“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” — Henry David Thoreau There is no such thing as a free lunch. No matter how much we wish it to be true, every benefit carries a cost. When we advance in one place, somewhere else there is a retreat. Where there is victory, there is also defeat. What we sacrifice in each exchange may be obvious, but more often the price remains hidden. With every decision, all other possible futures are cut away. Action purchases reality at the...

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision." --Helen Keller There is no distinction in the human brain between visualizing an activity and actually doing it--the neural pathways engaged are identical. We so often underestimate the power that our attention has over shaping our reality. What gets tended to grows, and what gets forgotten withers. But our consciousness is like a pen light in a vast cave, only able to illuminate small patches at a time and always in...

“The soft overcomes the hard. The gentle overcomes the rigid.” —Lao Tzu The default pathway is force—pushing back when we are pushed, rebelling when we are constrained, angering when we are thwarted. In certain scenarios, powering through is a healthy response, but it is certainly not the most effective one. Knowledge of our opponent’s strength is far better. Through yielding we can harness the energy of the opposition and redirect it for our own purposes. By staying receptive we conserve our...