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Category: Thinking Clearly

La-La-La

Published on October 14, 2022

As soon as you stop doing inner work, ego wins control.

The problem with ego winning is:

  • Ego is instant gratification driven
  • Ego will fight at all costs for its comfort zone
  • Ego likes plug-your-ears-la-la-la as a solution to problems

Inner work challenges each of these tendencies and asks important questions. Things like:

  • “Is this really all I’m capable of?”
  • “Is comfort the purpose of my life?”
  • “Will I look back and be proud of these decisions?”

And if you’re not sure who’s in control upstairs, go ahead and try answering those questions for yourself.

Are you steered towards “La-la-la” or intrigue?

You might be surprised.

P.s. I asked, “What is it exactly that makes your best friend your best friend?” Here are the answers. A great place to linger if you’d like to build more solid relationships in your life.

The Voices In Our Head

Published on October 6, 2022

Within the landscape of our mind isn’t just one voice.

There’s the voice of the Ego and there’s the voice of the Self.

Ego arises effortlessly. It’s one of the byproducts of being emotional, social, imperfect creatures.

  • When we experience undesirable emotions, Ego fights for immediate comfort (e.g. suppression).
  • When we experience social hierarchy, Ego fights for expedited means to the top.
  • When we experience imperfections, Ego fights for distraction.

Self doesn’t arise. Self is tapped into as a result of inward effort. When we find ways to tap into this infinite wisdom, then we find different answers to the same human conditions:

  • When we experience undesirable emotions, Self accepts their presence and allows them to flow.
  • When we experience social hierarchy, Self returns to authenticity and reminds us of our own journey.
  • When we experience imperfections, Self reminds us of our infinite, untouchable worth.

Ego is comparative, competitive, and comfort oriented. Self is authentic, gift giving, and long-term oriented.

The dynamic worth noting here is that the Ego wants to be the only one heard. It’s loud, obnoxious, and wildly distracting. The Self is subtle, quiet, and speaks in whispers.

This is the root cause of much of our inner conflict and self-imposed suffering.

They are both answers to one of our fundamental driving forces as humans: to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Ego, however, isn’t a good guide. It’s interested in the immediate gratification and pain avoidance. Self, knows that this usually leads to compounded long-term pain. It’s the Self that can best guide us forward. But, if we never take the time to quiet the Ego… we’ll never hear it.

Interesting

Published on October 3, 2022

You thinking that somewhere else in the world is more interesting than where you are right now is precisely what’s making here… uninteresting.

  • There’s an unfathomable depth to every person you cross paths with—start getting curious about it.
  • There’s a mountain of insight collecting dust on bookshelves near you—crack open some covers and let it free.
  • There are canvases that are just begging to be turned into art literally everywhere—pick a medium and start sharing your creations.

When everybody becomes uninterested in everything else—of course everything becomes uninteresting.

All it takes is one person’s spark—one person’s interest—to change the way all of us see something we thought we’ve already seen a hundred times before.

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

The Work Of The Wise

Published on September 30, 2022

Sometimes we come across content that makes us pause, nod, and even talk out loud.

Whenever that happens, it’s a sign of resonance.

And when something resonates with you, the reason why isn’t always obvious.

Sometimes, sure, it resonates because it just plain makes sense and you agree.

But, other times, it might be more than that.

Other times, it might be resonating from a chord that was struck deeper inside of you.

And in this case, using that content as a means to do some inner exploration can yield tremendous insights.

Insights that help you better understand why you think and act the way you do.

Insights that have the potential to shift the direction of your life when they’re realized from a deep enough place.

But, if all you ever do when you pause, nod, and talk to yourself is keep scrolling… you’ll forget. And the resonance will fade.

And what a shame that would be for your future self. The one that’s depending on you to take care of them.

What if instead, we made space each day to explore the things that resonated with us—in both the good ways and the bad.

Because there are (should) be things each day that strike our chords (if not, you need to subscribe to more interesting content).

What I have found to be true sometimes is, the more time I have to think about it… the deeper the reasons why might be buried.

So be patient. Relentlessly block out distractions and potential interruptions. And dig.

This work is too important. This work is too often overlooked. This work is the work of the wise.

Head And Heart

Published on September 29, 2022

Sometimes our head moves fast and our heart moves slow.

Sometimes our heart moves fast and our head moves slow.

In each case, we should facilitate a compromise and have them meet somewhere in the middle.

Because both the heart and the head should be honored for what they know.

P.s. Today, I hosted a LIVE space on writing and how it can help you live a better life. Here’s the replay. Conversation starts at around the 6 minute mark. Enjoy.

Moving Towards Ideal

Published on September 16, 2022

The following three questions have been guiding my life for the past several years:

1. What does my ideal day look like?

2. What does my current day look like?

3. What can I do today to get my current day closer to my ideal?

Would recommend.

Selective Tension and Relaxation

Published on September 15, 2022

In Martial Arts, one of the goals is to learn how to maximize the creation of power while minimizing the expenditure of energy.

Essentially, it’s the practice of learning how to fully press the “gas pedal” while fully releasing the “brake pedal.”

Pressing the gas and brake pedal at the same time is wildly inefficient for driving. And so is it for moving the body. Yet, this is the default when it comes to moving the body with any degree of intensity.

Both the protagonist and antagonist muscle groups tense which, in effect, slows down the attempt to speed up all at once.

…And wastes a bunch of energy in the process.

The art then becomes learning how to selectively tense certain muscles while selective relaxing others in real time. And the challenge, of course, is that there isn’t only one gas and one brake pedal—there are hundreds.

And so it is for life.

The question to consider is this: in each task that you’re trying to complete, what resistance could you simultaneously reduce?

Sometimes we focus so much on the doing that we forget about the un-doing. Because while a 10% increase in speed for “doing” is good, a 20% decrease in resistance is better.

And this isn’t a question that’s asked and answered only once—it’s an ongoing awareness.

We’ll never get this perfect—for our bodies or for life. But, progress—any progress—makes the effort undoubtedly worth it.

P.s. This became the introduction for: 23 Greg McKeown Quotes from Essentialism and How To Live Better Via Less