Bruce Lee Podcast

"The mind is a fertile garden – it will grow anything you wish to plant – beautiful flowers or weeds. And it is with successful, healthy thoughts or negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind, for they are the weeds that strangle confidence." Bruce Lee had a really strong practice of planting seeds of beautiful flowers in the fertile mind. Often we have people come into the office to look through Bruce's journals and they wonder where his writings on his doubts and struggles are, and Shannon tells them that these don't exist. Bruce had a regimented practice of keeping his mind on the things that he wanted instead of the things he didn't. Bruce would turn anything that did not feel like success into a learning moment, converting it into something that would lead towards success. He would keep focused on the things that he wanted saying: "You will never get anymore out of life that you expect." Optimism takes effort, it is a practice, especially in the face of difficulties. "If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed." If you're constantly worrying about all the possible bad scenarios, it takes you out of the moment. These "what if" scenarios might never happen, but they can distract and worry us. "Suffering is mostly self-manufactured." "Suffering itself does less to afflict the senses than the anticipation of suffering." The mind is neutral but it will grow anything you plant, including negative or positive thoughts. "One who is possessed by worry not only lacks the poise to solve his own problems, but by his nervousness and irritability creates additional problems for himself and those around him." Every time we retell our problem stories to others, we are putting that negativity on that person too. "Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality." "Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind." Take Action: Become aware of your negative thoughts. Know what they are, think about any place in your life where you are struggling. Take anything you are having negative thoughts about and make a list on a piece of paper. Then on the other side of the paper take the time to write the negative thoughts as positive ones. Example: Change "I don't have enough money" to "I am in the process of finding a way to make more money." You can return to this list to affirm what you want. #AAHA This week our #AAHA shout-out goes to Chinese American Steven Ho, martial artist, stunt coordinator, stuntman, director, writer, co-founder of interior design firm, and member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He has followed his passions with a positive attitude, and he came to prominence in martial arts as one of the first martial arts tricksters in open martial art competitions. He is well regarded for his stunt work as Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He and his wife founded Plush home, a successful interior and furniture design firm. Steven, we admire your positive, Bruce-like energy, and we want to say you're awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week we our moment is from listener Anthony S.: "I've recently graduated college at the untraditional age of 28 and sometimes it's difficult to stay motivated, often feeling like "my time is running out" I have many ambitions and I only seem to get to the "dream phase" of what my life could be. These messages you share give me hope in a way to say to myself "it's never too late," and I am grateful for that…I firmly believe if I engrain or instill your father's message over and over my subconscious will take over and I will follow my own path to happiness and peace of mind." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee often carried notes to himself or affirmations on notecards in his wallet. One of these read: "Be aware of our conditioning. Drop and dissolve inner blockage." "Inner to outer – we start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions." We are all raised in a culture, whether it is a family, community, or national culture. We all have a way we view the world depending on how we entered or experienced it as a child. When Bruce says, "Be aware of our conditioning," he is saying that it is good to acknowledge and be aware that we are not bias free. Drop and dissolve inner blockage by freeing yourself from things having to be a certain way. This returns to the concept: "Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation." We start by dissolving our inner attitude, not by altering our outer conditions. "Do not have an attitude; Open yourself and focus yourself and express yourself. Reject external form that fails to reject internal reality." One of our current dominant cultures is the workplace and we let it seep into our personal life more and more. "One should get rid of the obtruding self and apply himself to the work to be done as if nothing particular were taking place at the moment." You don't have to have a rigid framework around everything, take off the rigidity and just do what you need to do. "The mind itself is endowed with infinite mobilities that know no hindrances. " It's clear that these philosophies were helpful to Bruce Lee, especially because during the time Bruce was alive and working towards his goals, other people were constantly putting limitations on him. "Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out as it will." Bruce was