Posts Tagged ‘philosophy’

The Beginner’s Mind Is the Bravest Mind

Posted: April 20, 2025 in Stimulus Space Response
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I thought I had to wait until I was ready. But the truth is, readiness comes after the return — not before.

The act of beginning again is itself the practice — not a flaw in the process, but the process. We tend to think of starting over as something reserved for mistakes or failures, as if it’s a sign we’ve strayed off course. But what if beginning again is actually the most honest course we can take?

Every breath is a reset. Every day we wake up alive is a quiet invitation to try once more — this time with a little more clarity, a little more compassion, a little less ego. We are not meant to stay in motion uninterrupted. We are meant to pause, to question, to recommit. To begin again is not weakness. It’s wisdom.

Photo by Tatiana Rodriguez on Unsplash

This idea — that beginning again is not a detour but the path itself — is something the Stoics understood deeply. To them, each moment was a fresh opportunity to align with reason, virtue, and the present.

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” — Marcus Aurelius

The urgency here isn’t morbid — it’s motivational. It’s a call to reset with intention, without needing a grand reason. Just the present moment is reason enough. Focusing on what I have control over, in the present moment, and then taking action with a sense of urgency is a balanced approach to life that Stoicism has brought to my attention many times.

Where Stoicism urges us to meet the moment with discipline, Taoism invites us to meet it with ease. If the Stoics offer a firm hand on the tiller, the Tao offers an open palm to the wind.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

There’s wisdom in allowing our return — our beginning again — to unfold naturally, like water finding its path downhill. Taoism helps to take the weight off our backs and reduce the pressure we put on ourselves.

Taoism teaches us to flow, but Buddhism teaches us to see. To see the moment clearly, without clinging or resistance. In the Buddhist view, every beginning is just part of the great cycle of arising and passing away. The breath in. The breath out. There is no need to carry the weight of yesterday when the present is already enough.

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” — Buddha

These ancient philosophies of nature and simplicity feel more vital than ever in a world shaped by constant productivity, curated identities, and hustle culture. Internally and externally, we’re pressured to do more, be more, and prove our worth through performance.

That pressure often leads to stagnation, analysis paralysis, and burnout. But revisiting these timeless teachings — ones that predate democracy and capitalism — offers calming reassurance. It reminds us that what we’re feeling isn’t failure. It’s human. And it makes beginning again feel not only acceptable, but natural.

Returning to the present — the Stoic, Taoist, and Buddhist invitation to simply be — also finds support in modern psychology and neuroscience. Where ancient wisdom speaks in metaphors and mantras, contemporary science offers data and neural pathways.

Dr. Andrew Huberman often reminds us that real change begins not with motivation, but with action. Tiny, repeated actions reshape the brain through neuroplasticity. So even when the mind says, “Why bother starting over?” the body can respond, “Because this is how we grow.”

Science may explain how we change, but philosophy still asks us why. Why return to a craft, a calling, a version of yourself you once abandoned?

The answer, I’ve found, is rarely logical. It’s personal. It’s emotional. Because I’m a person and people aren’t logical, we are emotional beings.

Sometimes it’s a whisper — other times a reckoning. But whatever shape it takes, it’s a form of recommitment. Not to some imagined perfection, but to the values and curiosities that make us feel most alive.

“You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.” — Alan Watts

All of this — the philosophy, the science, the stillness — eventually brought me back to something simple but easy to forget: the quiet power of recommitment. Not a dramatic restart. Not a brand-new version of me. Just a returning.

A choice to keep showing up, to remember what matters most, and to walk toward it again, even if slowly. I’ve realized it’s not about being perfectly consistent. It’s about being consistently willing to try — to give whatever effort you have in you, in the moment.

There will always be reasons to delay the return — doubt, fear, the feeling that we’ve waited too long. But the truth is, we don’t need permission to begin again. Not from others, and not even from our past selves.

The beginner’s mind is the bravest mind. The moment we choose to return — to a habit, a purpose, a part of ourselves — we’re already on the path. Whether it’s through meditation, journaling, movement, or simply pausing to take a breath, there are so many ways to come home to yourself. Whichever path you take, just know this: beginning again doesn’t make you a beginner. It makes you human. It makes you brave.

