Month: August 2022

Smoking, gum, smoking, gum, vaping, gum, smoking and vaping, gum, vaping and gum, Zyn, what’s next? gum? No. No more. Nicotine is slavery, I have been in slavery since I was 15 years old- 20 years. I will not show my son that his father is a junky, an addict, a slave.

You dont step down gradually from slavery, you break free. No better place than here, no better time than now

Ah, the difficult one. This one will be supplemented but here is what I have. I read a quote once that said “your conditions for happiness are the chains of your suffering.” Wow. All too often, we think in conditional statements (If X, then Y), that If I [buy this, become that, get this, get that), THEN Y = I will be happy. But we are terrible forecasters. We either 1) dont get, buy, become the thing (thus we could never be happy) or 2) we get the X, but dont become happy. We may have pleasure initially, but you will move on and your beaten up tennis shoes you have that you thought would make you happy when you bought them, that sit beat-up somewhere prove the point. By the time we get what we want, we probably want something else. That means happiness isn’t a thing to get – its a thing in and of itself – To get happy, be happy.

I once saw on the internet, a person allegedly on their death bed who was taking questions. Someone asked the author, “how does one find happiness?” The author replied, “conscious appreciation.” I have “conscious appreciation” framed in my living room. Not passive appreciation, very much actively thinking and actively appreciative: I am fed, I am warm, I do have so many blessings of laughter, family, love, and things so easily could be worse. To be happy later, be happy now. If you dont chose it, you can’t find it. To be happy, be it. Just like smiling – we smile when we are happy but we can also smile to become happy. We too easy get trapped in the regrets of the past or fear of the future, be in the now, look around and be grateful, smile, and be happy.

For a surgically precise reiteration of the same – check out Ben Felix – another treasure chest of content:

I watched this years ago and implemented it. it works. I make my bed every morning- I have risen at 5am, worked out, and completed the day’s first task of making my bed. My bed is sharp, clean, and organized, just how I want my mind to be leaving my front door and entering the arena. Make your bed to make your mind right for the battle to come.

The best defense is a good offense. If you dont attack the day, it attacks you. When you hit the snooze and get up at the last minute, you are behind. You are rushing, late, playing defense. When you wake up early, my sweet-spot is 5am, you have the advantage. The world is asleep but you? You are up. Wake up before the sun rolls out of bed. There is no traffic, no one in your way, it is quiet – the sound of your advantage.

Early, you have the edge on your opponents. You cant control much but you can control this. To rise earlier, go to sleep earlier. I like to work out first thing. Complete what I would have dreaded all day or not done. Get at it, get it done, watch what the rest of your day feels like when you are done with the hardest part before the rest of the world is even up.