in a whole practice of Mind, Body, and Spirit. His gateway into this mental and spiritual experience was through martial arts and teaching. "Man's mind and his behavior are one, his inner thought and outer expression cannot contradict each other." Many of us have personas or masks for every situation and it can be exhausting. Dissolve your attitude and judgment; take off the masks to let your true spirit out. Take Action: Ask this: Can I take off the masks? Can I be myself no matter where I am? Take a step back and ask what your heart really wants. Try being truthful with your spirit and dissolving your attitudes. #AAHA This week our #AAHA shout-out goes to Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and youngest Nobel Prize Laureate. She's best known for her human rights advocacy for the education of women in Northwest Pakistan where the local Taliban had banned girls from attending in school. In 2009, when she was 11, Malala wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life during the Taliban occupation. In 2012, the Taliban made an attempt on her life. That murder attempt sparked an international outpouring of support for her. She has since started the nonprofit the Malala Fund, has co-authored a book "I am Malala", been the subject of numerous documentaries, and been on Time magazine. The most important thing is that Malala has become a voice against the suppression of children and women and for education as a right. Malala, as everyone already knows, you're awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week our moment comes from Darrel M.: In my spare time I run RPGs (D&D) well I run a Star Wars version. We are having great fun, and this campaign I have introduced a character based on Bruce Lee. It has been fun to try and translate his philosophy into the game. In fact we had a rather long debate (in my gaming group) about the Dark Side, evil, morality, and the like. This made me stop and consider what I had learned from your Bruce Lee podcast…" Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

This week we sit down with journalist Charles Russo, author of "Striking Distance: Bruce Lee & the Dawn of Martial Arts in America." His book covers Bruce Lee's early years as a young martial artist in San Francisco and his polarizing effect as a brash upstart in the Bay Area martial arts scene of the 1960's. Charles Russo's interest in Bruce Lee started with his fascination of the history of the Bay Area (San Francisco, CA.) Russo was sitting in his photojournalist class and another student was sharing images of Chinatown, including a picture of the Chinese Hospital stating that that was the hospital where Bruce Lee was born. Russo says, "It blew my mind…how come no one had every told me that Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco?" It instantly made San Francisco that much cooler and interesting, but he was indignant that no one was celebrating that fact. So he decided to look into that story. Once Charles started looking into the story of Bruce Lee and San Francisco, he found a treasure trove of forgotten history. Bruce's Bay Area years in the 60's mark the origins of martial arts culture in America. And the small group of young martial artists he collaborated with would collectively create the modern martial arts movement. Striking Distance chronicles the old guard of the San Francisco martial arts masters as well as Bruce's influential friendship with James Lee and the young bucks of Oakland trying to modernize the old styles. Russo also tells the dramatic story of the friction Bruce had with the established Chinatown martial arts community resulting in that famous showdown fight in Oakland that inspired Bruce Lee to create his own martial way called Jeet Kune Do. We also discuss who actually won that famous fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man--Bruce's scientific street fighting versus traditional flamboyant style. Charles also tells us why Bruce Lee is one of the philosophical godfathers of MMA. #AAHA (Awesome Asians and Hapas) Charles Russo had two #AAHA shout-outs for us. His first shout-out goes to his friend and colleague Sara Hayden, a young hapa journalist who helped Russo with editing his book. Sara is currently working on a project called The Silk Knots Project, which documents and preserves the stories of Asian Americans and Hapas in the American West. Russo's second #AAHA shout-out goes to his childhood friend Korean American Brian Leo, a visual artist in NYC. Leo's work is "garage-pop surrealism" and you can view his work at brianleo.com. Sara and Brian—you're awesome, keep up the amazing work! #BruceLeeMoment Russo shares that since working on his book, he has had many #BruceLeeMoments. Specifically, when he was watching the Netflix show "The Get Down" and seeing the character Shaolin Fantastic who wears a Bruce Lee belt buckle, how Bruce Lee is viewed as the badass cool in the early hip-hop community. Russo thinks of the Bruce Lee quote, "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, make something uniquely your own," as he's watching the early DJs discuss isolating the break beat parts of records and making something uniquely their own. Russo realizes this embodies exactly what Bruce Lee was talking about. He now recognizes so many of Bruce's ideas influencing culture and that we are just now understanding the ideas he was talking about over 50 years ago. You can purchase Charles Russo's book here: "Striking Distance: Bruce Lee and the Dawn of Martial Arts in America" Share your #AAHA and #BruceLeeMoment recommendations with us via social media @BruceLee or email us at [email protected]