Discovering Our Potential by Cultivating Personal Power

Posted: October 1, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash

“Your life is a message to yourself. What is it saying?” — Ram Dass

Personal power can come across as a nausea-inducing cliche. The collateral damage of the toxic positivity movement of retro self-help gurus and modern influencers. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. A concept as important and helpful as personal power, like most good things, seems fated to be used as a tool to take for the few, rather than give to the many.

Self-control and self-discipline don’t have much if any of an eye-roll factor. They may have an ick factor for the general folks. Ick factor as in, “ick I don’t want to deploy self-control/self-discipline in this situation, I’ve earned my treat.” I know I’ve been that way more times than I would care to count or remember.

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.” — Seneca

Personal power isn’t a buzzword because it isn’t a one-and-done, miracle-cure, magic pill. Personal power is the result of the process of living life, utilizing self-control one step at a time, and deploying self-discipline one choice at a time. It is a gradual process, not an instant achievement. It is a process we are either strengthening or decaying with our actions until the day we die.

We all exercise personal power more than we think in our day-to-day lives. Regardless of background, age, sex, economic status. If we all as a society, as a species, didn’t possess a high level of personal power then we wouldn’t have societies or cultures period. So when talking about personal power, self-control, and/or self-discipline the first thing to do is often the most overlooked which is to give ourselves some credit.

But we know internally, silently, when we’re alone, when we look at ourselves in the mirror that we can do more and be better. Not in some pie-in-the-sky way, but measured against our past actions and against our future goals. I know I can’t be the only one who has felt and feels that way. It’s not that I’m trying to be Superman or what influencers pretend to be on social media. It’s when I do the right things, give the right effort, and consistently take the right action but then fall off and seemingly forget how to do it and that I did it.

“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.” — Alan Watts

So what do we do? How do we get better? We know we have to do, try, take action, and put forth effort but we as humans need to be taught everything. We would be crawling on all fours, urinating, and defecating ourselves if we weren’t taught to walk and potty trained. So something like growing one’s power through self-discipline and control needs to be taught and unfortunately, schools would rather teach us algebra and dodgeball. So it’s up to us to teach ourselves. Luckily there are philosophical ideas, spiritual concepts, and humanistic approaches that can provide us with simple, pragmatic steps for growth. Simple, not easy…as is life.

Personal power is often thought of and referred to as an external thing but it is completely created from the inside out from doing internal work. We can’t control if we influence other people or situations. But we can control what we do to cultivate our inner strength, our inner peace, the strength of our character, our self-control, and our self-discipline. This is the Stoic Dichotomy of Control. Our pursuit of self-mastery is always within our control. Stoicism has been an immense help to me in introducing me to the concepts of what is within and what is outside of our control.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” — Epictetus

Pursuing external personal power may have an eye-roll factor, but pursuing internal self-mastery is as universally noble of a purpose and life’s work as there is, since there is nothing harder or more complex for the average person like myself to seek. Philosophy can help create awareness and identify what we need to focus on. Journaling was probably the first productive habit I cultivated as an adult and is a Stoic exercise that helps us to reflect and look ahead through the lens of timeless principles.

Photo by Levi XU on Unsplash

Spirituality-based practices like meditation and yoga can guide us along the way by also giving us things to do to cultivate self-control and self-discipline on the path. Mindfulness meditation has been a lifesaver for me over the past decade and a half. Self-improvement can turn to self-punishment early and often. Day-to-day living can be a challenge. Meditation has helped me cultivate greater awareness and compassion for myself in the face of internal and external challenges.

Habitualizing a consistent yoga practice has taken a tremendous amount of self-control and self-discipline over many years for me. I find regular yoga practice helps my body feel the way regular meditation practice helps my mind and heart feel. Feeling good through consistent, active action rather than passive escapism is a path to self-mastery and personal power.

