The Savage Philosopher

The Frog. Moving back to America. I am currently moving back to America after spending five years overseas. Moving is hard anyway. Moving over an ocean with a family has an undescribable difficulty level. It has been done by many people before me, and will be done by many more after. None of that takes away from the personal stress of having to do it. And then to add complexity to the issue, I decided to buy a house. A thousand things to do. As with any move there are many things that need to be done. While still overseas, I need to worry about everything from closing out with the current landlord, shipping cars, insuring all the utilities are going to be paid, ensuring my current organisation has everything they need for me, and have a temporary place to stay before I fly out. And of course I am simultaneously doing all the paperwork required to buy a house back in the States. To accomplish everything, I need to rely on many people and things I don't have control over. Doing

Perception of time. The first thing that I noticed was that my perception of time had changed. It had been stretched. The day seemed to drag on forever with the worst parts being around are traditional meal times. It was as if my awareness of every moment had become focused on what was happening around me. The slight feeling of Hunger in my gut is what kept me anchored to all the moments. It wasn't painful physically. But I was not prepared but he emotional impact of having such awareness. Deafening silence. Some people have a hard time sitting in a room quietly without distractions. As if it served a greater purpose than simple entertainment. I have come to the conclusion that the distraction protects us from our own thoughts. Through my own meditation practices of sitting quietly in a room, it has never been difficult for me to be alone with my own thoughts. But somewhere around hour 75 I started to have an emotional breakdown. The hyper awareness gained by the anchored hu

My journey so far has been one of self discovery. Over the last couple of days, I realized that I will need something more than self discovery to succeed evolving into something greater. I need to completely change everything I do and the way I do it. Every moment of every day needs to be aligned with the desired life that I want to live. To include the actions I take and the habits I form to support my long term goals. The truth is that life is only what we make it; to quote the Great movie series ”there is no fate but the one we make.” I also have a confession to make. I have been holding back on all the things that I am doing to prepare myself for my next step. In this post I'm going to rectify that error. Bottom line: I have chosen to embrace suffering and pain so that I can know myself on a deeper level. This is done through newly formed rituals and habits: I only take ice cold showers. I don’t mean that at the end of a hot shower I rinse off in cold water. I mean

Yesterday was mostly successful. I have found that eating one meal a day is very difficult unless I am with people that eat one meal a day (or by myself). Other than that, I did get a couple of blogs out and had the time to research how to write a book and the volunteer opportunities in my area. Every day I seek to learn more about myself and the reasons why I do what I do. Yesterday I struggled to keep my cool while my pre-teen daughter did what pre-teen daughters do, drive their fathers crazy. I was good initially and then got tired of the attitude and then realized that I simply did not have the skills to handle it. So I called the Mom. She brilliantly deescalated the situation and we made it through the rest of the night. What I learned is that I still have some learning to do. So I will add building a stronger relationship and reducing the frustration between me and my daughters to the list of accomplishments I want to have on this reset. Review of Yesterday. As I ment

How to have a kickass day.  I want to take a few moments this evening and talk about how to have a kickass day by creating a morning ritual. The purpose is to prime your day the same way everyday, so that you can have consistent results.  Start the morning right. Here are three simple steps that I use every morning to get ready for the day. Do not be underwhelmed by there simplicity. I recommend you practice them with an experimental mindset and see the results for yourself before you judge them.  1. Make your bed. I get up really early and my wife is still sleeping. This does not stop me from taking my blanket, folding it half long ways, and laying it down on my side of the bed. After I take a moment to smooth it out, I top it off with my pillow. This is the first thing I do right after my feet hit the floor.  This first step is the trigger for the next thing, writing in my gratitude journal. It also puts me into a productive mood. I can say at the end of the day th

Who are the people in your life? Are they the ones that motivate, inspire, and pull you up to your greatness? Are they the ones that draw on your energy, make life harder, and pull you down to your baseness? And, who are you to them? The Human species are social animals and our ability to work as a pack through collaboration is what has allowed us to leap to the top of the food chain. It isn’t our thumbs, squirrels have thumbs. Nor is it our ability to think, lots of animals can think to varying degrees. What has protected our weak flesh, brittle bones, and lack of natural offensive capability (even my cats have claws), is our ability to work together for a common cause. Now that some of us no longer have to struggle to just live everyday, how has our pack/tribe evolved? I’m going to refer to your closest friends as your pack. It is a much more accurate term than tribe due to scale. We would of had the type of pack in the days of survival who are good hunters and would share their sk

I am not content. I am grateful for everything in my life. My struggles and my victories define the person I am today, but I want more. Why am I just not content with having what I have? Why do I feel this need to obtain more in my life? I’m not talking about physical things. While I certainly would like a couple of nicer things, this feeling of discontent is driven by something much deeper. I do what many of us do. I seek out others that may have some guidance or answer to why this hole exists in my stomach. Reading and listening to all the great authors and thinkers of mankind doesn’t seem to reach down deep enough. They grab my mind, my heart, just not by gut. That part of us that ‘hungers’. What is this beast that resides within me that seems to be insatiable? Perhaps, this is the Human Instinct. Every animal on the planet is born with instincts that are tailored to the survival of its particular species. You don’t find deer hunting rabbits, lions grazing on grass, or sharks eat

I tend to think a lot. I reflect on what I have done and what I would like to do. In my tangled thoughts I wonder if I'm living a life worth living or if I'm wasting this awesome opportunity to explore and connect with the world. When I consider the possibility of an unused life a great anger begins to boil within me. In my mind's eye I want to imagine doing great things. I see myself making a difference in the world. I see myself being significant in some way. I see a legacy that continues to live well past my death . But these things I see are only fantasy. They are illusions because I do nothing to act on them. The Human ability to engage the imagination is a huge part of what has made us successful as a species in this very hostile world. To see a fulfilled potential before a project is even started. These visions give us the desire to begin and the motivation to continue. Whatever we can dream, we can create. No other species on this planet can claim such a feat. T