Evan Sanders's Blog, page 94

If You Want Something You’ve Never Had

If you want something you’ve never had, you have to become someone you’ve never been. You must rise up to the challenge. And I hope for you, the challenge is so great that you must grow into the person who can accomplish it. I hope the dream is daunting. I hope it scares the hell out of you. I hope you fail. Because in all of this, you give yourself the chance to muster up the courage to grow out of your old shell. You get that fire inside of you. The motivation. The inspiration.

And then you work.

You lose yourself in the work. Don’t stick a toe in it. No, cannonball into it. Love it. Embrace it. Smother it. Give it everything you have. Because in your work, a work you love, love is shown in the final product itself. Show it to the world.

Fear not. Not because fear won’t be present, but because the heart snuffs it out. Trust yourself. Trust the path. Trust the work. Trust the process. Trust the love.

- Evan Sanders

Join the movement Facebook and  Twitter

The Search For Life’s Meaning

Victor Frankl – The Search For Meaning

If you haven’t listened to this speech by Victor Frankl you need to right now. This man has an incredible view on life and delivers some amazing advice. Take a couple of minutes and have your mind blown.

The Video Blog

In order to achieve your goals, you must also have the ability to create step by step measures on how to get there. Working backwards is one of the easiest ways to do that! Check out todays new video blog on Stretching Yourself and Aiming High.

Today is all about creating quality in your life over quantity. Don’t be mistaken by having a lot of something if it is worth nothing. With that, look to make positive improvements in your life to how you live and who is in it with you.

It’s time to shed that skin and become the person you have always dreamed of becoming.

I had a great talk today with one of my best friends on the Social Media world and the negative side effects of being engaged online so much. We both came to the conclusion that it can be easy to lose your humanity when focusing too much on nonverbal communication with the people in your life. I get into this a bit more in today’s video blog.

Yesterday at the Santa Clara Fitness Expo I met my hero Greg Plitt. Besides having the most legendary bro-crush on this guy, it was an absolute honor to shake hands and talk a little bit about our very similar mentalities in tackling life’s obstacles. There was also something that lit up inside as I realized that Greg started from nothing and built himself into something great. Time to keep dreaming big.

Sometimes you don’t know when an opportunity is going to strike. The thing is, you have to be willing to put in the work and prepare yourself for that chance. The worst thing in the world is to get lucky. You can’t replicate that. But if you put in the work each and every day and make a decision about what you want to do with your life…you will start attracting opportunities to you. Dream Big and put in the sweat to make your vision come true.

Renegades are those who think differently that what society feeds to them. But what does that even mean? I get into this in todays video blog.

Renegades are those who think differently that what society feeds to them. But what does that even mean? I get into this in todays video blog.

Something interesting happened to me while mowing the lawn. Tune in to hear one interesting correlation between mowing the lawn and life. You can often find the biggest lessons in the smallest examples.

Today is about about a couple of things: owning your mistakes and integrity. It is so important to apologize for blowing it when you do. Not only do you gain the respect of other people, but you also show respect for yourself and your character. Today is also about integrity – which is doing what you said you were going to do and being who you have claimed to be when no one is looking. Hope you enjoy today.

Today is the first day of a new video blog that will involve 365 separate videos dealing with topics anywhere from motivation, inspiration, passion, life, love, etc all the way down to just random thoughts that come into my head about the challenges I face daily. What the video blog will also address are questions that you guys may have for me as well as thoughts I have about comments left on my pages.

Some big changes coming to The Better Man Project. Tune in for some awesome updates and opportunities to be a part of a growing community.

It’s all about one thing today – making a commitment to unloading your best on the world. Time to make dreams happen.

I spent a good deal of time reading Emerson today outside. He had a few words to say about life that really struck me. So, Day 3 is all about a little segment of his and how it relates to our lives.

Many Truths Existing At Once

Eminem – 25 to Life

It’s time to write this all down. In truth, I don’t regret anything. I don’t choose to live with the fear of not respecting my choices in the future. I choose to learn from them and live with them because they were rooted in love and passion and not in fear. The mistake made at 100% is never a mistake. It’s a commitment that turned south. But the bottling of the aftermath leads to sleepless nights and nightmares.