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” — Gautama Buddha

Ultimately cultivating our personal power starts with the humanistic belief in our inherent goodness and potential. Stoic journaling and resilience combined with Buddhist mindfulness as well as the Taoist principle of getting into and being in harmony with nature is a combination that works for me. I find these concepts and practices help level out the disjointed nature of modern living for me. This allows me to find stillness and space within myself to harvest beneficial habits of thought, perception, and emotion internally which produces the right action externally.

The journey is different for everyone. We all have to walk our path. But some timeless principles and paradigms will outlive us all that can make life a little less complex, a little easier, and help us harvest our personal power a little more. Doing so can make our individual lives and the world we live in a better place.

“Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” — Lao Tzu

Taming the Thought Beast

Posted: September 17, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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Hearing that we don’t think, rather that thinking happens to us, sounds weird at first.

After all, if I’m not in control of my thoughts, then who is?

Do you breathe?

Or does breathing happen to you? What happens if you try to stop breathing?

Do you dream?

Or does dreaming happen to you? What happens if you try to stop dreaming?

Do you blink?

Or does blinking happen to you? What happens if you try to stop blinking?

Are we living? Or is life happening to us?

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” — Marcus Aurelius

Why are we like this?

Many of the things causing problems for us as human beings in the modern world are survival mechanisms baked into us through evolution. Many first-world problems can be whittled down into a mismatch between our ancient brains in a modernized world. Once upon a time, it was not only a good thing but a necessity for our brains to constantly scan for threats and opportunities. Our constantly overthinking neurosis is partially why we as a species have survived as long as we have.

“Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them.” — Epictetus

Constant thought streams have been a problem for me like they are a problem for pretty much everybody. Most people, however, are so identified with their thoughts that they don’t even realize they are having thoughts. According to spirituality teachers like Eckhart Tolle, most people believe their thought streams are their lives. That is living to them. Their thoughts, their emotions, their life situation. That is life. That is their identity along with their name and their job, maybe their hobbies and taste in pop culture.

“Identification with the mind is the root of all suffering.” — Eckhart Tolle

Breaking free from identifying with my thoughts, even for just a second, was a special experience I’ll never forget. It was a hard lesson that there is no singular awakening or epiphany that changes one’s life forever. It takes a series of small choices, micro-tasks, and seemingly insignificant actions repeated habitually until they are automatic which creates lasting change.

“Peace is every step. The path is the goal.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditation and mindfulness have been lifesavers for me.

To calm then quiet the mind, to detach from the ego and be in the silent space of the present moment is worth the lifetime of practice it takes to master. To be able to stop thinking, even briefly, then drift back into thought because that’s what we habitually do, but then pull ourselves back out of thought and into the stillness of the present moment, over and over and over again helps to create mental and emotional space that is needed for our ability to survive and thrive in the modern world.

“The mind is the place where we become conscious of ourselves and the world around us.” — Aristotle

I needed to create the space between stimulus and response first.

I needed to awaken and become aware that I am not my thoughts, I am the witness of my thoughts first. From there, I have been able to plug philosophical and spiritual wisdom into that space to help guide my thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and actions in more beneficial and productive directions. I read self-books and listened to personal development audiobooks and podcasts for years with little to no effect because I was so identified with my ego-centered thought streams that little to nothing would get through. It’s like there was a detrimental forcefield covering my mind and spirit.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer

Break the vicious cycle first.

I recommend doing something to break, slow down, interrupt, or stop the constant thinking first. After you break the cycle of constant thinking, you can fill the cracks with wisdom and beneficial knowledge, tactics, and strategies to habitualize what in essence is an entirely new way of living that goes against the grain of human evolution, a life without constant thinking.

I’m no master or guru.

I struggle with this mightily. Depression has been a part of my life for over half of my life now. When my mother died I needed to utilize hallucinogens to stop the combination of grief and depression from swallowing me whole. That is what broke the cycle of constant negative thoughts and emotions.

What I do.

