Practical Love

Armed with all my love ideas and research and trying to be practical, I set out to smile to the masses. I went to an indoor waterpark with my two daughters. Happiness was already bubbling inside. As I walk down the hall, I see my first victim. I am going to smile. Wait...teeth or no teeth? What am I saying with this smile? Hi? There is spinach in your teeth? I think you're cute? Well, the smile I managed was, well, saying, "I have gas." Smiling is harder than you think. A smile reveals emotion, intention, personality. You have to be vulnerable to smile. We don't smile, in general. We do smile when we are embarrassed or when something is funny. Sometimes we smile to be ironic. I have the sarcastic smile given to me nearly daily. But smiling to show love is a delicate issue. People can smell bullshit. They know if you are being disingenuous. People are also skeptical of motivations. "What are you selling?" So what do you do? You have to fake it until yo...

I studied Hapkido for about five+ years and was always fascinated by the metaphysical aspect of the martial arts. The word "Hapkido" is Korean and means, "the way of coordinated power." Everything is circular and you use your ki or chi or lifeforce or strength to combine with your opponent's energy to redirect the force to your advantage. It is pretty cool. One popular martial art maxim is "be like water." I think Bruce lee explains it the best. Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. The "be like water" princ...