The Savage Gentleman

I know what you're thinking, what kind of dark, suicidal article is this?  I promise you it's not.  I'm here to tell you that there is a difference between contemplating death.  Which can have a positive impact, and contemplating suicide.  Which you most definitely need to seek help with. Suicidal thoughts are very serious and if you're having thoughts of self harm, please reach out for support. Okay, now with that said, I want to talk about the necessity of contemplating death in ones own life.  I think the public view on death is that it is something to fear and only think about when you're about to meet your maker.  You see this in life as the overwhelming majority of people suffer immensely with everyday anxieties and stresses.  People walking around worrying about things, that if they really thought about it, don't matter. Have you ever taken a moment to consider if in the grand scheme of things, if your anxieties and stresses really mat...

I've always had an interest in the mental aspect of the human experience.  This led me to pursing an undergraduate degree in psychology and has also the reason why I've spent numerous hours reading and researching the topics of psychology and philosophy.  While I don't consider myself an expert on the topics.  I believe I have an above average grasp on the subject matter.  This grasp has led to numerous changes to my overall approach to life.  Earlier in life, I like most people that didn't put much thought into the pursuit of a meaningful existence.  I was focused on the more superficial aspects of life such as career, money, status and climbing the corporate ladder.  While there isn't anything inherently bad about these things.  I always found that there was always something missing in these pursuits.  If I ever achieved a goal, it always felt meaningless and never really had the intended impact.  This was interesting to me bec...

We live in interesting times.  Western society boasts some of the greatest advances in human history.  We pride ourselves on these advances and call ourselves progressive.  The great majority of people live in comfort almost 100% of the time while chasing endless amount of pleasurable activities.   While many of the advances we see in today's world are beneficial.  It would seem that they have created a variety of problems that most "experts" believe we have never seem before in human evolution.  The interesting thing about human evolution is that if you really dig deep and research it, you will uncover that most things are in fact not new.  They are cyclical.  What we are experiencing in western society has already occurred, just in a different form. Don't believe me?  Let me paint you a picture. Let's go back to 3rd century Europe.  During this age the population of the world was much less and people tended to live in...

There's been a lot of dialogue lately around the state of opiate use within our society.  While I'm not advocating on either side of this complex debate, my aim is to provide more of an understanding of opiates, opiate use and addiction. Let's start with a story...... Throughout my life I've been an active person.  To say that athletics consumed my life was an understatement.  From playing Soccer and Baseball in the spring, to Volleyball, Hockey and Basketball in the fall and winter, I was deeply involved in athletic pursuits.  This endless pursuit lead to college basketball scholarships and two national championships. While I wouldn't trade my experiences in athletics for anything, the regular wear and tear of competitive sports, along with a genetic predisposition led to significant back problems. In 2007 I suffered my first of two back injuries.  I initially herniated my L1/L2 and L2/L3 spinal discs.  Unless you've experienced nerve pain, you c...

Adapt or Die Charles Darwin once said, "it is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptable to change." Now fast forward 130 years.  We now have a world where change and adaptation are completely unnecessary.  A world so soft and automated that the idea of change actually insights fear, panic and anxiety in an overwhelming majority of the population. We are currently living in the pinnacle of human civilization.  Due to technological advances and genius minds, the vast majority of people live a life almost completely free of struggle and adversity.  While human advances have allowed most to reach prosperity.  They don't come without drawbacks.  We now live so comfortably that humans are regressing to a more primitive form.  We are now in the midst of a devolution of human kind.   Adaptation occurs as a result of adversity, resilience and overcomi...

I'll preface this by saying  say that a lot of my opinions do not jive with a popular or mainstream perspective.  However, I've always been a reflective person who has put a lot of emphasis and effort into understanding and assessing myself, analyzing my flaws and developing practices so to improve upon things that I think are weaknesses that need to be addressed. One of the things I have been focused on developing over a number of years is expressing my thoughts and opinions despite the reaction or popularity of those thoughts and opinions.  It's interesting how many times a day I see on social media posts about living your authentic self, expressing your truth and accepting everyone for who they.  It would seem to me that everyone is on board with at least some of the same practices that I also try to implement in my life. It would seem that I am incorrect in this assumption.  What I've noticed though is an interesting circumstance of being authentic....

When did niceness be the only standard that we judge each other on?  On the spectrum of acceptable behavior, when did nice be the ultimate goal? "Be nice" is  bullshit.  We need to stop saying it.  It's bad advice.  Niceness is a slippery slope.  What about situations where being nice is not the appropriate action?  "Excuse me sir, please stop punching my face, I mean I'm being nice" or "Thank you for your verbal abuse, I appreciate your hatred for me and it's greatly appreciated."  See how being nice doesn't always lead to positive interactions?  Maybe we should just stop using it.  Not convinced yet?  Okay, check this out. In psychology "Agreeableness" is considered a big five personality trait.  It can be argued that niceness can be classified under this category.  While having a moderate level of agreeableness helps a person to interact properly in social situations, get along with people or stay out of jail,...