The Courage List.

Good morning you beautiful freaks and geeks.

It's been ~4 months. Can you believe it!? I missed you. Feels like a lifetime has passed. Much has transpired since we last convened:

• I'm 7 months into my facilitator stay at Kumankaya. 7 months of the monastic schedule, without deviation. The best, and hardest, undertaking I've ever done... so far.
• Started and finished my one-month Coca diet.
• Led the 10th Apotheosis Retreat: our first ever Marosa master plant diet.
• Saw my parents in Tulum, who came to see the center as well. That was a special moment for me, the meeting of my parents and my teachers.
• Completed the first Ango containers—my private client practice—with a few gentlemen. Incredible and inspired by what they were able to achieve.
• Shaved my head after 2.5 years of growing my hair.
• Unexpectedly got to meet two readers of this publication in-person at Kumankaya. John & Sam, that was a true joy, thank you!
• A ton of psycho-emotional processing: major reckonings with fear, lust, greed, distraction, virtue, conflict, doubt, shame, compassion, boundaries. The usual suspects.
• Currently 6 weeks into my two-month Shihuahuaco master tree diet.
• Started a total work sabbatical to focus full-time on my upcoming 1-year initiation.
• Found and have been enjoying the 5 Tibetan Rites morning ritual.

Now that we're safely past 'Quitter's Day'—the second Friday of January where 80-90% of new years resolutions have been dropped and forgotten—I want to share a practice for the warriors whose desire for true, lasting change still burns brightly.

A small reminder on my thoughts about new year resolutions:

Plant Your Seeds in Spring.

Aligning with natural cycles makes habit formation 100x easier.

Zen MedicineEric Brown

I did this practice last year, and it transformed every inch of my life:

The Courage List.

Simple in theory. Difficult in practice. Glorious in execution.

The courage list cuts through noise, distraction, confusion, excuses. It is the simple yet challenging path to new levels, new devils, new possibilities.

The practice is simple:

1. Put yourself into a vital, bold, creative state. Breathwork, cold shower, hard workout, ecstatic dance, listen to inspiring music. Whatever it takes.
2. List a few core domains of your life. Career, health, relationships, passions, bucket list. Whatever fits your present reality.
3. Ask yourself, "what is the most courageous thing I could do, that I would do, that I want to do, here?" Aim up. Aim high. Go big. Go bold.
4. Write down what you come up with. Usually, if you're bold, there are one or two core moves that surface.
5. Pick the top 3-4. The few that strike the perfect balance between fear and excitement. The ones you know would change everything if you did them.
6. Spend this year mercilessly focused on completing them. When you've done them, make a new list. Do it again, and again, and again. Do them messy, imperfectly, shaking and quaking in your boots. Consider everything not on this list a distraction, to be reduced or removed entirely.

There are two stellar benefits that come from this:

1. If you do the things on the list, you can end up with a radically transformed life. Starting the project, writing the book, moving countries, messaging that person, leaving your relationship, having the tough conversation, asking for what you want. Whatever it is. You can spend years of your life avoiding things that might only take a day, 2 weeks, or 3 months to do.
2. You cultivate and reinforce the virtue of courage. You begin to embody courage more effortlessly. Although I hope that completing the list will shift your life positively, the outcome of executing it is less important than actually mustering the courage and follow-through it requires.

Zoomed out over decades, building the virtue of courage is far more beneficial than the outcome of any single item on the list.

So what you get rejected? So what you made a mistake? So what the project didn't work? Quite frankly, until you've tried, you'll never know. Maybe—just maybe—things will end up better than you could ever imagine.

May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free from harm. May you be at peace.

May this be your Year of Courage.

Live fiercely,
EB. 🦁

ps: If there's interest (aka new questions), I'd love to do new Q&A posts. First one, second one, third one. If you've got a curiosity, submit it here please. 😄