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Category: Helping Others

“MEDITATE!”

Published on July 14, 2025

A student in the martial arts school I teach at was having a complete meltdown in the lobby the other day.

I was in an office doing paperwork when I heard, “Let me GO!” “Let ME GO!!” LET ME GO!!!”

What was happening was this child’s mom had to leave him at the school with his uncle because she had an appointment—and he did NOT want her to go.

I gathered both the student and the uncle into my office so the mom could leave.

Once there, the uncle—who was very compassionate and well-intentioned—was matching the child’s temper-tantrum with flustered, emotional energy as he offered suggestions for calming down: “It’s going to be okay!” “You’ll see MOM LATER!!” “TRY YOUR MEDITATION!!”

Seeing that this was only feeding the tantrum, I asked the uncle to leave so I could work with him individually.

Once gone, all I did was sit in front of the door (so he couldn’t chase mom into the parking lot), legs crossed in half-lotus, and… meditated.

Here’s what happened:

  • His temper-tantrum slowly burned out.
  • He sat quietly in his chair with his upset face on for a while.
  • And after about 20 minutes, asked me, “…Now what?”

And I said, now we get you some water, walk you into class to either watch or participate, and you go home to see mom so y’all can hear about each other’s days.

And that’s exactly what happened.

See, the uncle was right—meditation was a fantastic idea (especially if it was something I intuited they had done/been working on).

All I did was model meditation instead of insisting he “MEDITATE!” while in a flustered state.

Can You Hear What I’m Not Saying?

Published on June 11, 2025

I have a student who will often say she’s lazy.

Yet, she shows up consistently to class and works hard while she’s training.

She’ll frequently talk about how she’s “not good.”

Yet, she has close to full splits, is quite strong, and is getting better and better martial coordination after each class.

She’ll even bring up times when she “failed” or talk about her struggles to illustrate her points.

Yet, she competes in most tournaments, completes every belt test with stand out performances, and gets extra training in whenever she can.

It’s in situations like these that you have to listen to what the student is really saying.

…Because her words aren’t saying it.

If you pay close enough attention, what you might realize is that with all people, what they do and how they act speaks way louder than anything they say.

Angels In Life

Published on May 21, 2025

I’m a part of a 30 person camp who all share the experience and responsibility of Burning Man each year.

One of the camp members called me the other day with an ask.

She was explaining to me that her and her husband had spent some time with one of the older camp members and that he was, essentially, losing himself. He was becoming erratic, nonsensical, and unable to maintain a conversation… that he was no longer the person she had met some 30+ years before.

The ask was if I would be willing to drive him and his RV to the burn and then back again afterward. She explained that he was one of the people whose life was dramatically changed by Burning Man and she knew he wouldn’t be able to make the trip on his own anymore… and wanted to do everything she could to get him back for at least one final burn.

I hope one day… when I’m older, erratic, non-sensical, unable to maintain a conversation, and by all intents and purposes—losing myself… I have people in my life who look out for me in the same way. Who stay with me for long weekends… who know me better than I’m able to express at that aged time… who are willing to go above and beyond to get me to one last burn.

People like these are the angels of our lives.

And the funny thing about getting angels in our life… is that you usually get them by being one in other peoples’ lives.

Good Karma Is Always A Good Idea

Published on April 2, 2025

Spend a little time each day helping people while you still can…

It’s one of the best ways to ensure that when you need help, you’ll have people who not only can…

But want to and will.

Prioritizing Here Over There

Published on March 31, 2025
  • I have a new employee starting today.
  • It’s one of my friend’s son’s birthday today.
  • My aunt is moving into her new “forever” home today.
  • My co-worker is having an intense back surgery procedure today.
  • And while I was driving home today, I saw that my neighbor’s house caught fire and burned down. Literally four houses away from where I live.

For each of the above situations, there are things I can do to help out. Things I can do to show thoughtfulness and care. Things I can do to make a real difference in their day… maybe even longer than that.

And my bet is, that’s probably true for you, too. Maybe not to the same extent that it happened for me on this particular day… but there none-the-less. Heck… maybe even more so?

My point is… maybe you’re focusing too much on the grandiose or getting too distracted on screen impact… and not enough on the folks in your own neighborhoods and in real life (IRL). The time, energy, and effort invested IRL can have an exponential effect compared to the same invested into screens.

Respect

Published on January 12, 2025

I went out to eat dinner with six friends tonight.

After the meal we walked outside, but one friend was missing.

I glanced back in the restaurant and he was cleaning our table, stacking plates and cups, collecting all garbage, and tidying up in the best way he could.

When he finished, he walked out and I said, “respect.”

He replied by saying, “I was a server and know how it can be. Some people leave their space as an absolute disaster… I never want to be that person.”

And it was a good reminder that… neither do I.

Karma In Action

Published on January 11, 2025

I’m thinking about making a big musical equipment purchase.

What’s interesting is the thought I had about how I want to make the purchase.

See, I know a guy who knows everything there is to know about audio and sound system setups. And he has taken care of me whenever I’ve called him for help—as in way overdelivered for the price he charged. And is just an absolute gem of a guy.

Rather than just seek out the amazon or cheapest price purchase, I want to make the purchase through this guy so that he gets a commission cut on it.

…I want to go out of my way to help the guy who has always helped me.

This, my friends, is how karma works.