seth godin

Evolution of a blog pt. 1

Every day, for quite some time now, I have been writing and publishing a short blog post for my Meditations of a Gentle Warrior blog. I’ve been doing this for several years and, other than missing a day or two here and there, and a couple of longer periods where I thought I had quit altogether, I have been faithful to this practice. I honestly can’t even remember how or why I started, but I do know that I got the idea of posting daily from listing to an interview with Seth Godin who has been writing and publishing a daily blog post for well over a decade.

My blog didn’t start out as what it is now. In fact, if I remember correctly, I was posting on an entirely different site than the one I’ve been using for the last few years. The name has also changed over time. At first, I don’t think it had a name. Then, it became Holistic Budo. 

Sometime before my first martial art teacher, Joe Sheya, passed away, I had started doing a form of qigong, a mind-and-body movement practice for developing so-called internal strength, to supplement my hapkido and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practices. Upon hearing that I was studying qigong, Joe said to me, “That’s good, but don’t make the mistake I made by thinking your qigong practice is separate from your martial art practice. Find a way to integrate them.” 

The name Holistic Budo was meant to embody this idea of the integration of the holistic arts with the martial arts, with budo being the Japanese word for ‘martial arts.’ I thought that I would use my blog to document my journey through the arts, but art tends to have a mind of its own and the idea we start with is not always the art we end up with. In spite of my intentions, Holistic Budo evolved into my writing short philosophical posts wherein I shared experience, wisdom, or advice for living a better life. 

Sometimes I wrote about something I had experienced throughout the day. Sometimes I was writing to myself, basically giving myself advice for how I could have handled a situation or experience better. Other times, I imagined that I was leaving a trail of literary breadcrumbs for my daughter should she need it someday if I were no longer here to talk to. Eventually, wanting a name that better reflected what the blog had become, I changed the name to what it is now, Meditations of a Gentle Warrior. 

Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity

To read my poetry and shorter writing, please visit Meditations of a Gentle Warrior and subscribe to receive my daily meditations in your inbox. 

Limitations force creativity

“Limiting your options can be a very inspiring thing.”

-Trent Reznor

In a world of infinite possibilities, set limitations on yourself. Create boundaries or guide rails for yourself. You will find that, by intentionally limiting your options, you will be forced to be more creative. 

I remember hearing Anthony Bourdain explain that anyone can cook a perfect piece of filet mignon well, but it takes real skill to cook the cheap, tough meats that no one wants. 

Seth Godin has written a blog post a day for many years, but he doesn’t use pictures, hashtags, keywords, or any of the other features of his blog platform. He says that he has twenty six letters and one page to work with and that’s all. 

In Fugazi, on all of their albums and at every one of their live shows, Ian MacKaye played a Gibson SG through a Marshall amp with no effects pedals, ever. 

John Danaher, the best jiu-jitsu coach in the world, teaches six main submission systems based off of the highest percentage techniques in the sport. 

Having too many options gives us an excuse to not be creative. Options are a distraction. Limitations force creativity. 

Next time you are creating something, instead of getting overwhelmed by the possibilities, set limitations for yourself. Try painting with only three colors. Write a blog post in only seven lines. Make a meal with five ingredients. Whatever you are doing, start by intentionally limiting your options and see what comes out of you. You may find it frustrating or confusing at first, but over time, without as many decisions to make, you will find that it actually frees you up to do better work, and to enjoy the process more.