Bruce Lee often carried around philosophical ideas written on small index cards as reminders throughout his day. One of these was: "Inwardly, psychologically, be a nobody." To him, this meant, get the ego out of the way, have some detachment, and be a blank slate--a human being first. That way you can approach each situation anew with fresh eyes. Be as neutral as you can be. "Establish nothing in regard to oneself. Let things be what they are. Move like water, rest like a mirror, respond like and echo, pass quickly like the nonexistent, and be quiet as purity." As an active person with big goals, Bruce often encountered obstacles throughout his day and quotes like this helped center him and maintain his flow. "I must give up my desire to force, direct, strangle the world outside of me and the world within me in order to be completely open, responsible, aware, alive." This is not to say you should not exercise your willpower, it's to say that your willpower should be connected to your essence and your heart. "It is to see things as they are and not to become attached to anything – to be unconscious means to be innocent of the working of a relative mind – when there is no abiding of thought anywhere on anything – this is being unbound. This not abiding anywhere is the root of our life." Be in response to everything in the moment. Be free of masks and identities. If we get too attached to any identity, it takes us into a direction away from our essential humanity. "My only sure reward is "in" my actions and not "from" them." "You cannot hurt that which is formless. The softest thing cannot be snapped and emptiness be confined." "To be consciously unconscious or to be unconsciously conscious is the secret of nirvana. The act is so direct and immediate that intellect finds no room here to insert itself and cut it to pieces." Take Action: Be a nobody and go on a social media diet. What does it feel like to go on a break from their outward projection of identity? Another step is to write down this quote, "Inwardly, psychologically, be a nobody." and carry it around for a week and use it to help you navigate situations without ego. #AAHA This week our #AAHA shout-out goes to Chinese contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei. He was the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. From 1981 to 1993 he lived in the U.S. and studied briefly at Parsons School of Design in NYC. He began experimenting with art by altering ready-made objects. In 1993, Ai returned to China after his father became ill. This is when he started doing his first architecture projects. In 2008, there was an 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the Sichuan province and Ai led a team to survey and film the post-quake conditions. Ai felt that the government lacked transparency in revealing the names of the students who perished in the earthquake and so he launched a "Citizens' Investigation" to compile the names of the victims. He has been viewed very harshly by he Chinese government because of his activism and was held for 81 days without any official charges being filed. We just want to applaud Ai Weiwei for his courage and for being a real artist in the world. We think you're awesome Ai Weiwei! #BruceLeeMoment This week's moment comes from listener Carrie L. M.: "I think what moves me most, is the commitment to not just present Bruce Lee's material accurately, but that you both are very congruent and committed to your personal growth not only in the process of presenting this legacy, but in yourselves. This adds an element of integrity to the cast which makes it even more of a powerful force in passing forward the wisdom Bruce honed and mastered over the years." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee played many characters that were unassuming and didn't want to get into fights, but then could kick everyone's butt in 10 seconds when he needed to. As a small Asian man, no one expected that sort of power from him. Because of the characters he played, many people think of Bruce Lee as an Underdog who became a Top Dog through dedicated training. He gave everyone who felt underestimated or undervalued hope and strength. In this episode, we talk about Bruce Lee's broader philosophical ideas of The Underdog and the Top Dog. An Underdog is a person thought to have little chance of winning a fight or a contest; a person who has little status in society. And the Top Dog is usually an aggressive Alpha-type person. Bruce called the Top Dog and the Underdog the "two clowns" of our personality. "The Top Dog usually is righteous and authoritarian; he knows best. He is sometimes right, but always righteous. The top dog is bully and works with "you should' and "you shouldn't." The top dog manipulates with demands and threats of catastrophe, such as – "I you don't, then…you won't be loved, you won't get to heaven, you will die…" and so on." "The Under Dog manipulates with being defensive, apologetic, wheedling, playing the crybaby, and such. The underdog has no power. The underdog works like this, "I tried my best; I can't help it if I fail. I have good intentions." So you see the underdog