Let me preface this by saying that I’m no scientist.

I do, however, enjoy using metaphors. :)

So, let’s talk antibodies.

Also called immunoglobulins, antibodies are little Y-shaped proteins that recognize foreign objects in the body. They are the key element in the adaptive immune system, and, for the most part, fight germs. Sometimes though, they target the body’s healthy cells instead.

To get to my thought of the day — let’s consider the antibodies of interpersonal development. More specifically — their symptoms, and how our acceptance of those symptoms can be beneficial.

Just like you may experience the chills, a fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. when fighting illness, think of the common, unpleasant symptoms you experience when meeting someone for the first time…

Rewind to the first time (or few times) you met someone who moved you, inspired you, impressed you — any/all...

I am not very good with stats but I can share this with you: in the 11 days I’ve been in California, at least once a day, from people I’ve never met, I’ve heard variations of the following:

“You look fit.”
“You look really fit.”
“You’re obviously in great shape.”
gestures squeezing bicep “Your arms…”
points “Your legs…”
“Do you lift weights?”
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Jesus Christ. [imagine me hiding my face in my palm]

Isn’t this SoCal?? Isn’t this one of the health & fitness centers of the world? “Functionally fit”, “athletic” or not, isn’t a “fit” looking person a normal thing here?

My response to ALL of these comments has been far from “thank you”…

I’ve actually felt caught off guard each time. A few times I’ve laughed and said, “Oh, it’s just an optical illusion.” Other times, “Yeah, I eat a lot of broccoli.” And every other time — just imagine an intense embodiment of the eye-roll emoji. (You know...

“Just [because] someone said that you’re good in this, it doesn’t mean you have to do it for the rest of your life. Maybe something has changed. Maybe you’re getting older and maybe something else is coming into play. And I want to allow myself to do that. I want to have enough internal strength to say, yeah, that’s it. And please do not ask me anymore about what you’ve been doing this last year. Yeah, I’m not doing it anymore. Because, that’s just it. Now I am moving into another phase – I just found an interest in more – I don’t know – um, a painting. Or whatever. I just want to allow myself to just be, as I like to be sometimes.”

– Jozef Frucek, Evolve Move Play Podcast

Do I love to play soccer or coach soccer or run or do CrossFit more than anything else? Or do I simply love to move and play?

Can I be a teacher, a coach, an athlete, an artist, an explorer, a...

Enamored by possibility, this one’s about dreams.

Now listen up. <3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQLs8_YaCOs

I got dreams
Dreams to, remember
I got dreams
Dre-e-e-eams to remember
I got dreams
Oh-woh-woh-woh-woh I got dreams
I got dreams
To remember
To remember
Ohh gravity
Ohhhh gravity
Ohhhhhhhhh

Damn right I just quoted John Mayer. :)
(Please listen through that live version at least once before you keep reading!!)
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Now that the mood’s been set, let me ask this question:

What good are dreams if you never go after them?
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Time to rip off a bandaid…
For the first time in my life, I feel like I could just pick up and leave.

I’m talking leave everything and move somewhere completely new. Live, learn, share goodness elsewhere, and be completely okay with it. LOVE IT! And more than I already love the little life I’ve got carved out right now.

Who else out there...

“For, you see, while facts are important, interpretation of facts is the final builder or destroyer of man and his dream. If we choose to find ourselves minor, or of no worth, the dust will burn and hide our bones. But if we choose to step back into the Garden, devour the apple, throw the snake out into the ditch, and survive forever out beyond the Coalsack Nebula, the choice is ours. We will build Olympus and put on our crowns once more.”

– Ray Bradbury, Beyond (1979)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am fascinated by perception.

What are the primary forces that shape it?
What makes those forces so intricately unique for every individual?
How accurately can we track where perception originates?
How well can we identify and self-correct deficiencies between how we actually perceive something, and how we know we want to?
Why are some of us more aware of it than others?
...

This one is another story of paradoxes :)

LOOP MODE vs. FLOW
FITNESS vs. PHILOSOPHY

But first, a quick question:

Should your ability to articulate the depth of a meaningful experience dictate how meaningful that experience actually was?

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Common sense: HELL NO.
Society: Umm… maybe?

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Let’s talk loop mode. I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty easy for me to become obsessed with a song. Sometimes it lasts only a day, sometimes a week, sometimes a month… alright, so maybe even a summer. Go figure, this happened on my flight to Hawaii. I found a song, took it by death grip, and proceeded to keep my iPhone set to repeat for the entire trip over.

Aside from listening to this same song for pretty much 10 hours straight, I started thinking about how I tend to live a lot of my life in loop mode. I came to the very unscientific consensus that operating in loop mode on/with...

LADY MACDUFF: “And what will you do now? How will you live?”
SON: “As birds do, mother.”
LADY MACDUFF: “What, with worms and flies?”
SON: “With what I get, I mean; and so do they.”

– From Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Act 4 Scene 2

Of all the magnificent quotes & exchanges I could share from Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet (what I’m currently teaching in high school English), this exchange is what I wanna share the most right now.

To live as birds do.

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Tell me that’s not a beautiful idea. (I dare you!)
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In this post, I want to address how challenging it is to navigate between what it is that you love to do and can share with the world, and what it is that you can also do –but-don’t-quite-love-to-do– and can share with the world.

As an extension of that, what fuels your perspective as you navigate that challenge?

How often, when a season is challenging you, do...

Question: How do you find that sweet spot/equilibrium/perfect threshold for anything?

Are you more likely to get there by being careful? Or going full speed without caution?
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Trick question. Mwahahaha. It depends, doesn’t it? And that sweet spot is an infinitely moving target anyway.

In this post I wanna talk about the unbalanced balance between living and reflecting. In other words, FREAKIN DOING THE THING. LIGHT’S OUT. NO CAUTION. Without “being careful” as every other person will usually advise you to be.

THEN!!!!! AND ONLY THEN – AFTER full engagement with the thing – taking the time to reflect/evaluate. Not the other way around.

Put another way:

At a certain point, analysis becomes an indulgence; too much isn’t necessary.
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And here I am… back at it after a little blogging hiatus.

Quick story: Even though I’m only two months into teaching high school...

“The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence, and this convergence can never be precisely pinpointed, but must always remain virtual, as it is not to be identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader.”

– Wolfgang Iser, “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach”

I want more storytelling.

More specifically:

1. Storytelling with less ego
2. Appreciation for the moment you melt into a story ___________________________________________________________

Storytelling with less ego

Above everything, storytelling with less ego tells a story to tell a story.

It doesn’t look for praise, pity, or to compete.

It derives from a place of wholesomeness. Born out of a fire to connect.

Storytelling with less ego is told the precise moment a story was meant to be told.

It simply says – I am here, and I am...