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Category: Thinking Clearly

What I Realized Is More Important Than These 1-Minute Messages…

Published on May 4, 2025

This past weekend was busy for me.

I travelled to Pittsburgh, PA, USA for a martial arts tournament which involved planning, packing, driving, dining, coaching, judging, coordinating, problem-solving, facilitating, calming, communicating, motivating, entertaining, and of course… sleeping.

See both Friday and Saturday night… by the time I got to my Airbnb after a day involving everything mentioned above… I was exhausted.

And in both cases, I thought about my daily writing practice… and how I still needed to get something published in order to keep my schedule.

And in both cases, after some quick and calm reflection (while I laid in the Airbnb bed)… I realized that in that moment—sleep was the higher priority.

…Which is worth mentioning because this is not something I have always prioritized this way.

In previous times, the daily writing piece was prioritized higher over sleeping… and I would push myself to stay up late… sacrifice precious (and limited) sleep time… and essentially borrow exponentially into tomorrow compared to what I was putting in… affecting my entire following day.

For some crazy reason… society considers sleep a very low priority… and I FELT it for a long time. I’m slowly starting to unlearn this idea and give myself more grace when it comes to being exhausted after a long day—even when that means a daily 1-minute article will be missed.

Because you know what?

Sleep IS the higher priority over 1-minute articles… and for most other things we backwardly choose to do in its place for that matter…

My question for you is… what thing(s) have you backwardly been prioritizing that you need to unlearn?

What Are Doing With Your Raw Potential?

Published on May 4, 2025

It’s hard to participate in a sensory-heightening experience (e.g. public presentation, competition, or something fear confrontational) and NOT grow from it.

In fact, the only way to engage in an experience like this and not grow is if you deliberately choose not to learn anything from the experience.

And the only way to do that is by closing your mind… burying your head in the sand (read: screens)… deciding not to care… blaming, blaming, blaming… or otherwise trashing the raw potential that is the byproduct of all sensory-heightening experiences.

…Because that’s exactly what you get out when you put yourself in those types of situations: raw potential.

And like any raw resource… it needs time, energy, and effort before it can be refined and utilized (for growth).

The more you invest in sensory-heightening experiences—the more of that raw potential resource you get. But, always remember—that’s just one part of the equation.

…Because the more you invest in the refinement of that raw potential resource (by replaying, reflecting, and extracting what’s most useful)… the more you’ll be able to actually do something with it.

You can have an entire mountain of marble…

It won’t be at all useful until it’s extracted, cut, and engineered into countertop, furniture, or building…

P.s. ICYMI you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.

Don’t Expect Linear In Life

Published on May 2, 2025

The slogan I’ve been using to brand MoveMe Quotes since 2010 has been, “Motivating you to keep moving forward—the only direction!”

The idea being that there’s always a way to learn, grow, and improve from any given life situation… all you need is the right mindset, perspective, and/or framework… which is what MMQ aims to provide…

Today, I uploaded a quote to MoveMe Quotes that read, “I finally found my rhythm when I realized that even the steps backwards were a part of the dance.”

And the more I live out my life, the more this latter idea of living life as a dance feels appropriate.

I think too many people try to live their life linearly… and go from one life milestone to the next with the expectation of it going smoothly, gracefully, and according to plan.

But, the plan that society brands into our mind is this misconception that linear is the way forward… or that forward should always be the only direction we should head… and maybe my slogan has contributed to that…

But, life is not linear. Life will never be without its fair share of obstacles, challenges, and setbacks. Life will never always be forward.

But… what we can always keep moving forward… is the dance of our life.

So long as we keep swaying our hips… stepping spontaneously to the beat of this life’s drum… and surrender to the rhythm and flow of our inner guidance…

How could we not always keep moving forward?

Why Are We Rushing?

Published on April 28, 2025

Almost everything is made better when we slow down.

The quality of our work is made better when we slow down.

The comprehension of any learning material is better when we slow down.

The connection made with another person is stronger when we slow down.

The understanding of our inner world becomes more apparent when we slow down.

The presence we might feel when traveling is more pronounced when we slow down.

Which begs the question… why are we rushing all of time?

P.s. ICYMI you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.

Is It A Big Deal Though?

Published on April 27, 2025

A lot happens on earth in a day.

I remember feeling equal parts awe struck as I did mind blown when I watched One Day On Earth.

In one day… somebody is giving birth… somebody is learning how to ride a bike… somebody is shaving with their dad for the first time… somebody is farming crops… somebody is killing a cow… somebody is hugging their mom or dad… somebody is feeling hopelessness… somebody is feeling grace… somebody is traveling to a new part of the world for the first time… somebody is making love… somebody is performing in front of an audience… somebody is closing their eyes into death…

When we have a zooming out experience like this…

And can really absorb the scale of the human experience…

It might help us remember that the things we’re complaining about… overthinking… and hyperfocused on and making into a big deal…

…Maybe isn’t and aren’t.

Have you heard the good news?

Published on April 18, 2025

…Probably not.

Good news doesn’t sell.

Good news isn’t algorithm friendly.

Good news doesn’t bleed so it doesn’t lead.

…But here’s something to consider:

You get to choose your news sources.

You get to train your algorithms.

You get to unfollow, block, mute, and click on and turn up what you want more of in your life.

…Today’s defaults won’t serve you.

…Going with the societal flow is mostly going backwards.

…Taking no responsibility for what comes in through your senses is senselessly ruining your perspective of life.

Have you heard the good news?

If you haven’t in a while… it might be time to take a closer look at what you’re letting in.

P.s. This post was inspired by this picture.

Dots

Published on April 17, 2025

One of the benefits of daily reflection is you can more quickly identify slumps… plateaus… ruts.

The daily space created for inward looking allows you to more easily notice repeated patterns, downward trends, boring and monotonous ways of living.

…And you can more quickly act on this information and shake things up. You can change a routine, take a different approach, book a trip somewhere different, go and see a show or performance, set up a conversation with someone you haven’t chatted with before or in a long time, and so on.

When you’re fully immersed in the ceaseless urgent… it’s hard to notice any kind of trend. Trends are only noticed when you zoom out… when you can widen your vision from being focused only on one dot at a time to finally being able to see two… three… five… ten dots—only then can you see how they relate to one another.

Don’t get lost or lose your way looking only at one dot at a time.

…Make space to see how all the dots relate.