I write 1-minute insights daily. Below are my latest. Like? Enter your email to get updates.
I help busy people do inner work.
I write 1-minute insights daily. Below are my latest. Like? Enter your email to get updates.
Words are the colors you use to paint the picture(s) of your mind.
And as much as you might want to step into a Caribbean color palette with sky blues, lush greens, and warm yellows…
Choosing words that paint dark browns, deep reds, and harsh blacks will elicit a much different kind of picture.
Hate is not a path towards love. Love is a path towards love. And the colors of love are the words you should choose to paint with.
Resentment is not a path towards peace. Peace is a path towards peace. And the colors of peace are the words you should choose to paint with.
Anger is not a path towards happiness. Happiness is a path towards happiness. And the colors of happiness are the words you should choose to paint with.
And each day is a blank canvas. Your mind has access to an entire array of colors. Which will you choose to paint your day?
There are moments, oh so brief and fleeting, during everyday happenings, that connect us to the infinite.
It’s right at peak extension of our morning stretch and just as we scratch the precise location of a butt itch.
It’s the moment when the temperature of our shower hits just the right degree and just as we exhale calmly from feeling most refreshed.
It’s that first sip of coffee, brewed exactly to our liking, and the moment our nose catches its aroma as we close our eyes and carefully breathe it in.
It’s our hands cupping warm ceramic in frigid air or the feel of cool water moving mouth to throat to stomach on a sweltering hot day.
It’s that moment during a hug when we’re pulled in tighter or the moment during a kiss when you both decide to lean back in.
Rather than rush through these moments in an effort to get more quickly to the next… What if we lingered there instead?
What if instead of taking these moments for granted because they’re less than .01% of our day… we made them something we appreciated with as close to 100% of our attention while we’re there?
Maybe our days wouldn’t feel like such a blur. Maybe the moments wouldn’t all vanish behind the off putting comment, criticism, or some kind of fear.
Maybe what’s happening in the .01% is really the only thing that ever is happening?
…Maybe it’s just about us being there.
At our core… these are truth. These are nature. These are pure.
Everything that causes us to struggle is lies… nurture… tainted.
Sitting around, knowing you’re entitled to the pursuit of happiness isn’t going to do much for you.
But understand that there is a real happiness that comes from pursuit.
When your eyes and mind are fixed on a goal and you’re problem solving, critically thinking, collaborating, exploring, trial-and-error-ing, iterating, building, growing…
You unlock a type of whole being happiness… one that isn’t in vain like a temporary pleasure… but one that activates almost every part of you—mind, body, spirit—and renews itself again and again and again…
Just don’t get so caught up in pursuit that you never give yourself any time to feel the happiness that’s present at each step along the way.
Do not be scared of vulnerability—of softening to the world.
Look at a flower… look at a baby…
There’s a beauty in fragility. There’s a sacred appreciation for that which lays close to death.
It draws you in… it holds you in presence… it gives you life…
Because anything that hardens you to the world moves you in the opposite direction.
Away from appreciation… away from presence… away from the foundation of life.
Yes, small changes done over an extended period of time add up to big change.
But, more importantly, small promises made and kept to ourself—which is what small changes done over an extended period of time is—adds up to big self-trust change.
Added up enough and suddenly our word isn’t as flimsy as sand… it’s solid as rock.
We do what we say we’re going to do because we’ve made THAT the habit. More powerful than any giant, one-off change we try to make that’s followed by countless promises made and broken.
Routine is good for building habits. For aligning with momentum. For compounding growth.
Change is good for building richness. For exploring new paths. For resiliency training.
Sure, go to work. But have you ever tried to build a side-hustle?
Sure, workout every morning. But have you ever tried a martial arts class?
Sure, have family dinners. But have you ever tried ordering food from a different city (yes, you can do that)?
Sure, have date night. But have you ever made a random night into a date?
Sure, have travel plans. But have you ever just called a friend and taken them on a spontaneous hike?
If your life is feeling too monotonous or boring… it’s because it probably is! Add in some spice and give yourself something to look forward to, ponder over, or get challenged with.
And if your life is feeling too crazy or unhinged… it’s because it probably is! Ground yourself into ritualistic practices that you can look forward to every day, without fail, that can be done even on your busiest days.
Life is best lived in balance. And getting this even just a little more right can make things feel a lotta bit more better.