Last year I wrote an article entitled “Beware of the energy vampires”. It’s a piece about avoiding the people who are an energy suck. The people who drain you and make you feel depleted. The "toxic" ones. On one hand I still largely agree with this - you must protect yourself, protect your energy, be … Continue reading Why you should intentionally hang out with “toxic” people
The Feel Good Feedback Loop
Throughout my journey of meditation over the last few years, my biggest realizations has been that every memory has a feeling attached to it. When we think about a memory, when we visualize that experience, we FEEL it as well. So if we look back on a traumatic experience, we feel all of the emotions … Continue reading The Feel Good Feedback Loop
Emotional Roulette
Today I want to share with you a game that I recently learned from the book, “The Diceman” by Luke Reinhart, called “Emotional Roulette”. To set some context, The Diceman is the story of a Psychiatrist who decides to make all of his decisions by a roll of the dice. For every decision he lists … Continue reading Emotional Roulette
My definition of insanity
Einstein famously defines insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” I like this definition, but I don’t think it captures the full essence of insanity. Instead, I prefer(propose) the following definition…. Insanity is habitually and knowingly inflicting harm upon yourself. For the sake of simplicity I tried to make … Continue reading My definition of insanity
The Minimum Effective Dose for Self Optimization
I write a lot about becoming your best self, loving yourself, getting weird. Breaking bad habits. Meditation. Happiness. To the outsider this might seem like overkill. It might seem like optimizing every area of your life is exhausting and a ton of work. And you would be 100% right to say this. In the attempts … Continue reading The Minimum Effective Dose for Self Optimization
Overflow your cup of self love
You can only love someone else if you have an excess of love for yourself. I recently watched a video of Lisa Nichols that inspired the living hell out of me. In this video she talks about how we need to “serve from our overflow” - That you can only give love to others when your … Continue reading Overflow your cup of self love
The personification of emotions
How to be more playful with the emotions that rise throughout the day Lately I've been practicing a technique that I like to call "The personification of emotions", which was inspired by the movie "Inside Out." In the movie each of her emotions has a specific character that lives inside of her head. Although she's … Continue reading The personification of emotions
Trying to stop thinking is like telling the ocean to stop making waves
In many meditation practices there is a misconception that there is a need to “stop thinking” or “clear the mind” - that you will eventually reach a state of thoughtlessness with enough practice. I believe that this is an unrealistic goal and the primary reason why most beginning meditators get frustrated. Clearing the mind is … Continue reading Trying to stop thinking is like telling the ocean to stop making waves
Pain brings us back to the present moment
Using discomfort as an opportunity for mindfulness I’ve been meditating for the last 5 years now, but there’s one thing that I have consistently avoided….correcting my posture. I can sit up straight for about 20 minutes or so, but after that, I gradually start to relax, and by the time I’m 30-40 minutes in I’m … Continue reading Pain brings us back to the present moment
The end of the beginning
When all of your work and preparation was just the first step on a long path ahead I recently read “The Gunslinger” by Steven King that emphasizes an important lesson in life - “the end of the beginning”. This gunslinger has been on a journey for all of his life when he finally catches up … Continue reading The end of the beginning