I recently returned from a men’s work retreat through the Island of Men: a transformative program designed to help men connect and heal.

I left with two main takeaways.

1: There is a tremendous male loneliness and meaning epidemic. Men feel alone and unsure of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and feel like they have no one to talk it through with.

2: There is vulnerability within positivity and success.

I was asked about my purpose and realized that I was already living it (a journey over destination kind of thing), and I chose to do an improve comedy workshop over the deep introspective darkness exploration and healing that I would usually explore.

Why? Because doing so felt more expansive (scary) than not. I realized I am more than fine to share my pain and shadow, but not my light.

This was revolutionary. I now realise that I need to explore and express all aspects of myself.

Reminder: You are invited to join the December Self-Care challenge in the Art of Self-Connection community. Lets stay sane this festive season!

Language is flawed, and it keeps us from touching the divine.

Every time we try to communicate, we start with a felt sense (thoughts, emotions, sensations) and we’re forced to translate that into code. Words. Sounds. Symbols. Then we hope the signal survives the noise. That nothing gets lost through misunderstanding, projection, or the limits of whatever medium we’re using…

The art of manifestation gets a bad wrap, tied in the minds of most to questionable woo-woo ideas that seem fanciful at best. But manifestation is real, and the methods it works on are simple and obvious once explained and embraced.

Simply put, we manifest what we focus on because we are primed to find and act on them.

In this episode I share two tracks, the first is a talk titled ‘how manifestation really works’ and the second is a guided meditation called ‘powerful manifestation visualization’.

In today’s session I share with you a guided meditation that weaves together mindfulness, breathwork, healing visualization, and mantra, inviting you to soften, slow down, and reconnect to the self and the moment.

You can follow each cue or simply sit and listen. This space is here for you. Let the words, breath, and stillness meet you as you are.

The difference between expectation and reality is often the source of significant discontent.

Life trains us to search for ideals: the perfect partner, job, life, outcome. Unfortunately this almost never arises and even if it did, it would be fleeting…

The more you know about yourself the better choices you will make and thus the better life you will lead.

In this episode I share some recent instances of deep personal insight where I discover things about myself that are both good, bad, and ugly.

I share the importance of such discoveries as well as the ways in which I (and you can) foster further insights into your own nature.

Yesterday, a friend asked me how to meditate, that talk inspired this episode. Here is my guidance for absolute beginners:

1: sit comfortably (no pain or sleepiness)
2: set a timer for 5 minutes
3: pick a meditation object (breath, vision, sound)
4: when you notice a wandering kind, bring it back to focus. A successful session is one that you complete, ideally every day!