Carl Phillips's Blog

 

No dogma.

No rhetoric.

No gurus.

–

Signal

over

Noise.

–

Simplicity

over

Complexity.

–

Focus

over

Busyness.

–

Resolution

over

Conflict.

–

Solutions

over

Problems.

–

Ownership and accountability

over

Complaining.

–

Give

me

something.

–

I

can

believe in.

–

Natural.

Pure.

True.

 

—

poem: my own 

—

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“If there is anything Zen strongly emphasizes it is the attainment of freedom; that is, freedom from all unnatural encumbrances.”
– D.T. Suzuki

 

Remove the excess. Edit. Experiment. Refine.

 

Simplify. Less stress. Less ambiguity.

 

Leave space. Space to breathe. Space to think. Space to be.

 

Less can be more.

 

More for the sake of more leads to cluttered environments and minds. Enough should be enough.

 

Say no, more often. No to commitments, no to requests on your time that conflict with ...

“I have arrived, I am home” – Thich Nhat Hanh

*A mantra Thich Nhat Hanh recommended to recite while performing breathwork practice or meditating

 

 

The peace you seek,

Is already within.

 

The silence you need,

Must be protected.

 

The answers you strive for,

Are closer than you know.

 

Your energy is finite,

Spend it wisely.

 

In every fear,

Lies an opportunity to breakthrough.

 

In every failure,

Lies a lesson.

 

Walk through darkness,

into the light.

 

 Step into your power.

Walk your pat...

“Zen practice is to open up our small mind.” –  Shunryu Suzuki

 

Your mileage may vary but here are some simple ideas that improve my feelings of wellbeing.

 

Daily:

WalkMeditate (this can take many forms and you don’t need to call it meditating)Spend time in natureThink of 1–3 things you are grateful for (through the lens of gratitude, the world looks different)Listen to musicEnsure at least 80% of your diet is full of healthy, single ingredient, foods (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish et...

 

 

You will fall many times.

 

You will taste defeat.

 

What matters is how you deal with these setbacks.  What matters is you get back up to fight another day.

 

In each defeat lies a lesson, waiting to be uncovered.

 

You must stir up your inner fire and come again, fight again.

 

No two battles are the same.

 

from my book Awaken — Meditations of the Warrior

 

 

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Since inception, an over-arching theme for this site has always been the following:

 

We all encounter unwanted friction in our lives.

Things that get in the way of what we’d rather be doing with our time.

Things that we wish we could either simplify or get rid of completely

 

With some wanderings along the way, much of what has been written here tries to address this in some way.

 

To more directly, and succinctly, deal with this head on, I have released ‘The Frictionless Manifes...

Note: The following is an extract from my book ‘ Awaken — Meditations of the Warrior ’

 

The world inside will dictate how you perceive the world outside.

 

Work on your mindset relentlessly.

 

Tend to your thoughts.  Do not let dark clouds linger and weigh you down.

 

Refuse to entertain negativity, envy or regret.

 

Work from a place of possibility, of abundance, of choice.

 

Ensure the world inside is serving you.  For it can be your greatest ally or most fearsome foe.

 

Win the inner battle...

We can be our own worst enemies.

 

Getting angry and upset when things don’t go to plan.  We try to control the uncontrollable.

 

We fret and get stressed about what we don’t have or haven’t achieved.

 

We complain.  Never feeling like we have enough or are enough.

 

The truth, if we have a roof over our head and know where our next meal’s coming from, we are better off than many in the world.  What we consider to be basics in our lives, others would consider to be riches and indulgences to be s...

We cannot sprint all the way.  Yet many of us approach our lives as a prime Usain Bolt would approach the 100m or 200m.

 

The truth, time for rest is just as important as time for forward momentum.

 

In a world so often obsessed with getting more done. achieving more, squeezing more in, and chasing success, we often lose sight of the importance of taking time to refresh and recharge.

 

Resets are time for us to reset ourselves in some way. This can be physical, it can be mental, and often it can...

 

My latest book, ‘Awaken – Meditations of the Warrior’  , is out now and available to download wherever in the world you order from Amazon.

 

Download your copy now and read the whole thing or whet your appetite with the overview below.

 

Note:

UK based readers can buy from  here .

If you are elsewhere in the world, you will be able to pick up the book wherever you usually purchase your Kindle books.

Kindle books can also be read without a Kindle device using the  Free Kindle Reader App  for your ...