and camaraderie… then it’s something everybody should have to (get to) do with equal sacrifice. It shouldn’t be something that a few of the boys with longer hair have to do that the girls and other boys with short hair don’t have to do at all.

…Where’s the humility and camaraderie in that?

Once you understand the purpose behind the tradition… you can reverse engineer your way to more innovative means for accomplishing the same (or better) ends. It’s as the saying goes in our martial arts space: respect tradition; embrace innovation.

Teaching Humility

Published on February 28, 2024

A parent asked me the other day how he can make his child more humble.

His child was starting to do things like say how much better he was than his dad and ignore his dad’s advice because he thought he knew better—and it was starting to cross the line from confident to cocky.

Telling him to just “be humble,” in my experience, wouldn’t do much good.

The way I look at it is like this: if confidence is success remembered… then cockiness is a disproportionate amount of success remembered compared to failures.

What I told him to try… is exposing him to more failures. Which might not sound like something a father would ever want to do to their son… but it’s exactly what builds humility—particularly in cocky individuals.

I told him to try having him learn a brand new skill… or a complicated sports move… or an advanced martial arts kick. And to have him do it while he’s surrounded by a group of kids who are better than him.

…Let him not be the best one in the room for a while. Let him struggle in front of his peers. Let him learn how to ask the other kids for help. Let him remember what it’s like to be on the other side of the learning curve again. Let him do the things he had to do as a beginner again—the things that got him as good as he got in the first place that he was forgetting about and taking for granted.

Let him learn… how to learn again.

Writing Daily Is Thinking Done

Published on February 27, 2024

One of the beautiful things about writing daily what’s on your mind is that when you’re asked to share what’s on your mind—either in general or in regards to specific topics—the work is already done.

There’s no need to delay, no need to beat around the bush, no need to answer generically or mumbly or complicatedly so as to buy yourself some time to think…

Your thinking space has already been honored. The editing of your thinking via written word has already distilled your key thoughts. And the rest of it—the crap thinking—you’ve already released and has already begun to sink towards the bottom of your mind’s floor.

And because of it… you’re more ready to capitalize on potential opportunities.

…You’re more ready to make a good impression when you didn’t even know you were going to have to make one.

…You’re more ready to express yourself properly when you meet someone special—because you just never know when that might happen.

Because the last thing you want—when any of those moments arrive—is to feel like there’s a lot of work yet that needs to be done or like a delay needs to be made.

Writing daily is thinking done.

And thinking done is an excellent strategy for getting ahead in life.

Like Body Like Mind

Published on February 26, 2024

What you do for yourself when you’re physically sick are the same kinds of things you should do for yourself when you’re mentally sick.

…And I don’t mean mentally sick as in innately twisted or morally malevolent… I mean just temporarily “under the weather” and like you’ve been infiltrated by some kind of “virus of the mind” if you will.

This could happen from being overworked and exhausted, from a hurtful comment from someone you love, from the loss of someone important to you… etc.

Being mentally “under the weather” might sound like:

  • “I’m worthless”
  • “I can’t do anything right”
  • “Nothing I do is ever enough”
  • “I’m a bad person/friend/parent/spouse”
  • “There is so much more I should’ve done, but didn’t do”

What are the doctor’s orders when physically sick?

  • Rest (including time away from normal obligations like school or work)
  • Hydrate (so your body can keep things moving smoothly throughout your body—including the defeated sickness cells after our immune system is done with them)
  • Maybe medicine if the symptoms get bad enough (things to either add immune system support or help you endure the pain/discomfort of the symptoms)

And what might we do to deal with a virus of the mind?

  • Rest (including time away from people/places/things that might’ve infected your mind in the first place.
  • Hydrate (by keeping fresh, mentally hydrating thoughts pouring in from high-quality sources)
  • Maybe “medicine” if the symptoms persist or get bad enough (getting mental immune system support by having conversations with insightful friends, loved ones, or a therapist)—which I’d say is about as close to “mind medicine” that isn’t actually mind medicine as it gets.