The etymology of wealth is well-being, but we have strayed from that meaning. Wealth has twisted into the pursuit of money and possessions. As a result, we have replaced the qualities that make us whole—community, love, integrity, joy, autonomy, and safety—with money and status. For example, I …
A money mindset is a capitalist mindset—it puts profits over people. A money mindset is responsible for wealth inequality and classism. A money mindset contributes to and perpetuates racism, white privilege, and misogyny. Our society inflates the usefulness of money. It becomes an idol and the end …
If You’re Not Growing, You’re Dying. False. That was a trendy self-help, cultist saying that gained popularity after The Secret came out and everybody drank the kool-aid. In my opinion, this statement is kind of… dreadful. It’s dreadful because this statement suggests that if you’re not working on …
Hold up! In my experience, this has been terrible advice. I have seen coaches and “online entrepreneurs” give this kind of advice to many people. Usually, the rationale is that you only live once and you can’t let the music die inside you. As such, you must go all in with your passions and become …
I have seen the idea float around that “conscious capitalism” could be a more fair and equitable economic system for society. In my opinion, nope—there is no such thing as conscious capitalism. “Conscious” and “capitalism” literally cannot go together. Capitalism is destructive by its nature. This …
Reading helps you see life differently. The new ideas and perspectives presented in books can help you become unstuck in those problematic areas of your life. When I was broke and deep in debt in my twenties, I read at least 25 books about financial wealth, budgeting, and abundance. A lot of those …
Went to the Maine Renaissance Faire today. I have been going to these faires across New England for years and always enjoyed each one. At the gate, they distributed a weekend newspaper that reflected those times. It was called, Yorkshire Crier. My favorite was the classifieds.
Crashing waves during my morning run. The waves were a bit angry and aggressive, which helped me push through the last mile.
What is the root cause of scarcity? Scarcity surfaces differently for each of us. Much of my past scarcity was around money. For others, I have seen scarcity manifest in their creative work, relationships, health and body, career, religion, and spiritual practice. Scarcity generally feels like …
Imposter syndrome. It might as well be the devil himself. I have suffered a lot from imposter syndrome during my creative journey. I have doubted my writing skills, felt my creative expression wasn’t good enough, and feared what people would think about my writing. Over the last decade, I have …
Should you floss before or after you brush your teeth? My wife and I debated that topic this morning. I was at the bathroom sink and moments before flossing a thought crept in, “Wait - should I floss before or after I brush my teeth?” My wife is hell bent on flossing after she brushes her teeth. The …
Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality. Bruce Lee A common struggle I see in personal development is figuring out what you want in life. It often sounds like this, “I don’t know what I want” or “What should I do with my life?” or “Should I do xyz? Or should I do …
When you search for how to set and achieve goals, SMART goals are undoubtedly mentioned. This goal setting technique was originally developed for managers to help achieve team objectives. SMART goals are now widely known and have popularized into personal goals. The acronym SMART stands for …
As a follow up to the last post, another interesting way for relating to time is from the perspective of a good coach. What would that look like? We first have to define the qualities of a good coach. Good coaches love what they do. They’re passionate about their field of work and want to make …
A relationship we often forget about is our relationship with time. Most of us view time as a limited resource - that is, we have a finite amount of time in our body and on this earth. When time is framed as a resource, it can generate scarcity based thinking. The resource based frame applies …
How do you breathe life into lifeless goals? In other words, how do you move your goals forward when they look so…uninspiring. This is a common struggle for performance-based number goals, such as paying off credit card debt, increasing income, losing weight, or hitting a certain exercise …
What if I were to tell you that money goals are counterproductive? Would you believe me? I know, I know…we’re conditioned to set money goals to improve our financial situation. Popular self-improvement teaches us that what we focus on expands. Focus your attention on a certain sum of money, …
A large part of conscious growth is the ability to recognize and choose frames. Without this ability, your unconscious default mode shapes your life. This mode is usually a collection of beliefs and values from your upbringing. For example, most parents unintentionally install the belief I’m not …
Buddha said all life is suffering. I think he’s right. He also said there’s a way out. I think he’s right about that, too. I experienced this in my mid 20’s. I had, what zen buddhists call, a kensho experience. This is when you have a glimpse into your true nature or have complete oneness with the …
I would like to share with you my morning routine, which starts the night before. The intention is to inspire you to create a similar routine. I call it 5 before 8 AM because it’s the top 5 five priorities that help me achieve a high performance day. Here are the priorities, and then I will talk …
When was the last time you were genuinely grateful? Expressing gratitude creates a positive vibrational shift. You move into alignment with abundance and love, and leave behind the energy signatures of fear and scarcity. A popular practice to express gratitude is to write three things you are …
Have you ever produced a piece of work, such as an article, artwork, or song, and only received vague appreciation? For example, you’re displaying art at a gallery and the passerbyers respond with, “Nice job. Looks great. I like your work.” While the sentiment is nice, that level of appreciation …
In my last post, I wrote about what’s needed to have the courage to express your creativity. I want to add to that because there’s also a block that, if not dealt with, will stunt your creativity. That block is mistakes and failures are bad. Consciously, you know that mistakes and failures aren’t …
Why create when it’s already been done? I held that unconscious frame for years. I would conjure up an idea, do a bit of research to flesh out the idea, and then lose motivation because someone else already wrote that article or created that product. So I junked the article or idea and moved on. I …