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Category: Thinking Clearly

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

Dance Uncaringly

Published on September 10, 2022

The music was banging. The vibes were insane. Seemingly everybody was entranced and moving hypnotically.

…And what was I doing? Hesitating and looking on from the edge.

This was one the first, important realizations I had while at Burning Man.

For some reason or another (or for many reasons), I was confronted with a level of self-consciousness that I didn’t realize I had.

I was so consumed thinking about what everybody else thought of me and how I danced that I resisted dancing at all—even in the midst of complete and total strangers who I’d likely never see again!

This certainly wasn’t an innate belief and was something I must’ve (mistakingly) learned along the way. Maybe from comparisonism, a comment from a person in the past, a story I was telling myself about how I had to be or act… or a combination of all of the above.

It was only after I confronted this hesitation, sat with it for a few minutes, and unpacked the feeling in full that I was finally able to let it go.

“What the hell are you doing thinking so much?!” I thought.

And I locked my bike, duck taped my ego’s mouth, and let my body do whatever the hell it wanted as I surrendered to the pull of the bass and sway of the crowd.

P.s. I’ll be sharing pictures from Burning man on my IG. The first has finally been posted. More to come :)

Burning Away Everything You Know

Published on September 8, 2022

If you burned away everything you knew about yourself… what would remain?

This was one of the most remarkable questions I was asked while at Burning Man.

Worth reiterating: if everything I knew about myself…

  • my past experiences
  • my relationships
  • my occupation
  • my education
  • my joy/pain

…was burned away—what would I have left inside?

Before you read my answer, I encourage you to pause here and think about how you would answer this question…

Go ahead, I’ll still be here when you’re done…

The answer I came up with (which didn’t come quickly or easily) was everything I had when I was born:

  • my curiosity
  • my liveliness
  • my innocence
  • my immediacy
  • my compassion

Which made me think: a lot of what we carry with us in identity/ experience/ education is worth burning.

Not everything, of course, because there is a lot in identity/ experience/ and education that we carry that’s worth protecting.

But, there’s a lot that extinguishes our curiosity; deadens our liveliness; contaminates our innocence; removes our immediacy; and kills our compassion.

And that, is where the real inner work begins.

Not in trying to add to what’s already inside… but in working to subtract—to burn away—everything that’s corrupting what’s already there.

How would you answer this question? I’d love to hear. Simply send a reply :)