Stories
Personal Growth Stories and Reflections
Personal growth essays and reflections from SB Chime on resilience, intentional living, relationships, self-awareness, and building a meaningful life.
Trading Learnings
Recently I've been learning futures, forex, and day trading in general. A lot of people comment that trading is a life lesson. A lot of truth in that. Testing your own psychology...
Choice
Recently I've been bringing more intentionality to what I do. Letting go the how, and just taking small steps. That's been my goal in the past, but fear comes in disguised as...
Serenity
If it’s meant to be, it will flow. Sometimes we might experience a lot of difficulty in trying to achieve something that we think we need for ourselves. Surely we can find an...
Group Utility
Our talents are many, and with enough repetition and will we can become great at most things. However, real utility is found in a group or partnership. When we share talents,...
Connected
New waves! New saves. New reels; new days. I’ve welcomed a new chapter of my life, which brings with it the motivation and momentum of my past, but with a new air. One fresh,...
Pushing Myself
More now, than ever before, I’m learning how habits pop up when on autopilot from working more than I’m used to. Life has started to fly at me. It’s one thing after another all...
Back to School
School started this past week, and people couldn’t be happier to be laughing, biking, and studying. Okay maybe not that last one, but people are stoked for sure. There were a...
Uber Everywhere
Uber was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. I’ve been driving for a week, and I swear I’ve seen it all from wealthy people dining with Kevin Hart...
Releasing Emotion
Emotions dissolve when we make ourselves aware of then. To be less emotional, we have to know that we are emotional. How can we experience fewer negative emotions? By becoming...
Create Peace
Presence is important. Without it, we are on autopilot. Life with meaning requires direction, which we receive and deliver when we are conscious. When we are triggered...
Addiction
Why is in that some people have addictive personalities? Myself included, some people push trauma out of their minds by moving from one addiction to the next. It’s possible to be...
Love
Peaks and valleys, waves, roller coaster. Sometimes life and relationships can be described this way. You know, high highs, low lows or just ebb and flow. Until yesterday, that’s...
Peace Within
The inner you! We have a whole world inside of us. A lot of times we might identify with the thoughts and emotions inside our mind and body. However, if we sit quietly and focus...
Joy
Do we have to feel everything? Can we just feel joy all the time? Surely! Human consciousness is evolving. We are all pieces of a greater whole. We each represent a single point...
Affirmations
What story are we telling ourselves? Sometimes we can get so lost in the internal dialogue of how a situation is or will be that we forget that we are actually creating what is...
Details
Details matter. When people make things with quality, it’s easy to tell. Do you want something that is one of a kind or mass produced? Sure, it depends on the quality of...
Feeling
What do we choose to feel? How are we framing our circumstances? Picture a purple elephant. Really draw it in your mind. Maybe have a mouse or a grassland or feed it a peanut....
New ID
If it were easy for people to redefine their identity to what they thought it should be, more people in this world would realign with what they really wanted out of life. The...
Breakthrough
Under pressure! When we’re leveling up and shifting to a greater reality for ourselves, things get hard. To level up, we need to choose to go through defining moments, moments...
TBD
The world is ours! Seriously, anything, but not everything. We have many different potential futures. For example, in one of them we control the world’s supply of gold and in...
Now
Carpe Diem! Seize the Day! Or even better, seize the moment! One of the greatest levels to achieve in personal development is true presence. To know what you want and to actuate...
Vibe
Vibe or vibration is what creates our reality. Let’s define vibration as the result of the actions we decide to take. Vibration over time = what we receive from life! Our actions...
Building your Character
Character is who we are when things work out differently than expected. Personality is who you are when things are normal. To build great character, we have to discipline...
Luck
Luck is a combination of hard work and opportunity, right? We’ve all heard the quote that luck is made and not happenstance. The harder we work, the luckier we are. It’s the...
New
Cold water showers are majorly underrated. Ever woken up feeling tired? Cold water shower. Ever felt not quite like yourself? Cold water shower. Ever wanted to slow your body...
