When in Doubt, Build

If ever in pain, I think the best thing we can do is to create something. A record. Not of pain, but of what is real. Pain doesn't last.

Focus on Small Actions, Let Them Compound

"Put this into action," Musashi says of his teachings.

"Surpass today what you were yesterday." I shut the book, go stand outside and breathe in the evening.

The rain stopped at sunset but you can feel it hanging around, ready to return.

What are the key components of one's life? Buckets, that if you fill daily, even if just a drop, move you forward and create progress. So that who you'll be months from today will be vastly better in all the ways that count. (Page 12)

Change Your Mind = Change Your World

When I change my mind, my world changes. If you think about it, makes sense, When your sense of self and happiness comes from within and isn't a roller coaster ride dependent on others or circumstances, you approach life differently.

You make better choices. You draw to you the people and situations that matter. The others, they fall away. (Page 17)

Everything is A Flash in the Pan

What we do and experience, those are like fireworks in the night sky. Sometimes pretty, sometimes scary, lots of booms and oohs and aahs. Flash, bang, gone.

None lasting, none real! (Page 25)

Accept Your Life Unconditionally

There is no should. There only is. And when you accept that, letting the emotion rise, the feeling crest and crash, say to it, "it's ok. I accept you." Even say to it, "I love you." There is power there. There is freedom. (Page 59)

You Are The Effort, Not The Outcome

IF THERE IS ONE LESSON I've learned from failure and success, it's this. I am not the outcome. I am never the result. I am only the effort. (Page 62)

True Confidence Just Comes From Doing It

CONFIDENCE COMES FROM crossing thresholds.

That's it. Once you've done something, made that jump, and even if it didn't turn out the way you thought it would, you've lived and faced fears and are here to tell the tale.

Whatever area you want to increase confidence in your life, cross the threshold, Do it again and again until it is your norm. (Page 88)

You Have Nothing But The Present

I can look at the past regretfully, fondly, wistfully, with as many "lys" as I want, but there is no power there, no truth. Only interpretations for the mind to monkey with. Rather, the only truth is the moment I'm in, this moment, however long it is. And then it is the past and I'm on to this moment. (Page 93)

Do The Work

Do the work. Do the work. Do the work. Do the work. Do the work.

Do. The. Work.

This will transform your life. Do this for fitness, for example, going all in, working out and eating healthy daily and a month later, you'll be amazed at the person in the mirror. Do this for your truth, and you will be so amazing that the world will open doors to you that you never knew existed.

This is the simple secret. Pick something you truly want. Commit. Commit on paper. To yourself. Dive in, do the work. You'll leave the board, falling and falling...until you notice gravity lessen, your rate of descent slowing until it reverses and then...and then, you're flying.

That is the secret. (Page 96)