is cunning, and he usually gets the better of the top dog because the underdog is not as primitive." "So the top dog and the underdog strive for control. They strive for each other for control. The person is fragmented into controlled and controller. The inner conflict is never complete because both the top dog and the underdog fight for their life." People often view Bruce Lee as a perfectionist, but he was actually against perfectionism as the ideal. "The ideal is a yardstick which gives you the opportunity to brow beat yourself, to berate yourself and others. Since this ideal is an impossibility, you can never live up to it. You are merely in love with this ideal and there is no end to the self-torture, the self-nagging, self-castigating. It hides under the mask of "self-improvement." It never works." At the bottom of his essay on the Underdog and the Top Dog, Bruce writes: NOW = EXPERIENCE = AWARENESS = REALITY Take Action: Do you identify more strongly with Underdog or Top Dog? Can you identify the two sides within yourself? Once you notice where you let the Top Dog out or the Underdog out, try in that moment to reel it back to create more space and resist the habitual reaction. #AAHA This week our #AAHA shout out goes to Tony Award Winning playwright, screenwriter, and theater professor David Henry Hwang. His early plays dealt with the role of the Chinese American and Asian American in the modern world. David has won many awards including the Obie Award for FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) and was the first Asian American playwright to win a Tony Award for his play M. Butterfly. After that he became a frequent collaborator as a librettist with world-renowned composer Philip Glass. In 2014, David premiered his play Kung Fu about the life of Bruce Lee at the Signature Theater Off-Broadway. David has done a lot of amazing work and is excellent at shining a light on the depictions of Asians and Chinese in America. We think you're awesome David Hwang! #BruceLeeMoment This week our moment comes from listener Tommy N.: "Listening to the podcasts and stretching, meditating, cooking organic food, going to the market, creating new recipes, really going with the flow and bettering myself, I realize that Bruce Lee was able to realize the 'Buddha' potential and was able to work daily on cleansing the mind, body, spirit, of uncleanliness that pervades our 'toxic' 'ecosystem environments." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee lived his life as a human being who was connected to all of humankind—one unified family on this planet. He said, "You know how I like to think of myself? As a human being. Because under then sky, under the heavens, there is but one family." What we need, especially in these divided times, is a message of unity and connection. Bruce Lee has a way of uniting people, and his fans are global. We continue to hear stories of how Bruce has affected so many different people from all around the world. One such story is about the town of Mostar in Bosnia, After years of enduring a violent civil war, they finally reached peace and wanted to build a monument that symbolized this new peace. They decided to construct a statue of Bruce Lee as a "symbol the whole community could rally behind" and a "monument to the idea of universal justice, one idea having that justice, knowledge, honesty, good intentions can fight against corruption, evil, ignorance." To many people around the world, Bruce Lee symbolizes an energy of universal justice because he lived with integrity, advocated for the underdog and dedicated his life to self actualization and being in harmony with his fellow man, his community and the planet. No matter where Bruce was in his life, his close friends said he always treated people the same and authentically—no matter who they were. His wife Linda would say that Bruce looked at everyone evenly. "Wisdom does not consist in trying to wrest the good from the evil but in learning to "ride" them as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves." "The world is to be seen as an inseparable, interrelated field, no part of which can actually be separated from the other. Oppositions are mutually dependent instead of mutually dependent instead of mutually exclusive, and there is no longer any conflict between the individual man and nature. That is, there can be no bright stars without dim stars, and, without the surrounding darkness, no stars at all." Take Action: Think of something you can do to create unity energy in your life and try to take action towards it. Think of a person who you would normally have judgment for, and try to have compassion for them instead. #AAHA Allen Joe is credited with giving Bruce Lee his first set of weights and inspiring Bruce to build up his body. Allen trained under Ed Yarick with such luminaries as the four Mr. America Body Building Championships: Clancy Ross, Jack Delinger, Roy Hilligenn, and Hercules-actor Steve Reeves. In fact, Allen was the first Asian to win the Mr. Northern California Bodybuilding Championship in 1946. He is also a World War II veteran, Allen currently 94 years old says, "you can never forget Bruce, once you have met him" and indeed, he still carries a picture of Bruce in his wallet. #BruceLeeMoment This week's moment comes from Khnum "Stic" Ibomu (dead prez): "I am a hip hop artist and producer (dead prez), and Bruce Lee's legacy