Contradiction
Contradiction — saying what we intend to do and doing something different. We are often between what we know we should do and what is actually happening. For example, we say we...
Identity
Our identity can make or break us. What we determine we are capable of is the false limit that we set for ourselves. In reality, we are bound by nothing, the sky is the limit,...
Finding Clarity
We’re constantly hit with messages of how to spend our time and money. Advertising would like more consumers. People in our lives would like to suggest who we become. With all...
Make the Right Choice
Anybody can make the right decision once or twice — pick the salad instead of the french fries, go to the gym instead of scrolling social media or save money instead of going out...
Achieve What You Desire
Focus and decision are so important. You can do anything you set your mind to, but you can’t do everything. I’ve wrestled with who I want to be for some time, it’s part of...
Home
Italy has given me a whole new lens on life. Traveling certainly expanded my personality and what I now know is possible — living in a beautiful country with perfect weather,...
Piazza Navona
An ancient racetrack and completion grounds with three fountains and the Palazzo Pamphili, the family palace of Innocent X, which is rightfully named a palace with breathtaking...
Up in the Clouds
Sky flying! The way home from Rome to visit with my older brother’s son for his birthday was eighteen hours of joy. I met some cool people, experienced a range of emotions from...
Italian Cuisine
One of my favorite things about Italy has been the croissants, brioche, and the pastries in general. There's tiramisu and cannoli and gelato. It's a tasteful paradise with tasty...
Milano's Art
The shopping in Milano has people here from over the world to out class each other with shows of beauty and status. There are people in full suits, with the latest bag, and...
Milano
Milano! Life in Milano is shopping and older architecture. The appearance of buildings here is more gothic than the other places I have visited in Italy. There is an air of...
Positano
"I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost I walked the Path of the Gods, a famous hike that includes breathtaking landscapes and...
Leonardo’s Platonic Solids
Pure mathematical form and reason is everywhere, from the leaves on a tree to the structure of a bee. The most beautiful things in life are those which appear in perfect...
Amalfi
I'm in Amalfi. Amalfi! The Coast line in Italy here is something to behold. Driving here was like a dream. There's a other-worldly kind of glow that the coastlines hold. It...
Royalty
What life would be like as a prince or some other form of royalty? Waking up to others tending to the beauty of many acres of gardens with statues and brilliantly designed pieces...
Teamwork
Truly great people know that success is determined not by what you, but instead who you know, in a couple different ways. Building anything great requires a group of talented...
Monopoly
Monopolies are good. No really, hear me out here. It would be best to organize all the world's brightest minds on a topic to the same company. Some might say that there would be...
Florence
Florence is a dream. The people, the places, and the cuisine all make me feel at home. The architecture is incredible. Noticing buildings and plazas that have been here for...
Fire Works
What's it all like: walking in a midnight summer's dream. Where nothing is as it seems, but fireworks blast colors across the minds of people who have yet to see what is to be...
Wholesaling
Real estate tends to be the average middle-class American's greatest asset. It seems like the gate keeper of wealth. As soon as people get equity in their first home or property,...
Compromise
I spent the last few days traveling around the Mid-West with my dad and brother. We went to monuments, Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore. We spent time talking in the hot tub, by...
The Sound of Music
Music is the voice of spirit. Music provides an experience in itself. We oftentimes associate songs with memories or times in our life, which also includes emotions. When I...
Justice
I have been thinking a lot about what justice is, and what it means to be a just man because The Republic (Plato) covers this in length. Here's what I've learned so far: Justice...
Dating
I watched a series tonight on intimate relationships. I came away with a few core ideas: We are dating to marry someone. There are many "soulmates". Text people back; don't play...
Acting
I found something funny last week when I overheard someone asking their child to act right. It made me realize that we’re in control of how we feel. We open ourselves to the...
