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!

Usually around this time of year I talk about the pain that this time of year can bring: extra commitments, financial burden, overwhelm, and forced socialization.

This year I am looking to actually make something positive come from the festive season, so I am inviting you to join in with a self care challenge.

For the month of December, pick one small act of self-care you can do every day to stay grounded and regulated. Something that feels nourishing, simple, and doable.

eg:

- Music
- Reading
- Take a bath
- Meditation
- Nature walk
- Exercise
- Cup of tea
- Journaling

Or choose something you’ll cut back on this month to ease the pressure.

When you’ve chosen your practice, join The Art Of Self-Connection Community (it’s free) and share what you will be working on and why.

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.

And on the other side, the listener has to decode it all back into their own thoughts, emotions, and sensations.

Which means we never really say exactly what we mean. We only ever say what someone else is able to hear.

All knowledge, scientific, religious, spiritual, personal, is filtered through this imperfect system. Our minds shape it, distort it, give it meaning it never had. Even the texts we call sacred are interpreted through an imperfect interpreter.

So the only real move is to step back from the words and feel what’s underneath. The raw experience. The connection between things. The truth before we try to pin it down.

Every theory is just a model. A map. Never the thing itself. And the human condition is the same across traditions: infinite desire, finite resources, suffering, loss, growth, and everything we do to navigate the in-between.

The moment we set a theory in stone, it stops being alive. It becomes dogma. And the second we read it, we filter it through our own biases anyway.

Which means the real truth isn’t in the language.
It’s in the experience the language is pointing toward.

Links Mentioned:
Join The Art Of Self-Connection community!