When you’re doing creative work without constraints, it can be extremely easy to procrastinate. Constraints such as deadlines and quotas can be a way of pushing you to produce, even if what you’re producing isn’t perfect. Your work should always be your best, but it should also be published. If aiming for perfection means you’re […]

If I'm lucky, I'll think of good ideas. And if I'm lucky, I'll get to write this blog. And if I'm lucky, my ideas will meet the right people. And if I'm lucky, my ideas will spread. And if I'm lucky, I might just succeed. You know the adage. You make your own luck. Go […]

One of the great contradictions I see with Yamabushi training is that we basically get told what to do, yet the training is about inspiring you to do things that no one has done before. I think the way to understand this is, that the Sendatsu Master is simply guiding us to nature, who is […]

When we listen to interviews and pieces on other people, it’s easy to use how they’re different from us as reasons to not copy or at least consider what they’re doing for ourselves. Of course their experiences are indeed different, but if we detach ourselves completely, we risk missing the lessons that they could teach […]

When you have an in group, it’s very easy for injustices to perpetuate as people just don’t recognise them for what they are. As an outsider, and one that can speak Japanese at that, I’m taking it as my personal mission here in Japan to point out the injustices I see. Well, injustices or discrepancies, […]

Your sphere of influence describes the people in your network with whom you have some influence over. However, it also works in the opposite way, if you allow it. As humans, we automatically compare ourselves to those around us. This comparison often affects how we think. How we think affects how we act, which in […]

The three types of control: Things that you cannot control, you cannot control so it’s a total waste spending time worrying about them. Things that you can control, such as your thoughts and actions, you should worry very deeply about. By practicing meditation, you can practice placing a buffer between an action happening and your […]