and philosophy has been one of my greatest inspirations. I am writing this letter to express my sincere gratitude for the impactful work you are doing to continue sharing the legacy of your father in a way that is tremendously helpful for others. I can't put into words how much of an inspiration and personal contribution he has made and continues to make in my life. I truly appreciate the podcast and how much love goes into sharing his philosophy and making the concepts tangible and actionable. Bruce's wisdom is immeasurably valuable and your eloquent unpacking has given me new layers of perspective and invigoration. Thanks to Bruce's inspiration, I realized that I am not limited to fit in any one box and I've been able to explore and develop many aspects of my self from the "no way as the way" Philosophy I have adopted from His teachings." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Truth was an important concept to Bruce Lee and it shows up often in his journal entries. But the way he used the word "truth" was not to describe a fact or to be the opposite of a lie. He wrote about a deeper, more of a philosophical, spiritual definition of truth—a concept close to the Tao. It's why we're calling it The Real Truth. "The word Tao has no exact equivalent in the English language, to render it into way, principle, or law, is to give it too narrow of an interpretation. Although no one word can substitute for its meaning, I have used the word truth for it." Bruce understood Truth to be the Tao or the way of the universe. Truth is nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and there a little bits of Truth in all things. This is the way of nature. "Truth is a pathless road, a road that is not a road. It is total expression that has no before or after. How can there be methods and systems by which to arrive at something that is living? To that which is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way, a definite path but not to that which is living." The Real Truth is something that's alive, something that we are in relationship with, and happening in the present moment. "Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody. It is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything." "I've said before truth is nowhere to be found on a map, your truth is different than that of mine. At first you might think that this is truth, but later you discover another truth and the former truth is denied, but you are, in fact, closer to truth. Perhaps when we have found more about what is not the truth we will be that much closer to the truth." A core tenet of Bruce Lee's philosophy is independent inquiry. "We shall find the truth when we examine the problem. The problem is never apart from the answer; the problem is the answer." If you are moved to this path of Truth, you will come up against established ways and you'll have to confront your own biases. It's ok to hold on to your truths, but you should check in regularly with yourself to see if they remain true. "I'm a changing as well as ever-growing man." Take Action: Are you a seeker? Do you want to be a seeker? Acknowledge that you're a seeker and on this path to truth and freedom. Tackle one judgment or cultural context that you were raised in and be in inquiry with it. Are you happy in your everyday life? What shifts can you make to amplify your joy? #AAHA This week our #AAHA is Japanese artist and writer Yayoi Kusama. She has worked in a wide variety of media: painting, sculpture, collage, performance art, and environmental installations. She was a part of the pop art movement and influenced Andy Warhol, and exhibited alongside them but did not receive very much recognition during the 1960s. Kusama is now recognized as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan. In 2008, Christies's New York sold a work for her for $5.1 million, then a record for a living female artist. Major retrospectives of her work have been held at the MOMA, the Whitney Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Hirshhorn Museum. Her Infinity Room exhibit is currently on display at the Broad in Los Angeles. Yayoi Kusama, you are so awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week's moment comes from listener Bruce P.: "I just wanted to say thank you for the great podcasts. I am a hospice chaplain and I obviously deal with grief all day long on a daily basis. Shannon's frequent laughter as she discusses Bruce's philosophy and daily life certainly helps me break out of the oppressive spiraling memory of what I have just witnessed at the bedside of a patient. Thank you for the refreshing dialogue and thought provoking discussions presented in such an entertaining way." