Crooked Butterfly Podcast

It's a simple conversation about how putting others first over your superficial personal needs will make you tough. Deciding not to do a write up about this one. Just listen.

"The truth hurts because you let it" I overheard someone say this the other day and I found it curious. I also found it oddly coincidental given some feedback and conversation about last week's podcast and calling out bullshit.  I don't think the truth hurts 'IF' you let it. It hurts 'BECAUSE' you let it. That suggests ownership of your actions/ decisions/ j...

In response to a handful of messages, reach outs, and conversations regarding my IG post on Big Talkers. I've been occupied in my head and heart for a few weeks actually, going back to another post I made about Tough Guys. The world is made up of a wonderful spectrum of characters. All with their 'flavor'. Whether I like a flavor or not isn't the discussion, rather it's th...

I didn't intend to ramble on for 20 minutes about hunting. And I didn't completely. There are a few spots in here where I digress (or progress?) into a message. I jut didn't punctuate it or capstone it in a final thought stream. Do what you do passionately; with intention and authenticity. Stay vigilante that you don't create narratives that foster and support your own bullshit...

During this past hunting trip I spent countless hours soul searching the harsher aspects of my leadership / personality style.  I know I'm not exactly easy to work for; for many reasons and although not necessarily at all times.  I struggle with communicating. Not communicating what to do or how to do it, but rather communicating the thought processes and bigger picture. Not communicating the...

I just wanted to remind myself aloud to reinforce who I want to be beyond this privacy of my office and microphone. Not a know it all, not an aggressive opinionated prick, and not someone who isn't looking to learn and refine. I share via this podcast in hopes to help people learn to think and ask themselves questions. The podcast I was referring to was Will Grimes and Day One Dollar Zero. Pr...

I came across a post on Instagram from @powerofspeech that is a great way of articulating not allowing your mood majority vote; like I like to say. "Don't exchange what you want most for what you want in the moment." This leads me to circle around and tie conversations about "actions speak louder than words" and "the path to happiness lies through discipline". Th...

This past week I realized I had been getting tense, off balanced, or stressed about things to a greater alarm than typical. Some events planned, some spontaneous, and others happening to me.  I found myself using a variation of a phrase that never felt really proper: "Life got in the way." So, this podcast takes the opportunity to improv the topic even though I've only half digested...

I get a little long in the tooth reminiscing on a formative lesson I learned early on in my Marine Corps career regarding loyalty. It started the process of really thinking about the deeper and finer aspects of relationship bonds vs right & wrong and detangling emotions, convenience, sympathy, laziness, mood, etc... when trying to rationalize. I wanted to use the specifics of a family situatio...

A collection of half developed comments that popped up while on the road the last 12days. It all revolves around what I'm trying to identify as a root cause to some of the problems we face in our lives today.  My identifying isn't to find fault and fix blame, it's more to build a set of items for self investigation into where I add to the problem in my life and where I can start to...

I started out not really having anything much to dig through this week. This led me into trying to develop something for an audience to 'please them powerfully' and it felt less than right.  It then related into trying to be someone that we assume another wants us or would like us to be. Pleasing others in a sort. I make an attempt to pick at that a little and appreciate why personal aut...

This episode started out as a small mini rant, absent strong emotion, and evolved into a reflection. I'm determined to remain tolerant, compassionate, considerate, respectful, and courteous regardless of what is going on for me. Having a sense of personal awareness and social presence seems lost on too many too often.

Hey man, super fragile in sharing this. Not looking for fixes, ideas, pity, sympathy, judgment, help, motivation, worry, or anything. Simply needed to open up and share. My hesitation mostly comes from now, interactions with anyone who has listened will be altered - tedious or over sensitive and awkward. I do have a renewed idea of what my role is in support of others in managing the very same.

I've recognized that I'm pretty critical and judgmental in identifying others' manner recently. It pops up in my thoughts more and more frequently and is less protected through my language than it has been before. Now, I am hyper aware of how it manifests in my advice I try to offer when queried or how I may be unduly reinforcing the same negative patterns in others. At a minimum, I...

Finding myself frustrated with the Government and the loss of civility & collegiality in Politics. It amazes me that there is such an absence in fundamental Leadership and Humanity among the elected to represent the People and Country. And the Media's role in manipulating, sensationalizing, polarizing and preying on the common citizen.

I hope everyone gets through the false close and into the last 90sec thought. Talking my way through my desire to be an extra on someone else's set vs spending more energy on my own main character. Despite trying to bullshit myself that I am fine or don't, there are a handful of indicators and signals that I'm in fault. I feel repurposed and energized moving forward after this one....

A conversation about struggling in the moment and the awareness in it for the small win. Putting a small action together on the heels of the awareness creates a lifting sensation and opens up the opportunity to reinforce a positive pattern in the eventuality of the next struggle.

We recently returned from a cousin's wedding and a flood of memories from childhood regarding family has occupied my mind since. Mostly the greatest and fondest of sorts, but also some hard or uncomfortable ones. Along with those came a tremendous appreciation for the things that make my family so wonderful and how much I value them. I started to entertain thoughts from this on a grand scale...

Just wandering around what the Annual Madness is and why I host it. I had a truly unique and remarkable experience with a cadre of peers while an instructor at the Infantry Officer Course. I was surrounded by the best of the best at our craft and pressed everyday to be better than my best. Somehow somewhere an unspoken something something developed in the way we loved and respected each other. Pre...

So much to unpack in the episode this week. Starting out by calling myself out and then walking through Black & White to reduce Grey Area and circumstantial / exception thinking and mentality. I like being definitive at both ends of extremes and working my way inward to identify where I can spend time developing thought, consideration, and consciousness. I'm not a fan of individuals who h...

Returning from the Keala Leadership Camp, I spent a lot of time thinking about the common theme that young adults need instead of the specific needs of a specific audience/community might have. Holding onto Anger or Hate is an absolute way to inhibit yourself to being present / mindful. Holding onto either is to shackle you to the past. Holding on to Being Cool is another way through tie yourself...

I recently recorded a short podcast for Spartan Race for my Monday show: Spartan Stand. It was about giving first whatever it is you most want out of life. It will always return and then, tenfold. But you can't give it for the sake of it returning, you must give for the pure function of giving. A much hard thing to do at first, especially when introduced the concept. But, you can habituate it...

I find myself longing tremendously for a few things when I am apart from them; not talking about tangible material items. Then, not so conversely, my appreciation and awareness of the value when I'm with them is not so magnificent as the longing was. Or, at least, along the same recognition wavelength. I'm working myself through on what this is all about and how I can influence changes i...

It's easy to automatically assume I mean physically weak and I'm a meathead jerk. Maybe I was a dozen or so years ago when I started using this phrase. But, it means so much more to me today. What I've come to believe is that people who are weak in any of the 4 areas: Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually, & Spiritually; are sucking at life. And, it's not on an absolute /...

Be careful, or you'll misread it again... This week is a short tie in between Ignorance, The Road Less Travelled, The High Road, and Thinking Outside the Box. Not to insult anyone (Over Inflation...) I kept it a touch short to allow space for your own thoughts to keep wrestling. Be critical. I recommend reading the poem by Robert Frost and maybe a few interpretations before using the phrase a...