Personal Development

“Household life is confining, a realm of dust,” the Buddha said. “Going forth is open air.”

I made a decision to live for experiences living a life of freedom feeling fully alive. Over the course of a couple of months I sold most of my belongings and prepared to hit the open road. Most everything I own fits into my Subaru Outback. 

Before leaving on my digital nomad journey I put a lot of thought into what I want to get out of this experience. I want there to be meaning behind this time on the…

We are a world that is deeply polarized right now. It is heartbreaking to see what is going on and the way we are treating one another. I saw in the news the other day that a teacher was punched by a parent because the teacher enforced having his child wear a mask in school. Regardless of what our thoughts are on masks, violence is never the answer nor does it ever solve the deep rooted issues we are facing.

The vaccinated vs. not getting vaccinated debate rolls on and how that is going to be h…

When I first heard that Simone Biles pulled out of the gymnastics team competition in the Olympics, my first thought was how could she bail on her teammates? This is the Olympics after all, and it’s her opportunity to shine on the world’s stage.

Then after I stepped back and reflected on her decision, I recognized how hard that had to have been for her. She is one of the best gymnasts of all time and not being able to compete at the level she is accustomed to had to be very challenging. Not onl…

“Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” –Dallas Willard

Why are we in such a hurry? Why do we rush and rush until life is no fun? I would consider myself a recovering hurrier. A great deal of my life I have spent rushing around, racing the clock trying to get stuff done. Not only was my physical body in a hurry, my mind was always racing. I am now practicing a slow lifestyle, what I call the 4S lifestyle that consists of slowing down, silence, solitude and simplicity.

I recently took a tr…

Thinking and planning and more planning and more thinking. That is how my mind usually works. My mind is everywhere except in the present moment. My spinning mind often times has kept me from enjoying the present moment. I catch myself thinking of the future and planning out my day, weeks, months and years. Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing some planning, but when it dominates our thoughts is when it gets to be a problem.

What I am starting to realize that future planning is a trap t…

“It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom.” William Wallace from Braveheart

I have lived the vast majority of my life in a self-imposed cage trying to be someone I am not. I have tried to live up to society’s and people’s expectations of how I am supposed to show up conforming to the world’s standards. I am the one who has put myself in the cage and now I am taking full responsibility for busting out of my cage once and for all.

What I am discovering on my journey is that the only way to…

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” -Joseph Campbell

Building adventure into our lives is one of the best things we can do for our souls. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day humdrum of life. We forget that life is an adventure to be lived. We have to be intentional about building adventure into our lives or it doesn’t happen. Life can be a grind if we let it. This can lead to our feeling trapped, living a life of conformity and …

What does it mean to live with courageous conviction? It’s not easy to define, but I definitely know someone who is living that way when I see it.

I think in this world we idolize athletes too much. Many athletes are gifted with great talent, but very poor character. We see it all the time in the news where a star athlete does great things on the field and horrific things off of it.

But there are athletes and non-athletes alike who I admire and respect because they live their life with convict…

When we think of a warrior we usually think of a fighter. Someone who is willing to go into battle and fight until his death. That is noble indeed. 

There is so much more than being a warrior than fighting. In fact, a true warrior often craves peace and doesn’t look for a battle, but is willing to go there if need be.

One characteristic of a warrior that I am working on is discipline. Not from a physical aspect because I have that one nailed.

It’s from the discipline of giving my gifts feroci…

I first heard the word antifragile when I was reading a book by Mark Manson called “Everything is f*cked. A Book About Hope”.

How he described antifragility is seeking out the discomfort that will force us to grow. His point being is that we have gotten soft as a society. We have become entitled. We don’t know how to use our pain that we go through in life to get stronger and become better people.

We are actually in a perfect training environment to learn how to become antifragile while being …