It’s easy to do kindness after you’ve been acted kindly to.
But, it takes a real one to do kindness when you’ve had someone act the opposite to you.
What we need aren’t more people who can wait for kindness to happen to them so they can then pay it forward.
What we need are more people who can initiate kindness when nobody is talking about it… when only the opposite is on display… when curveballs galore are wrecking everybody’s day.
Because it’s then—precisely then—when kindness is needed most.
How tragic
for someone
who would’ve loved
the unfiltered
uncompromised
untainted
version of you
to meet
a version
filtered, compromised, tainted
all because
you were busy
trying to fit in
trying to find courage
trying to be…
someone else.
P.s. You can read my other poems here.
When I play pickup basketball, there are no refs. Which means the rules are enforced based on the honor system and are all up for debate.
This creates a type of character reveal environment.
When you’re driving to the rim and get whacked a few times by a defender and they don’t call a foul—you remember that.
When you see clearly who the ball went out of bounds by and see them clearly argue against it—you remember that.
When you’re trying to get open for a play, but get inconspicuously held, tripped, or otherwise played dirty—you remember that.
Worth mentioning here that in some situations, it actually makes sense to foul.
The point I want to make isn’t about the fouling per se—you can strategically and respectfully foul—it’s about the character reveal.
One of the guys I play with happens to be a real estate agent.
…Who also happens to be one of the most honest, clean players on the court. Even in situations where it’s unclear who’s at fault—he’ll take blame without hesitation.
And while this might not lead to more immediate points for his team… guess what it does lead to?
Trust in who he is as a person.
And if/when I’m looking to buy a house—guess who I’m going to remember as being an honest/ clean playing guy who also happens to sell houses?
That guy.
…Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
Sometimes we fight so hard to win the immediate game that we forget about the grander game being played.
P.s. Today is the 4 year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death. Remember some of his legacy here.
Boundaries are the walls of your cup that allow you to keep precious energy in.
No boundaries, no walls; no walls, no way to keep energy in.
…And the byproduct is energy overflowing everywhere, up and out from the source of your being, and left up for grabs to whoever is willing to take it—yourself included in that fight.
Fighting for access to your own energy is no way to live.
And if, in fact, you feel like you haven’t had much energy for life, it probably isn’t so much an energy problem as it is a boundary problem. More caffeine, for example, only adds to the overflowing-up-for-grabs-energy that enters the fighting arena.
Construct walls around your energy.
Build up the outer perimeter of your cup.
And stop leaving your life source up for grabs.
Serve yourself a fine cup of that tasty, juicy life energy first and foremost and deliberately choose who you’d like to serve the rest to, second.
This is the way.
The opposite only gives life to the ones who usually deserve it the least—the takers, the manipulators, the narcissists, etc.
Starve them of your life energy and let the source of their power slowly die.
P.s. I also published: The Ultimate Boundary Builder List – 101 Quotes On Boundaries To Take You From Zero to Boundary Hero
You woke up.
You’re breathing.
You’re connected to the world’s brain.
You’re coherent and comprehending what you’re reading.
And you have the ability to act.
…Don’t look at this as anything less than an absolute miracle.
Do something today that makes you proud.
P.s. January 17th was Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day… I hope this wasn’t you, but if it was… I published a new article designed to be your New Year Resolution First Aid Kit. Read it and get back on track STAT.
I pulled the rhomboid muscles in my back.
Here’s why: I created a daily warm up routine that included foam rolling and light stretching for essentially just my lower body.
Which, historically speaking for me, hasn’t lead to any issues and has worked out great. Especially for leg day and my martial arts training (which is pretty much leg day every time).
However, I can now see what the heavy lower body focus lead to… a lack of upper body focus.
…I haven’t been properly warming up the upper body muscles I’m using to do heavy lifting which, of course, is what lead to this injury.
So, I’ve since updated my warm up routine to be more balanced and specific to the muscle groups being utilized that day (duh moment). And I’m creatively modifying my workouts until my rhomboid injury heals.
Generally speaking, most of us operate with a “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of mentality.
Exercise related injuries, oftentimes, are an illustration that something is “broke.”
…But many of us don’t see this.
We do what we need to do to get healed and then go back to doing exactly what we were doing before—assuming it was a freak accident or some kind of “dumb luck.”
I’d argue that it’s almost always more than that…. that it’s your body’s attempt to communicate with you that something is wrong… that something isn’t being stretched, strengthened, or otherwise cared for enough.
Take a close look at what could have lead to the injury and modify your routine to include the proactive solution so it doesn’t happen the next time.
…This is experiential learning at its finest.
Lately, I have been reminding myself that being in a hurry is an excellent sign that I’m out of the present moment.
And I’ve been trying to slow down.
…While I read.
…While I drive.
…While I exercise.
…While I do chores.
…While I engage in conversation.
And there’s a palpable difference in how I feel when I do these things from a “I’m not in a hurry” mindset vs a “the quicker I go, the more I can get done” mindset—even if I’m operating with the same amount of time within each.
Which might have you wondering… how can I have a “I’m not in a hurry” mindset if I’m genuinely in a hurry?
What I tell myself is two fold: (1) Is there anything that’s in my control that I can change? If yes, then I do that… If not, then I accept the situation as is and move forward unhurriedly at the pace I’ve positioned myself to move at. Arguing against reality only makes everything worse. And (2) what can I do to prevent this from happening next time? Because “In a hurry” is not a good place to be.
See, mindset effects everything.
And rushing, as it turns out, is a primary source of anxiety—at least for me.
Subtract the rushing… and you’d be surprised how much anxiety you can subtract from your day, too.
P.s. I finished uploading quotes from If You Meet Buddha On The Road, Kill Him! to MoveMe Quotes. Read through my favorite 46 here ➜