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Category: Thinking Clearly

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.

Unobtrusively Being

Published on April 16, 2025

One of the most useful times of my day… is the time I spend sitting at my computer… staring at its blank screen… as I allow my mind to replay and settle from the recent happenings… and patiently wait…

Feeling bored to tears and drawn to distraction…

Until, slowly, slowly…

I feel the noise… quiet… and ideas start to shine… and imagination start to run… and creative connections start to form… and what’s important resurface… and the urge to do inner work and create gifts and share learnings and make meaningful contributions and take proactive initiatives increase in size…

One of the most useful times of my day… is when I’m not doing anything useful per se—in the sense of getting tasks done and checking things off my urgent to-do lists…

…It’s when I’m unobtrusively being and introspectively observing.

Take Stillness Seriously

Published on April 15, 2025

One of the big benefits of stillness is that it allows you to take a break from the urgent and think about the important.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that stillness is a required ingredient for thinking about what’s important.

  • How can you think about and strategically plan your optimal/ideal career path without stillness?
  • How can you think about the most important relationships in your life and how you can continue to nurture and strengthen them without stillness?
  • How can you understand yourself… your creative potential… your unique keys to happiness and fulfillment… without stillness?

…If your life feels like a never ending fire fight against the urgent, then you have to wonder when the important stuff is going to be considered… because if you don’t make time for it soon… the answer is going to be: when it’s too late.

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

We Aren’t Born Lions Or Zebras

Published on April 6, 2025

Can you teach a zebra to be a lion?

…Probably not anymore than you can teach a lion to be a zebra.

One thing is for sure though, we humans aren’t born lions or zebras.

We’re born as mostly blank slated creatures filled to brim with potential.

And sure, some of us might be born with more zebra tendencies and others with more lion characteristics.

But, we aren’t born lions or zebras.

The thing about potential is that it’s malleable. It can be worked, cultivated, and changed. We get to choose what kind of existence we want to lead.

If we tell ourselves we’re zebras—so shall it be. But, we can also train ourselves to be a lion and slowly our roar will come to be. If we’re not aware of our potential and how malleable it can actually be…

We’ll end up just becoming the creature society tells us to be…

And we might live an existence that feels out of place… not quite right… lackluster or uneventful… mismatched or frustrating… lonely and like our herd is forever missing…

…And what a tragedy that would be.