Our paths are unique. And as such, we must forge unique trajectories to shift, transform, or transcend.
I keep a singing bowl on my altar, the vibration alone is a form of prayer. *(paid link)*
Amid our own victories and failures, we learn what works and what doesn’t. We either improve, pivot, or die. If we’re honest with ourselves, we might admit that we rarely learn from our mistakes. Unwilling to dissolve our stubbornness and addiction to outdated behaviors and beliefs, we fail to free ourselves from bad habits, ill-conceived pursuits, and a variety of misconceptions. It all comes down to our excuses. The idea of “no excuses” sounds simple, but we complicate it due to our self-perceptions and exhaustion. After all, life on Earth has become quite intense and complex these days. But when it comes down to it, you either want to grow and heal and improve your conditions, or you do not. You might feel, "well, this pain, this situation, this is the way it is," but we can always improve our circumstances, even if it's only one small step at a time. If you want to truly change and advance your position in the world, it probably won’t be easy. It will most likely require self-sacrifice and hard work. It will also require you to move beyond your temporary self-identities, attitudes, false desires, mental perseverations, and ego, and into a state of humility, honesty, and wonder. If you’re too enthused with your identity and ego, or if you've become accustomed to playing the victim, you’ll continue to defend the notion that excuses are real - but they are not. I remember one night in Denver, leading a workshop on emotional release, when a woman broke down completely, shaking uncontrollably. I didn’t rush to fix her or soothe her ego. I stayed grounded, breathing with her, holding the tension in my own nervous system, letting the raw, unfiltered fear roll through both of us. That’s where real transformation sits—in the body’s refusal to hide the truth. I’ve had my own dark nights that felt like the world was closing in, each breath heavy with old pain and ego collapse. Before embracing this path, I was deep in tech startups, running on logic and control. But no algorithm could fix what was breaking inside. It was through relentless breath work, shaking, and facing the discomfort head-on that I cracked open and found something real underneath all the noise. An excuse is a statement that we use to justify our inability to find pathways to improved conditions. It’s often contrived out of thin air and presented within ourselves in such a way that it brings us shame, so lowering our vibrations. When we have 4 or 5 excuses, we believe we have a legal, defensible case against ourselves and our potential. We then use our minds to take ourselves to spiritual court. Even with the best intentions and most creative slights of hand, we’ll lose this battle every time. We are too smart for our own good.So, there we sit, stuck in a cesspool of our excuses.
Turmeric is nature's most powerful anti-inflammatory, I take it daily. *(paid link)*
Here are a few reasons why your excuses are merely contrived fantasies that you’re using to defeat yourself and defend laziness:- You have skin, bones, a brain, a heart, and passion. With these elements, you can accomplish nearly anything. What most often happens is that we get distracted and depressed, and we refuse to shift our behaviors toward a more enlightening feeling or position. When you add our addictions to social media to the mix, you have a stew that can only breed mediocrity and complaints.
- Your ideas and passions are not that complicated. It’s not like your goal is to fly to a distant nebula on a magical, nuclear, cocktail napkin. Your desires are most likely based in reality, which gives you a fighting chance at bringing them to life.
- You have already tried sitting around, complaining, and building a case against yourself.
- You already know which of the people in your life you no longer value. You’ve been keeping them around so you can feel validated. It's within this codependent model that we grow mental and emotional infections that can prevent us from always changing.
- You have made mistakes and you have created some unique, winning scenarios. Even with a predominance of failures, you still have enough data to thrust you forward with confidence.
- You’re sick of your attitude, so why not try something else?