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In the pursuit of achievement, we're bogged down by the weight of expectations. Modern money-driven society tells us we are aimless—and that this is bad.

They tell us: we must have goals, we must keep score, and we must achieve.

But in the case of the archer, an archer can shoot for the pleasure of shooting, yet when given the task of hitting a bulls-eye... things change.

She must measure herself. She must win. To be content is to be surpassed.

Everyone is an enemy; even her friends are her adversaries. Her life is one of contention, not contentment. Competition, not cooperation.

Modern society tells the archer, she must have a target, or else, how would she satisfy her ego? She will believe of herself: without a target, and without successfully besting her target, she's without worth. She's told: without aim, an archer does not exist.

Yet the archer exists regardless—no matter what she's told...

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We like to think there's a vent for releasing all of our pent-up frustrations—to reset back to zero. That'd be nice, but in the real world, releasing misery tends to feed more misery.

What are we paying attention to? We feed what we put our energy into, and in putting our energy into suffering, we only remind ourselves of the things we wish to forget. Captured in a vicious feedback loop. This is what neuroscientists say.

But there's an old Chinese proverb that says it even better: “The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns you more than him.”

This proverb summarizes around ten hours of reading I had just done. I recorded and deleted several versions of this show, trying to figure out how best to express all the science I had collected on good mental health. But I was overcomplicating things.

Facts and figures are impressive for a day but fleeting. After a while, no one remembers. But stories are built into our DNA. We can recall most fables and parables that we've heard, even if they're from our early youth.

History, actual events, they're quickly forgotten. But legends last for thousands of years.

Why are religions so powerful? More so than the factors that led to World War I? More so than recent history? Because religions are shared through stories.

I remember very few factoids and graphs from high school, but mythology, I remember. Better than any expository essay I could write on mental health is an old Cherokee parable called The Two Wolves. Like many classical stories, its clarity and timelessness come from the use of animal symbology.

However, like it's namesake, there are two versions of this story. And, I'll be telling you both...

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In 1940, Charlie Chaplin put aside the Tramp character to write, direct, and star in "The Great Dictator." Rather than his usual slapstick comedy, "The Great Dictator" was a thoughtful political comedy, that not only satirized but also denounced authoritarianism. In the film, the Barber, played by Charlie Chaplin, is mistaken for Hynkel, the great dictator. Hynkel, being an obvious stand-in for Adolf Hitler. Rather than letting this opportunity of mistaken identity slip through his fingers, the Barber addresses a crowd as Hynkel, to explain that he's had a change of heart. And Charlie Chaplin delivers what many consider to be one of the greatest speeches ever to be recorded. Though "The Great Dictator" was a criticism of the Nazis, it rings especially true today. Because in many ways, the Nazis won. Now, I'm not going to go into the typical storyline about racism in America. No, that's too obvious. What everyone ignores is the not-so-obvious, but the one we're constantly immersed in. Like fish, since Nazi efficiency has become like water, we no longer see it. But it makes sense then that World War II was the marriage of Nazi efficiency and Japanese Imperial efficiency. The Nazis and the Japanese didn't win World War II but in many ways, they won the war of work...

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one).

By chance or good graces, I've been fortunate to have met a number of astounding people. (Or perhaps it was curiosity.) Perhaps astounding people abound if we're curious enough to get to know them.

My life is my think tank, and whenever I stumble across a person who's strong where I'm weak, I ask questions.

From these teachers, I've learned the same lesson over and over again: You have to take chances. Not just once but continuously...

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph

I remember in middle school, I was bullied by this kid named Mike. Now here's the thing about bullying, it's a hierarchical system. Seems like we forget that and retroactively reimagine ourselves at the bottom of the totem—the ultimate victim. But how can every kid be at the very bottom? That would make the bottom the new middle. But nonetheless, that's how bullying makes you feel.

However, just as I was bullied, I probably picked on kids below me as well, especially underclassmen. That's why we all have stories about being bullied, but we never share stories about when we bullied others. It's part of our egocentric worldview, that we are the hero/ victim of our own mental movie and never its villain.

It really is like a food chain. And you never have just one bully. For me, Mike was one of many bullies, and he was far from the worst. The reason I mention Mike is, he was the first bully I learned to befriend. Well, "friend" is a strong word, let's say be friendly with.

One day he was picking on me, and I just didn't get it. You know the story, you didn't do anything to this guy. And being a critical thinker even at a young age, it occurred to me that it had nothing to do with me...

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph

Having its origins in ancient China, rock-paper-scissors is a prime example of the cyclical thinking in Eastern philosophy. Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, and paper beats rock. Most Eastern (and also native) philosophies have that in common: from Taoism to Buddhism—that life is cyclical.

The Western counterparts to Taoism and Buddhism are moralism, dualism, and absolutism. We can see this best illustrated in two variations of the same fairytale: the Eastern philosophical viewpoint in "The Stonecutter" and the Western moralistic viewpoint of "The Fisherman and His Wife" by the Brothers Grimm...

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph

To understand Bruce Lee is to know him not only as a martial performer but also as a Chinese-American immigrant living in America during the fifties and sixties. Lee's heritage, cultural clash, and label as the outsider informed not only his thinking but in how he saw the martial arts—which were to Lee an expression of life...

Books I Read for This Show:

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph

On the surface, The Little Prince is a book about an aviator who crashes in the desert and meets a little boy. Under the surface, The Little Prince is a meditation on loneliness. When one is alone, functions become friends. Life lessons become characters. Ordinary obstacles become beautiful experiences. And effort, even utterly futile effort, is praiseworthy. Not because of utility but because it uses our time. Without conditions, everything becomes worthwhile. When one is lonely, when one realizes that life is absurd, then one is free to look to the abstract for happiness and meaning...

Books I Read for This Show:

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph

From an early age, I was introduced to "kaizen" (改善), the philosophy of continuous self-improvement. At first, it was only to improve my martial arts, then I applied it to every other aspect of my life.

The attraction of martial arts is simple: a small person can beat a big person. It only took me a short time to realize a small person can defeat a bigger person if the smaller person is more efficient. I applied this to everything: to find the best hacks, leveraging the right resources, the most effective methods, to create a flawless system. It took me the rest of my life to realize that wasn't enough...

Books I Read for This Show:

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If you'd like to support my podcast and help me do this full-time, become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/musttriumph (a site where you can monetarily support your favorite content creators). As a thank you, you will get access to bonus episodes along with transcripts for every episode (including this one). If you'd like to do a single donation, you can use Paypal: https://www.musttriumph.com/donate/

You can also find me at https://twitter.com/StuffFromSam and https://facebook.com/musttriumph