Category: Thinking Clearly

Digestion Time

Published on October 5, 2026

After a couple days of being too busy to write, I always try to give myself space to… digest.

A lot happens throughout a typical day and when I’m at my busiest? …A lot can be an understatement.

Time to write, for me, is digesting time. It’s when I stop consuming information in any of its forms and just sit with what’s already been consumed. Because just as it is with eating food, too much consumption and not enough digestion leads to problems.

…Problems that you may knowingly or unknowingly have because of a lack of built in digestion time.

…And what does digestion time look like for me, you ask?

Sitting on my couch.

And switching my mentality from within my thoughts to watcher of my thoughts.

…And I just try to notice things. Experiences that stand out. Highlights that keep replaying. Pain points that keep throbbing. Open loops that keep looping. Curious happenings that warrant following.

And after about 30 minutes to an hour of that… I write about it. And I almost always feel a whole lot better.

…Maybe give it a try?

Is Something Missing…?

Published on September 30, 2026

If your sitting meditation doesn’t lead to more radical self-expression, something is missing.

First let’s talk about radical self-expression. Radical as in far-reaching and very different from the usual or traditional way. The usual or traditional way as in brainwashed or indoctrinated by modern culture to be self-conscious, overly critical/judgmental, conformed to a generally accepted norm, reserved so as to fit in and not stand out, and unsure enough to simply surrender to the groupthink of the people around. And brainwashed or indoctrinated as in via media (in all its forms), advertising, and industrialist (where training people to be cogs in a machine is the goal) systems.

Now, let’s talk about meditation. It doesn’t even have to be sitting. But what happens when you “sit” with your thoughts… is you slowly start to become aware of them. Which sounds obvious, but isn’t very widely practiced—and the difference is vast. The default is to be lost in thought. To be so consumed with information processing that it’s as though you’re being chased by a bear in the middle of unknown woods. Meditation allows you to stop running, to turn and look at the bear, realize it was just your own shadow, pull out your compass (that’s always in your pocket ready to accessed at any time), and figure out which direction is actually forward.

And if “actually” forward isn’t in the direction of more liberated, confident, care-free self-expression… then once again, something is missing.

Place Of Peace

Published on September 28, 2026

Within each of us is a place of peace.

It isn’t always obvious where this place is… but with the right guidance, proper instruction, and after enough inner work… it can be found.

It’s the space where presence is. Where your nervous system relaxes. Where desire becomes irrelevant and melts away.

And it’s calm… it’s free of want and need… and puts us at ease.

In one sense, inner work is the task of solving inner problems. It’s the time, energy, and effort we invest into closing open, bothersome loops… in revising and updating the stories we tell ourselves about our past and present so they might better serve us into our future… in editing our perspective so we aren’t brainwashed into believing in endless lack.

And with each inner work task done… with each reflection, meditation, and contemplation completed… with every perspective updated and inner-story re-worked…

…We get closer and closer to that place.

Where we’re no longer running a rat-race… but able to sit anywhere, calmly, and just be.

Creative Collaboration vs Creative Inhibition

Published on September 19, 2026

Synergy is the idea that 1 + 1 = 3.

Your results alone. Plus another person’s results alone. Equals less than the results of us working together in creative collaboration.

I’m sure you can confirm this based on previous first hand experiences in your life.

What’s also true, however, is 1 + 1 = 1.

Your results alone. Plus another person’s results alone. Equals more than the results of us working together in creative inhibition.

And I know you’ve worked with people who can confirm this idea.

So the question then becomes: who’s who in your life?

…And how can you spend more time with the people who create that synergistic effect on work results?

…But maybe most importantly (since this focuses on what’s within your control vs what’s outside of it): how can you better facilitate creative collaboration vs creative inhibition? I.e. How can you be a better synergy facilitator?

…Can you be a better listener? Can you be more kind? Can you create a more safe space? Can you ask better questions? Can you offer a more playful, fun energy? …And so on.

Because you can either invest in the above inner work to potentially create a results multiplier in your life or you can keep throwing your hands into the air, complaining, and choosing to just, “do it all yourself, because working with others is a waste of time…”

The choice is yours.

The Autistic Adult Who I Wish I Could Be More Like

Published on September 18, 2026

Yesterday, I had an autistic adult take one of my group martial arts classes.

…And I’m almost positive I left feeling more inspired than he did.

To paint you a picture, he was as excited to take this class as Hulk Hogan would’ve been to get on a microphone in the middle of a wrestling ring and talk smack to a crowd of raging “Hulkamania” fans.

He was practicing his moves (which he hadn’t learned yet) in the office one-way mirrors, was excitedly greeting everybody who walked past to tell them he was going to be “battling for his new belt” today, and had about a thousand and one questions about martial arts and the school and myself that never quite satiated his appetite—and this was all before the class even started.

Once I got him into the class, he enthusiastically did every bow and handshake and followed each respectful tradition requested… he put his entire life force into each of the techniques taught… and he gave off an infectious energy to the other students he worked with that rippled its way around the room and raised the vibration of the whole class.

By the time the class was over… it was evident he had a blast. He couldn’t stop asking when he could come back and what other moves he could do and how he could get his white belt.

And yet ironically, it was I who found myself thinking, “I wish I was more like him.”

Completely present. Wholly engaged. Infectiously enthusiastic.

…Seemingly zero other worries or concerns in the world.

I’m Still In

Published on September 11, 2026

A reminder from Mark Manson: “It’s easy to mess up and spiral into, ‘Screw it, I give up.’ It’s harder—but infinitely more valuable—to say: ‘That didn’t go as planned. I’m still in.’“

Say it when you fall down. Say it when you miss. Say it when you come up short. Say it when you fail. Say it when you get no results. Say it when you’ve slept in…

…I’m still in.

Let it become your daily mantra: I’m still in.

Repeat it until it becomes your new inner dialogue: I’m still in.

Be so flexible in your approach, so resilient in the face of adversity, so relaxed in your pivots and adjustments… that life has no choice but to relent.

When you’re the one who relents… by giving up… of course you don’t win.

But never forget… it’s never really about the outcome, the final score, the destination…

It’s about winning the daily battle… to stay in.

A Few Someones

Published on September 10, 2026

I was never the most popular in school.

But I was also never the least.

I was athletic enough to get along with most of the sports types. I was smart enough to get along with most of the intellectual types. I was rebellious enough to get along with most of the party types. I was well-tempered enough to get along with most of the angry and angsty types. And I was empathetic enough to get along with most of the outcasted and alone types.

I’m not sure if this was because I had a relatively high emotional/social intelligence or because I knew how to change the colors of my personality as quickly as a chameleon running from a kestrel during peak autumn foliage.

But the thing about getting along with everyone, is that you don’t get to go deep in getting along with a few someones.

And while I’ve had some incredibly deep relationships throughout my life, I sometimes find myself changing colors faster than I can converse deeply with those of the last color I just changed from. And just as I’m settling into that new color—I look down and see my pigment changing yet again.

If the chameleon analogy holds true, then I don’t think being only one color is the answer—what a waste of a superpower, am I right?

…But maybe running around like nature’s LED isn’t the answer either.