My meditation and mindfulness practices helped to deepen and widen those breaks and make creating space slightly easier. In those spaces I continue to plug in philosophy study, spiritual practice, journaling, yoga, nature bathing, a mood support supplement stack of theanine, ashwagandha & St John’s Wort, reading nonfiction books, listening to personal development podcasts, nightlife socializing, heavy weight lifting, cardiovascular exercise, learning about psychology and human nature, and eating to live rather than living to eat while still indulging in the sweet treats of life.

What you can do.

Those activities may work for some, maybe not for others, the specific activities don’t matter what matters is that they are beneficial actions and force one to focus their mind on what they are doing in the present moment to either execute proficiently and/or to enjoy oneself fully. Philosophy and spirituality practices might turn some people off, and that’s fine, what’s ultimately most important here is one’s individual agency. Everything I listed is practical, not wu wu or exclusively for the rich and privileged.

Viewing philosophy and spirituality through the lens of humanism is what has helped me to accept rather than resist these ancient wisdoms that have become self-help tropes. The human experience is not unique to us in the modern world. The philosophies and spiritual practices that are ancient to us now were created in real-time to help humans exist with less self-imposed suffering.

Our constant thinking is self-imposed suffering brought about through evolving internally to overcome external challenges. That same evolutionary potential can allow us to overcome our internal challenges using these external tools of wisdom that can guide us to; manage our thoughts and explore our inner peace by giving us a deeper understanding of our minds so that we have a better chance of thriving in the modern world.

Reach Out, Rise Up: The Power of Asking for Help

Posted: July 25, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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It can be so hard to ask for help. In real life, not in terms of asking people to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications.  

To need help is like the Big Bad Wolf blowing down a house made of straw. Knowing that one needs help is like blowing down a house made of wood. To ask for help, to be vulnerable, and to reveal our internal shortcomings to the external world; can be like trying to blow down a house made of bricks. 

Although I (like all other living things) have needed lots of help at various points in my life, I have been unwilling to ask for help more often than not. There’s an internal assumption that I should be able to pick myself up by my bootstraps, put my nose to the grindstone, be a man, and do it myself. There is also societal pressure that lionizes this kind of thinking. 

We think to ask for help is to be and to admit weakness.

It’s one thing if we know internally we are weak, but to admit it outwardly by asking for help? I for one have chosen many times to suffer in silence and isolation than to have to admit to myself or others that I am an imperfect being. 

The terms self-improvement, personal development, and self-help naturally mean that we should be able to help ourselves. Reading books, watching videos, taking courses, and attending events with these labels can lead one to believe that we can, should, and will solve all problems, obstacles, or issues by ourselves. 

Listening to self-help audiobooks during my commutes led me to study spirituality and philosophy. Philosophy and spirituality often intertwine and one can be confused for the other. I’ve found that viewing all philosophical and spiritual teachings through the lens of humanism helps me apply the lessons to my life without adhering to or being attached to any kind of potential religious or metaphysical doctrines. 

“We must help one another, and among those who are willing to be helped, are those who must be instructed.” – Epictetus 

Stoicism views asking for help as a sign of wisdom, that you understand what is within your control and what is not. When you reach your perceived limit of what you can control and need help, it is the wise and the correct thing to do to ask for help. 

“Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you are wounded and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help? So what?” – Marcus Aurelius 

The concept that it is not just the right thing to do to ask for help, but it is our job as a human being to ask for help helped me out a lot. Stoicism pushes the concept that we as human beings have to purpose to fulfill while we are alive, a service to provide to the world and our fellow man. A purpose beyond survival or making and spending money? Sign me up. If asking for help is a part of that, consider it done. 

“A giver of gifts is the one who advises, a giver of gifts is the one who shares knowledge, a giver of gifts is the one who points out faults. He who does all these to a friend is a giver of gifts.” – The Dhammapada (Buddhist text)

Spiritual philosophies that I’ve studied tend to focus on the internal, the individual, and the immaterial. However many spiritual teachings do emphasize compassion and our interdependence with our environment and other living beings. This has been a big help to me, as a person who was more of an antisocial loner type for many years but kept finding that way of living; limiting and directly hindering my happiness, fulfillment, and ability to achieve my goals. 