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Taky Kimura once wrote Bruce Lee a letter saying that the students at Bruce's Gung Fu studio were asking for more techniques. Bruce wrote back that they didn't need "more" but to go deeper into the practice and expand the students' imagination: "First and foremost I would like to impress a most important rule of teaching in your mind and that is the economy of form. Follow this rule and you will never feel like you have to add more and more so-called sizzling techniques to keep your students interested." "I hope I have impressed in your mind a most important rule of our style. Stick to the program I have given you, use variety, and do not worry too much that your student need more and more to stay with you. True only if they can do perfectly all that you've taught them. Remember, the idea that one has to come in thousands of times in order to perfect one judo throw. And of course, use your own experience and imagination, and you will do well. I have faith in you, Bruce." Bruce was trying to communicate the difference between experience and imagination or another way he expressed this ideas was knowledge and knowing. "Knowledge is from a source, from an accumulation, from a conclusion, while knowing is a movement, is a constant movement. Therefore there's no static state, no fixed point from which to act. Knowledge is binding but the movement of knowing is not binding." When you're stuck in a set pattern, this is where imagination comes in and asks: What if this is not true? Where can this lead instead? Imagination expands the experience to infinite possibilities. Imagination can feel really big or fantastical, but just by questioning something you are using your imagination and seeing something that wasn't there before. "If you learn concepts, if you work for information, then you don't understand, you only explain. When a man is thinking, he stands off from what he is trying to understand." Go ahead and learn the knowledge—even master the knowledge, but also apply it to the real world, test it out and see how you can modify it to fit your own needs. Cut away all that is not essential until it fits you perfectly. Bruce Lee always customized ideas or practices to fit his own mind body and spirit. "Remember, I am no teacher. I can merely be a signpost for a traveler who is lost; it is up to you to decide on the direction. All I can offer is an experience, but never a conclusion. So even what I have said needs to be thoroughly examined by you." Take Action: Test a formula or conclusion that you have. How can you customize it? Where are you finding yourself bored? Inquire as to why you're bored. #AAHA (Awesome Asians and Hapas) This week our #AAHA is Inbee Park who is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. In 2013 and 2014 she was ranked #1 in the world and has won seven major championships in her career. She is the youngest player to win the Women's US Open and the second player to win the Women's PGA Championship three years in a row. In 2016, she won the first Olympic gold medal since 1900 in the women's individual tournament. Inbee you're killing it, and we think you're awesome! #BruceLeeMoment This week's #BruceLeeMoment comes from Ven: "After hearing your podcast on Bruce's Lee poetry I simply had to write to you both. I remember you both mentioning the importance of expressing yourself to the ones you love. Whether that be through writing a poem about that person or just generally breathing life into the feelings you have inside about them in some way. Well for me, I wrote a song about my long-time girlfriend of four years, LeCreshia. I released the song on my social music sites in honor of my true and genuine appreciation for her for sticking with me all these years." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

Bruce Lee embodied so much confidence both onscreen and off that you might have assumed that he was born that way. But in fact, self-confidence was a trait he practiced and cultivated with clear intention and a daily ritual. "I know, through the principle of auto-suggestion that any desire I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object. Therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence. I have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment." In these 10 min, Bruce would reference his daily affirmations and visualize succeeding, and then he would take action. Another part of his confidence practice was not being dependent on the approval of others or letting their criticism hold him back. "The spiritual power of man's will removes all obstacles." "Action is a high road to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open all energies toward it and its rewards are tangible." "Remember my friend, it's not what happens that counts but how you react to it. Your mental attitude depends on whether you make it a stepping stone or a stumbling block." "Suffering itself does less to afflict the senses than the anticipation of suffering." "Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts all problems are brought into existence, drop them." If you have faith in yourself, then all of these worries and anxieties will dissipate. "Persistence, persistence, persistence. Just don't give up. The power can be created and maintained through daily practice, through continuous effort." "Because one's self-consciousness is too conspicuously present over the entire range of ones attention, one should get rid of the intruding self and apply himself to the work to be done, as if nothing in particular were taking place at the moment." "What does self-willed mean? Hell, isn't it knowing that one is the captain of ones soul, the master of one's life? Accept responsibility for yourself." "Success means, doing something sincerely and wholeheartedly." Take Action: Make a 10 min. daily practice of putting your thoughts towards your goals, saying your affirmations aloud, honestly praising yourself, and willing yourself to take action. Turn this into a journal entry and pick one action item that will help you towards your goal. #AAHA