Yes, martial arts are supposed to be about self defense or combat. Injure, maim, and take out the threat. But there’s a difference between training and applying the arts in real life. One of the aspects of martial arts where people struggle with is their ego and their desire to win. This is rampant in…

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” -Henry David Thoreau

Up here in Northern California, we’ve been under a cloud of smoke for a week from the fires in Napa and Sonoma. Horridly beautiful colors in the sky. Ash descending on our cars. Burning in the back of our throats. I am miles away and outside of the reach of the fire itself, but the…

Not really. Maybe not yet. Though I’ve got a really good idea for a lifestyle brand that does sell hats. I’ve got a lot of good ideas. Just as I’m sure you do. So how come those ideas never materialize? Was it just a bad idea? Can an idea be good or bad? Until it…

A jacket is a jacket. A hat is a hat. You choose how to wear it. That person yelling at you is that person yelling at you. The deadline is the deadline. How do you wear those? Your life won’t last forever. Wear it well.

This happens four times per year. I am late to watching the quarterly sumo tournament. It always creeps up on me. Then I am days behind, and I will mini-binge watch it, but never quite catching up to the current day. Because I want it to extend into the future. To go on forever with…

The nautilus, the seed unfurling, a meditative shape. That’s one direction the spiral can go. The other is straight down to hell. One bad thought opens the door to a flood of other bad ones. A single thing becomes a million things. But the single thing can also lead to nothing. A spiral is a…

Is a life ever completely fulfilled without a side hustle, a crazy off program passion project? It’s not about the money, the fame, the accolades. It’s about the thing that floats out there just beyond reach, that bright shining light against the darkness that will swallow us all. Easy to hang in the shadows, and…

At a certain point in an athletic career, one has the option to pivot towards coaching. I’ve reached this level in my Brazilian jiu jitsu journey. I am more interested in coaching and helping others out than competing. This had made me think a lot about what it means to be a good coach. Some…

Not much of the traveler am I. Five continents. More countries and states than I can easily recall. Travel by Russian army truck, speedboats, Tuktuks, and airplanes that were so crowded that a passenger had to stand. All these places and experiences. But even so, to travel out of town for three days, and I…