I have woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking about what happened. The shaking of my hands. My heart racing. The shiver up my spine.

No emotion is foreign to me. What once filled a place in my heart now seems void. It may be gone, it may be present, but as it stands right now – it feels hollow and cold. The negative floats into my mind. I ponder the reasons for the pain delivered. I ask myself why. I think back to the past and try to understand. In many ways, I do understand. I remember in the beginning knowing I was dealing with lightning. Exciting, powerful, enchanting…lightning. But unharnessed lightning strikes randomly destroying life. And it did. Sharp to the heart.

And yet how can all of this pain coexist with the feeling of love. It baffles me. To lose someone, to be punished, yet at the same time care so much that the heart continues to sing despite its tears. How does it even happen? How can it possibly be that way?

They both exist. The extremes. Both sides can be present in the same soul and everything in between – and that creates, often times, a storm inside that rages until peace finds its way into the depths.

Billie Holliday – I’ll Be Seeing You

The past can be haunting. The future can be intimidating. The present can cause the sensation of drawing. But at the same time the opposites exist. A wisdom filled past. An exciting future. Being present in the now. But to take it even further, there are layers to the onion besides the core and the outside. There are so many possibilities of what can be true at the same time that other realities exist.

So to feel inside that I love and suffer at the same time, as unfortunately insane as it is, really does make sense.

There is no black and white.

There are only wonderful colors and shades in between the two opposite absolutes. And when you are ready to accept the fact that you can still care, fear, shake and celebrate something or another all at the same time…well, that’s when you truly grow. We are massively complicated people. Nobody is ever one thing. You cannot attribute a single word to someone and describe them. No, you must understand the complications of the “self.” No decision, no idea, no argument, no relationship, no anything really is as painfully simple as we would like it to be – primarily for the sake of our own understanding of it.

So where does that leave me? Respect. Respecting the intricacies of life. Fact is, good and bad things will happen to you throughout your time here. But in all honesty, even the bad is layered with some good and the good is layered with some bad. Nothing is truly pure. Light is comprised of darkness and darkness always has an element of light. When you can start to see how beautifully ridiculously complicated life is, then you can live in it easier. It’s when we try to simplify everything…that’s when the mess begins. Because it’s never that simple. It’s never that black and white.

I think what I am trying to say here is this: Be fair to yourself, be fair to situations, and be fair to others. Understand that feelings, decisions, and life in general is very complicated and don’t make decisions based on absolutes. Make decisions rooted in the goodness of your heart.

- Evan Sanders

Join the movement Facebook and  Twitter

One of the Most Thought Provoking Speeches Ever

Before I close my eyes at night I think of all the great gifts I have been given, the talents, the opportunities and then I think about my dreams. What I truly wish for in life. What I want to strive for. How far I wish to stretch. What really gets me going.

Alan Watts is amazing. Before I get into this, if you want to hear more of his speeches I have compiled them here.

I want to do something outrageously cool. I want to stretch. I want to take myself beyond where I have been and go to where I have never thought of before. I want to break the habits, hurdle the obstacles, and become the man I know I can be.

A long time ago, a teacher told me that the first step in any journey is “accepting your current condition.” I accept that reality. I think it’s true that you can only understand where you are going when you truly know where you have been. I have looked back, thought about what has occurred in my life, and written…boy have I written.

But it’s Alan Watts’ speech that really makes me think. It makes me think about what I really could do. I hold this belief in my heart that yes I could indeed have a dream that is uncontrolled and just open myself up to the possibilities. Maybe that’s what he is trying to say. That life is not so much of a planning of what’s going to happen, but rather an attitude about being open to the greatness that the universe has for you.

What does the world have in store for you? I think everything. I think there are infinite possibilities of what could happen. On one end you have to let it happen, and on the other you have to dream big enough to push yourself beyond your boundaries. However, the most important thing is to have the courage to take this journey in the first place.

- Evan Sanders

Join the movement Facebook and  Twitter

The Power Of Vulnerability

The Power of Vulnerability is by far one of my favorite TED talks. But what is incredibly powerful about it is that I learned that vulnerability is the core of shame and fear, but at the same time it is at the core of courage, love, empathy etc. Life is very balanced and when you open yourself to the possibilities anything can happen. Please take a minute to check out the video.

