I firmly believe that life will continually try to teach you the same lesson, with increasing pain, until you heed the call.

For many of us, especially being so fortunate to live in a first-world country, the vast majority of pain we experience is due to the seriousness with which we identify with our thoughts.

He plays the same game, but for the first time in his life he is truly playing, rather than working, being a human, and this is a vast distinction realized by few.

I believe we must pursue mastery for who we become along the way in its achievement. When we progress in Jiu Jitsu, that newfound experience and wisdom transcends into all areas of our lives. We...

Let’s live our lives with great meaning and purpose in the attempt to influence the world to whatever degree our circumstance allows.

Jiu Jitsu forges friendships in a way I’ve never known. Being involved in an art as intimate as this, where bodily connection is a prerequisite, the common cultural boundaries of personal space are broken. You...

Being part of the whole, as I grow so does that which contains me.

It is important to realize that we so often define ourselves by what is in opposition to ourselves.

There is no higher calling than service to your fellow man, and to do so through your own personal mastery of a craft is a gift enjoyed by few. Cultivate this gift, and give it...

It is only when we admit our ignorance that we can hope to overcome it.

The more closely two organisms depend upon each other the harder it becomes to tell where one organism ends and the other begins.

When your words enter the material world in the form of ink or on screen, you are immediately afforded the opportunity to judge their worth.

The major events in our lives receive the entire spotlight, but ultimately your life will be defined by the same handful of choices you make each day.

I believe the real reason we pursue anything in life is not for the thing itself, but for who we become on the way to its accomplishment. We strive to accomplish things in the attempt...

I believe it is the responsibility of each of us to pass on whatever we have learned in our time here. If I reach enlightenment after meditating in a cave for 10 years, but do...

Constantly re-evaluating your purpose is the best way to ensure that you are pursuing the goals of who you are and not who you used to be.

The rare opportunity to exist, no matter how brief, is worth the pain left in the wake of its disappearance.

I have always found that effort is most easily produced when performed for the benefit of something external to ourselves.

This constant mental diatribe and the frustrations, worries, insecurities and muscular tension that ensues are the self.

There is an undeniable truth that as one progresses further in his understanding of a craft the rest of his life progresses along with it. This symbiotic relationship between all things is experienced on a...

In the history of history, there has never been someone with your particular genetic make-up or life experiences. This being the case, we have no reference points with which to compare ourselves, and therefore it...

The best indicator of a man’s philosophy is not what he reads or says, but the way in which he lives his life, the way in which he acts.

We are now forced to actively pursue our struggles. If we do not go out of our way to stretch our comfort zones and grow, no one nor nature will do it for us.

Self-improvement is generally a removal of a vice rather than an acquisition of a virtue.

Empathy is a breaking down of the false constructs of division between the observer and the observed.

Deep down I believe each of us is a well-spring of understanding and wisdom, but we simply never allow the space or time for this understanding to rise to the level of conscious thought.

Jesus was not a carpenter forever.

We must know where we want to go in order to get there. Our modern lives are growing increasingly chaotic, and it is only a clear, definitive purpose that will keep us on track.

Those who serve others have purpose. Those who serve themselves are lost.

That nagging state of constant thought that exists somewhere between the ears and behind the eyes is the self.

My growth as a human being has been directly proportional to my growth as a marital artist.

We must remember that regardless of our differences in rank we are all equal as human beings. You can always tell how caring and compassionate others are in their actions towards those “below” them. Of...

A life of joy awaits the man who sits alone quietly in a room and determines what he himself believes rather than simply adopting the values of another.

I have been given the rare opportunity to teach Jiu Jitsu for a living. This is a privilege that I wake up everyday grateful for, and a responsibility that I hold dearly. I understand how...

Jiu Jitsu is the vehicle. Not the road.

Life is easier lived when lived for others.

The knowledge you acquire in an area of study is accompanied by an incalculable ignorance. The farther we get into anything, we learn that we have even farther to go.

The quality of your life is directly proportional to the positive effect you have on others’ lives.

Properly directed thoughts result in properly directed actions. The only way to appropriately guide our thoughts is to know their foundation, our values.

Service, it seems, is the only antidote to existential frustration.

You are the space in which these thoughts arise, but not the thoughts themselves.

Your potential for growth is directly proportionate to the degree to which you are willing to make mistakes.

Mastery lies on an infinite continuum, and as a result we will never reach the end. We can, however, see to it that we are as far along that continuum as our circumstance allows.

A man has only so much life, and must diversify his efforts according to his values.

I train jiu jitsu because I love jiu jitsu. But I also train knowing that my practice in this art will allow me better practice in any art. If you have learned one thing, you...

Our social contract is becoming an exchange of free thought for mindless stimuli.

The beautiful truth about service is that we are afforded countless opportunities to be its vehicle. Every interaction with another is an opportunity to serve. From simply letting someone into your lane in traffic, to...

If you are fortunate enough to have a particular activity with which you find greatest joy and technical success, it is your responsibility as a growing human being to continue that study. Whatever your endeavor,...

The more specifically you define your goals the more attainable they become.

When we know our values, we can easily measure whether or not our actions are in accordance with them. Values are the measuring sticks with which we determine the worthiness of our actions. To be...