Proximity To The Mountain

For lack of a better metaphor…

The further you are away from the mountain

the easier it is to see the top of it.

the easier it is to act like you could get to the top.

the easier it is to think it would be easy to get to the top.

the easier it is to criticize those who aren’t making it to the top.

And then the flip side…

The closer you get to the mountain and it’s top

the more you have to strain to see it.

the more you realize how giant it is.

the more exhausting every next step is.

the more appreciation you have of others on the same journey.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Pairing Habits

I used to forget to take my vitamin. Now I never forget.

I had been trying to institute the vitamin habit cold turkey…to go from never thinking about vitamins to always remembering to take it sometime in the morning. And it barely worked. No consistency.

And then my vitamin breakthrough.

I was already in the habit of topping off my my water bottle before leaving the house. So I decided to pair the instinct to fill the water bottle with the need to take the vitamin…with the real key being to take the vitamin BEFORE the existing habit of filling the water bottle.

If you want to do something new, pair it with something you already do.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Daily Rhythm

You move to a new part of town or a new city and desperately hope you’ll get along with your neighbors. Why don’t you just move in next to your friends instead?

You hope the new gig is going to have a great culture. Why don’t you start your own gig and make that culture?

Someone says a prayer that this food would bless our bodies. Why don’t we eat food that actually blesses our bodies?

The rhythm of day to day life matters.

We often make choices that hover around our true desires and yet are a world away from creating the life we actually want.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Learning Harmony

Learning harmony is all about developing a sense for what an added voice can do to make a song feel better, while not being the main voice.

The only way to learn harmony is to try singing harmony. Turn on a song, hear the melody, and then sing something else over the top of it. Does it sound good? If it’s your first time you’ll probably stumble upon some notes that work and some that don’t. Perfect. Keep going.

And you won’t know the theory behind the notes that seem to work but that will come later and isn’t as important anyway.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Closing Ceremony

The Olympic closing ceremony...The summer camp goodbye. Everyone hopes it’s see you next summer but everyone deep down knows that it might be goodbye for a lot longer, maybe forever. And if we are lucky enough to get everyone back together, there’s no way it will be the same.

Most of the time we don’t know when it’s the last time this group will be together…but the closing ceremony gives us that moment…we get to remember to acknowledge that this thing is special and we love it while it’s here and soon it will be gone. A true gift.

The hard part about making a good ending is that you have to admit it’s over.

But a good ending is the best way to end it.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Olympic Angles

If you want the commentators to talk about you longer, pick an event that takes longer…like the 1500 meter swim or running the 5k.

If you want to be the most decorated Olympian of all time, don’t pick basketball…where you can only win one medal every four years.

If you want to be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it helps to be elite by the time you’re fifteen years old AND for there to be an Olympic games that same year…that way you can compete in four Olympics while you’re still well under thirty.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple