Imagine going to the gym and lifting the lightest weights there and were incredibly easy for you to lift. Would you build any muscle? Would you tone up? Probably not, right? Similarly, we all need a certain amount of challenge or difficulty in our lives to grow. After all, no matter how beautiful flowers look on sunny days, they can’t bloom without a little rain.  No matter how much we struggle or resist difficulties, challenging

While both a harp and sword are neutral, we have our pre-existing thoughts about both. We associate peace and winged angels playing silky melodies on top of clouds with harps. With swords, we may immediately think of exhausted soldiers wielding bloodied blades in the battlefield of war.  But what are their user’s intentions and desired effects of each? If I were to use a harp to play a subliminal melody that would cause a listener

Have you ever wanted to achieve a large goal, but you had no idea how you could possibly do it? Or perhaps you were facing a big life challenge that seemed so overwhelming that it was impossible to overcome it. Such experiences can be scary and intimidating, to say the least. You know that you’re not happy with where you are, and you can see clearly where you want to end up. But the distance

In this modern day and age, it seems as if our lives are busier and louder than they have ever been in decades past. With so much going on, it’s easy to get caught up in mental hyperactivity, constantly analyzing, planning, prepping, and checking off endless to-do lists. It can feel like our mind is on a treadmill that continues to run faster and faster, so we need to hurry to keep up. As if

If you were to ask a large group of people what they wish they could have more of, many of them would probably answer, “Money.” This is certainly understandable! Money is the resource that allows us to live comfortable lives in modern day society. It allows us to have a roof over our heads, clothing to wear, and food to eat. Beyond mere survival, money can also help us to experience richer and more meaningful

In The Matrix, Neo goes to visit The Oracle. She tells him not to worry about the vase on the table and he replies, “what vase?”. The vase then falls onto the floor. Neo apologizes and asks her how she knew the vase was going to fall. The Oracle smiles and says, “What’s really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn’t said anything?” This bit

When someone does something wrong, it is so easy for us to “forget” all the things that they have done right in that moment. When we are highly emotional, it’s like whatever they did wrong is the only thing that exists. A while ago, I posted an article about how we tend to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand. And today’s quote fits the idea behind this one. When someone

I often say that our mistakes and failures are our greatest teachers. I know I have learned significantly more from my mistakes than when I have succeeded. I’ve seen it happen in my business as well as my personal life. Last year my brother and I got into a disagreement. It was serious, and how the whole thing unfolded ended up changing the dynamic of our relationship. There were mistakes I made, that I apologized