“He who walks alone walks in vain.” – Guru Nanak (Sikhism founder)

Studying spirituality coupled with a meditation practice has helped to dissolve the inner walls I had built up that detrimentally separated me from the world. Those metaphorical walls are built by and with the ego. It is selfish and ego-centered to think we can accomplish anything of substance alone, that we don’t need help, or that to ask for help is to admit weakness. Our ego convinces us that we are so special and superior to not need help and that asking for help is a bad thing.

“All beings are afraid of pain. All beings love life. All beings are the same as you are. Remember this always.” – Buddha

Ultimately, the decision to ask for help is a personal one. It requires courage, vulnerability, and a willingness to let go of the ego. By understanding the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of interdependence and compassion, we can begin to dismantle the barriers that prevent us from seeking support. Remember, asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a testament to our strength and humanity.

Let’s embrace the idea that we are interconnected, so we can begin to break down the walls of isolation and create a more supportive environment for ourselves and others. By acknowledging our interdependence and embracing the courage to ask for help, we can unlock new possibilities for personal growth and happiness.

Through our choices, we can challenge detrimental societal norms. Together, we can create a culture where asking for help is seen as a strength, not a weakness.

Patience ☯ Action: A Dance, not a Duel

Posted: July 17, 2024 in Stimulus Space Response
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When should I be patient and when should I take action?

This can be a tough question for anyone at any level in life. I know it has been for me, at every stage of my life up to this point. I remember thinking that epiphanies brought about by consuming and then applying knowledge would be a permanent solution to this puzzle.

I suppose I’m old enough to possess the wisdom through experience to know that there is no such epiphany. I’ve had epiphanies. Did they create permanent change? No. Nothing does. Habitualized action creates permanent change. Anything else is snake oil.

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy

Patience and action are practical examples and applications of yin and yang. Buddhist philosophy has been a big help for me in taking the pressure off of the choice between patience and proactivity.

Because it is natural to worry about being too patient just as it is normal to worry about taking too much action. Bringing mindfulness into my life helped to relieve some of the pressure that modern life puts on us to always be doing something exciting and interesting while simultaneously always relaxing in an exotic location vacation. And of course, making sure to document anything and everything one does in HD 4K photo and video, posted and reposted in portrait and landscape mode.

After suffering textbook burnout multiple times in my life, I overcalibrated towards patience. Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual philosophies that I studied lent themselves to patience and non-doing, which I felt I desperately needed at the time. Stoicism helped steer me back towards proactivity.

“Action without vision is blind; vision without action is just a dream.” – Nelson Mandela

I have found that Stoicism pairs well with Buddhism and Taoism. I would counsel people to consume all three in equal proportion. Stoicism helped teach me to take action and to do so boldly and consistently AND THEN to let go from there.

Detach from the outcome. Let go of how the action is received and perceived. 

That last part is a major missing piece from the good advice I received my entire life and hear/see being given to people these days by well-meaning folks. My experience has taught me that the majority of people are heavily tied up in the outcome of their actions. Not just entangled, but almost completely identified with their actions. 

That is also totally normal and natural. Aren’t we taught to believe that we are the result of our actions? Even if we aren’t taught that, isn’t there a consensus that a person’s identity is what they do? This is where spiritual philosophies and spiritual teachings fill in the hole I and many people feel inside of us when we’ve lived a life identified externally.

The teachings of Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, and others provide empathy and compassion for myself and others in place of the default of judgment. The judgment of the patience, the judgment of the action, and the judgment of the results. Replacing all that judgment requires teaching and training because we live in a society that encourages and rewards judgment. 

Traditionally we have been our own worst critic. The modern era of the comment section has put negative judgment on steroids and placed it into a weapon of mass destruction with unlimited ammo.

“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” Mohsin Hamid

The scales of balancing patience and action are properly weighted with studying philosophy and spirituality.

Studying and applying the knowledge of these disciplines also helps to put an immeasurable, immaterial, internal balance on the scale in our very measurable, material, externally focused world. 

Before them, I was lost. I may not yet be found but I know I am at least on a path rather than walking alone and confused in the dark. 

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