This week's #AAHA comes as a recommendation from listener Jeronimo, thank you Jeronimo for telling us about Mark! Mark Bustos is a Fillipino American who is a hairstylist for an elite salon in NYC with a celebrity client list and provides free haircuts to the homeless. His idea is simply to give back. Mark says, "Whether I'm giving one at work or on the street, I think we can all relate to the haircut and how it makes us feel. We all know what it feels like to get a good haircut." We want to say thank you for gifting your talents, you're awesome Mark! #BruceLeeMoment This week's #BruceLeeMoment comes from Thomas: "The big, intimidating problem, high on speed and blocking the door, walking toward me demanding money, also indicating he has a gun. As terrified as I am I realize that this is what I have been training for all my life. a moment of crisis; a possible injury or death. I remember my lessons which I take as don't define this moment, be free of my ideas of this being bad or good, of facing death or the threat of dying with dignity. Be a lesson in how you care for this moment. Because he is too high, he is in danger of harming all of us, me, my girlfriend and her father who may return any moment, and himself. His actions show me he is not able to take care of us, so it is my responsibility to care for us all." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at [email protected] Find the full version of our show notes at BruceLee.com/podcast

"Being a real human being" is a concept that comes up often in Bruce's writings, he didn't want to be considered just an actor or a martial artist, but as a human being who was growing, evolving and creating. "The function and duty of a quality human being, is the sincere and honest development of potential and self-actualization." "Do you know how I like to think of myself? As a human being. Because under the heavens, under the sky, there is but one family." There is a unifying quality to Bruce Lee that connects us on a human level. This unifying philosophy is needed now because of the divisiveness among people in the world. "The simple truth is that these opinions on such things as racism, are traditions which are nothing more than a formula that was laid down by elder peoples experience. As we progress and time changes, it is necessary to reform this formula. I, Bruce Lee, am a man who never follows these formulas of the fear mongers. So no matter if your color is black, or white, red or blue, I can still make friends with you without any barrier." "If I say that everyone under the sun is a member of a universal family, you may think that I'm bluffing and idealistic. But if anyone still believes in racial difference, I think he is too backward and narrow. Perhaps he does not understand man's equality and love." "I'm not one of those guys who can just brush people off. If I can take a second to make someone happy why not do it? A person cannot forget someone who is good to them." Most of our anxiety and pain comes from feeling disconnected and just little moments of empathetic human interaction can make us happier and feel like a human being. "Sensitivity is not possible if you are afraid." "The point to be made about ego is that man should use his ego and not be used by ego or blinded by it." "Don't have an attitude, open yourself, focus yourself, express yourself, and in doing that connect with people so that they can share in the expression of who you are." Take Action: How do you move through the world? Are you open to growth and change? Do you think of people as the "other"? If you find yourself feeling fearful about human connection and vulnerability, why is that? Try to just smile at another person. Find small ways to open the door a little. Pick someone who you already like and share with them something you appreciate about them. If you go out into the world with the view that we are all one family, how does that change how you interact with the world? #AAHA This week we have an #AAHA nomination of Tyrus Wong from listener Lauren L.: "I would like to nominate the late Tyrus Wong for the #AAHA segment of your podcast. In his 106 years of life, he was an incredible artist; of paintings, murals, and kites. He comes from rough beginnings where, at the age of nine, he immigrated with his father from China. His career as a designer, illustrator, and storyboard artist for Hollywood was most certainly no cake walk; especially as an Asian man in his profession during the 1930's-1960's. The number of times he had faced discrimination and being called "chink" is hard to keep track of. Despite the struggles, Tyrus did succeed in his field. He was the storyboard artist for a number of notable live-action films like "Rebel Without a Cause" and he was the head artist on the Disney animated film, "Bambi." #BruceLeeMoment This week's #BruceLeeMoment comes from Thinh L.: "The episode "Medicine for my suffering" thoroughly resonates with me. Early 2012 I developed a spinal condition known as spondylolisthesis, in which one vertebra in my lower back becomes disjointed from the other. Like the quote says, "the ailment came from within myself". I was my own worse enemy in this instance. But I also realized that I was my own best medicine." Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #Take Action progress with at [email protected]. The full version of the show notes is at BruceLee.com/podcast