Please visit Brene Brown’s site for more awesome content

Never, Ever Give Up. Arthur’s Inspirational Transformation

This man gave up on himself, couldn’t walk, couldn’t run, and was told by the world that he couldn’t do it. But he turned everything around because he believed in himself. He fell. He suffered. But every single time he got back up. People like this inspire the hell out of me and give me the strength to continue on. It gives me the courage to continue my mission and never ever give up.

Arthur now runs. Belief is a very very powerful thing.

 

If you are inspired by Arthur’s story please share it on Facebook and Twitter

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 190,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 8 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Everything Holds A Gift

Dig a hole

Bury the old

Stamp the ground

Accept in your heart

Misplaced ground

Leaves fresh tracks

Leaving traces

Of the past

The ground will mend

The flowers will grow

Love in your heart

Grows and blooms

Covering the ground

Of the old

Brings the life to the new

- Evan Sanders

You’re Not The Hunted

It’s no surprise I overslept.

Put my boots on and climbed out my tent

I didn’t see you

Assumed you were sleeping

immediately start a fire ’cause it’s freezing

I cant believe we went camping in the cold

I’m in the wilderness standing in some snow

a late start but we can still catch up

you need to wake up

we should eat and then pack up

that’s when I noticed your footprints

the snow’s fresh and those have been put since

what you already up making the rounds?

so where you at now? you laid back down

the breeze came and it stalled out the flame

while I went to your tent and called out your name

you didn’t answer so i opened up the flap

it’s just an empty sleeping bag and your backpack

I’m looking at your tracks and you

took a couple laps round the campground and hoofed down the path

I figure you’ll return no concern

I’ma hold put and try to make this cold wood burn

The wind is blowing strong

minutes rolling on

It’s going on at least a half an hour you’ve been gone

it ain’t right, start the paranoia

I left the campsite to go and search for ya

I read the trail your feet made

each step was deliberately placed

it looks like you know where it leads

but i see nothing but leaf-less, frozen trees.

About a 1/4 mile into the course

and another set of tracks appeared next to yours

from the North it came outta the thick woods

and those footprints belonged to a big wolf.

Trying to find service on my cellphone

I felt aight with my knife on my belt though

I hope the wolf is intimidated by you

I wondered if you even knew it was behind you

Stalking ya, maybe watching ya

waiting for the opportunity to hop on top of ya

salivating wanna take you to the stomach

in the cartoons you woulda turned into a drumstick

And it gets about as bad as it goes

’cause I noticed there’s a new set of tracks in the snow

I understood

it doesn’t look good

your fan club doubled now you’ve got another wolf

And the odds are in favour of the home team

why’d you walk off all alone? where you going?

it ain’t the right time to complain but

it feels like I’m trying to find your remains

Your footprints grew further apart

I knew what that meant and it was hurting my heart

It means you started to run so i did the same

now my breath’s looking like a steam engine train

and suddenly your tracks dip off of the path

and so did theirs

so my knife I grabbed

In to the forest expect the worst

adrenaline burst disturbed the nerves

50 yards into the woods and brush

It got so thick that it looked like dusk

The air stood serene, sober

seemed like a good 15 degrees colder

and I’ll admit hell yeah I felt fear

the sound of my heartbeat was all I could hear

looking at the snow it was plain and clear

there was a third set of wolf prints where yours disappeared

I cant process I don’t follow

It’d be easier to believe that you were swallowed

but no sign of death, no sign of struggle

no signs of blood no signs of trouble

and the wolves never stopped

the tracks kept going and I took off

so I don’t know how your story ends

but I know I’ll never go into those woods again

It’s not that tragic its not a shame

You’re not the hunted you’re not the aim

You’re just another dog with hunger pains

I was so afraid that you’d become the game

I forgot to worry about what you became

You’re not hunted you’re not the aim

You’re just another dog with hunger pains

I was so afraid that you’d become the game

It’s not that tragic it’s not a shame

You’re not the hunted you’re not the aim

You’re just another dog with hunger pains

I was so afraid that you’d become the game

I forgot to worry about what you became

 

- Atmosphere