Brief update, with loads of wisdom and motivation

Hey, guys!

I apologize for the EXTREMELY long delay since my last post! Let’s just say I’ve been going through a bit of a valley in my life (<—– massive understatement!) and it’s been so trying that I’ve struggled to stay positive as each setback piled atop the prior.

When I’m in a situation like this (super down and out), I stay silent. Especially on such a wonderful platform as this. I’m so fortunate to have a few fans and followers, and I never want to turn cynical on here. It’s hard enough to stay positive in our personal lives, but in a sacred place such as this? I’ll stick to pushing positivity and motivation, thank you very much.

As we all know too well… The world has enough negativity in it already. It’s my goal to avoid EVER adding another ounce to the pile. (Lord knows I’ve added enough already!)

I’ve debated during the past couple of months explaining what I’ve been going through, which could mostly be summed up as I’ve been life’s punching bag of late. It’s been like a Rocky fight, but you’re only about 3/4 of the way through the film. So far, all you’ve seen is Rocky getting the living crap beat out of him by a big Russian.

While I was considering this fully honest update, I wrote three different drafts of everything that’s been happening to me, but each post was long, painful, and not worth sharing. As such, I’ve decided to just leave it at this: I’m going through a bit of a valley.

You’ve all been in them. And while our details may vary a bit, we all go through them.

Hey, I’m a dreamer and I’m an artist. If you pick those courses in life, you better damn well be able to take a punch.

So, I’ve taken quite a few of late, and in truth I was due. My past couple of years have been wonderful! Frankly, it was just my time to exit my luxury suite and go work down in the hot, nasty boilers for a while.

Believe me, I’m still down there, but I think I see some light at the end of the tunnel. I’m pretty sure I’m on the way out and back to the luxury suite, where I once again do well at not taking it for granted. At least for a while! lol

The bottom line for you guys is that my super awesome, motivating posts (and possibly videos) will begin reappearing soon!

Until then, keep the faith! And let me leave a few wonderful pieces of wisdom and motivation from Sifu Shi Yan Ming, a Shaolin Monk.

• A foolish person wishes for good things to happen to them, but fortune, success, and happiness, rarely just fall in your lap. You must grasp your life and sharpen it.
• Do the best you can today, and do a little better tomorrow, polishing your body, your mind, and your life every day.
• Discipline leads to joy, and joy, in turn, leads to more discipline.
• Don’t be afraid of going slowly. Be afraid of standing still.
• Tackle your problems. More chi. Train harder.
• Nothing is difficult or easy in itself. We make it difficult or easy with her attitude. If you don’t want to do it, then nothing is easy.
• Never say never.
• When your body is weak and tired, so is your mind.
• Strong body, strong mind. Weak body, weak mind.
• If you find yourself getting stressed out, take a moment to relax. When you are tense, you can’t celebrate your beautiful life. Loosen up. Relax your body and your mind. And once relaxed, the task will be easier.
• Dripping water bores a hole in rock. Little by little, you can improve and make progress. Slowly, gradually, with patience and perseverance. Not one drop. Not 10. Not 100 will bore a hole in the rock. Practice, practice, practice. Your improvement will be so gradual that you don’t even notice, but don’t give up.
• Life is so beautiful. It may seem like a long time, but it’s very short.
• When you are a child, you have no serious responsibilities. You are loose and relaxed and you have a lot of fun. As you become an adult, you begin to think too much, worry too much, and forget to enjoy all the beautiful things that have come into your life.
• Life is short. Once you’re an adult, you may have 40, 50, or 80 years. That seems like a lot, but subtract the time you sleep, work, eat, spend with family, don’t feel like doing anything, etc., and how much time do you really have?
• Get up! Life is for living. Life is action. Life is exercise. Our bodies are a gift from our parents and from Buddha. Don’t waste the gift! Use it. Free your body and your mind. Enjoy your beautiful life every day, every hour, every second.
• If you run away from a problem or a challenge, it’s not going to disappear. It will follow you into feet you, so don’t run from your problems. Otherwise, you’ll never make progress and transform your life. Don’t turn away from it. Don’t think about it. Just do it!
• You create your own life. You make it heaven or hell. Destiny is not something that happens to you. You make your own destiny.
• A foolish person wishes for good things to happen to them, but fortune, success, and happiness, rarely just fall in your lap. You must grasp your life and sharpen it.
• When you polish your body and mind, you polish your life. Your goal is to radiate calm, confidence, and peace.
• Confidence is the most important key to success in all areas of your life. Believe in yourself. Trust in yourself. If you lack self-confidence, you can’t get the job done. You will find it difficult to succeed in any endeavor. Face your day today with the confidence that you can handle any task, solve any problem, overcome any obstacle!
• Have you ever seen a lazy bird? There’s no such thing. Birds are constantly active, is constantly expressing their beautiful lives in songs and soaring flat. Birds are bursting with Chi and they don’t have time to be lazy.
• Physical laziness, mental laziness, and spiritual laziness all reinforce each other. When your body has no energy, your mind is dull. You have no Chi. You have no interest in anything. You just lay around.
• Observe birds. The beautiful, strong ones always land in the top of trees.
• Be like birds, exploding with Chi, storing, singing, spreading their colorful wings. Express yourself through your body. Live your whole day with the same level of dedication, focused, and energy that you’re putting into your Shaolin workout. Apply the cheer of “More Chi! Train Harder!” to your whole life.
• We always want things because we think they will make us happier, but they are just distractions in momentary fixes. True happiness comes from polishing your life. A life of action, not distraction.
• True happiness is savoring this moment, here and now, for the beautiful gift that it is. Happiness is spreading peace and love to the people around you. That’s the Warrior’s way.

All of the quotes above are from a book I’ve been raving about for more than five years now. (See here: The greatest gift I’ve ever received: The $10,000 book that changed my life.) It remains one of the most important books in my life, so if the quotes from it pique your interest, consider checking out my link and buying yourself a copy.

Semper Fidelis,