Release
Remember when we were young, and nothing really mattered? Sometimes we would want to stay up late or stay and play with friends, but we didn’t have to think about the past....
Faith
Faith is feeling. Life doesn’t come with many assurances. In the words of Ben Franklin, the only certainties in life are death and taxes. I’m not sure about the latter. Faith is...
Fire
There are moments in our lives where we feel meant for something. We watch our lives play out in cinema-style fashion. We see a greater world, and find ourselves suddenly living...
Relationships
The great joy of success is being able to share it with people. To be able to share our successes with people, we should cultivate healthy personal relationships. Therefore, if...
Habits 2
Habits, Part Two. In the first story about habits, located here , we reflected on what makes healthy habits, and how to choose health physically, financially, mentally and more....
Friends
Friends — a curated group of people who provide a reflection of who you are becoming. Friends are the family we choose.Friends influence us. We become more like our friends and...
Greatness
Greatness comes from determination to be great. We have a culture today bent on encouraging others with rainbows and white fluffy clouds, bus sometimes the most enabling force is...
Habits
Habit — a basic building block of the future we are creating for ourselves. Our habits are bets on a future we desire OR ignorance about the future we are creating by performing...
Success
Want to know how to get what you want? It's simple. Decide what you want, and pursue it. That's it. The problem is that most people don't sit down and take the time to actually...
$Free.99
Ever thought about having kids, or traveling the world? Ever wanted to go to the beach on a Thursday morning or hiking through the trees on a Tuesday afternoon? Have you ever...
Jobs
Jobs. Steve Jobs. One of my idols, and a friend to my spirit, Steven is a brilliant man with extraordinary vision. The man literally changed the world, and, therefore, my life....
Stew
My older brother is a brilliant man. There’s nothing he can’t learn and no task he can’t conquer. His name is Stewart. And not a day passes by without knowing that the man is...
Capable
One of the hardest parts of self development is really knowing ourselves. To see ourselves objectively means to see ourselves as imperfect people looking for more ways to solve...
Stimulus
Stimulus. Life is stimulating. We are driven by two stimuli: pain and pleasure. For example, when we want to do something, but instead procrastinate we are choosing the pain of...
Decide
Decisions create our reality. We make the world through purpose and action. The thread between the purpose and action is decision. Let's explore that 3 step process. First, we...
Expect
Expecting a different outcome from others is what causes resistance in our relationships. When we feel unsettled by something, we can either adjust our expected outcome or the...
Relax
Balance! A great challenge is deciding how to balance time. With so much distraction from social media and the news, it takes conscious effort to stay focused on our daily tasks...
Trials
There are two seasons, trials and harvest. When life is good, enjoy it. We are here to learn lessons and grow our soul. Life will always present challenges because, like a video...
Polish
It's possible to change our lives at any point. We are constantly in charge of what some people call fate. The difficult truth is that it's easy to create our dreams. Thinking...
E-motion
Processing emotions is something most people have yet to master. Although we are living in the safest civilization in recent history, we still are faced with emotional traumas...
Golden Dream
New Heights led by Golden Lights! Making waves is more about moving the ship than it is about deciding to turn the wheel. We are guided by our minds, our thoughts, but the real...
Music
Who are we? When are we actually representing ourselves authentically? When we think of our names, what qualities do we attribute to ourselves? If we are a collection of...
Harvest
Smile! Brighten the day by sharing some joy with the people you meet. It doesn't take hardly anything from us, and it makes a world of difference. When we are excited to see...
Time
Time dilation. What makes your heart sing? How quickly does time pass? When we're bored is time fast or slow? Experience can be dense — action packed. Experience can be light —...
Pleasure
We love to feel good. I mean, who wouldn't? However there's more to life than feeling good. And, if we experience pleasure enough we will come to the conclusion that there's more...
Jump
Let's go! Sometimes we have to jump in. There is no better time than the present. We're always waiting for the perfect moment to do something, and patience is a virtue, but we...
Creativity
"What's your creative outlet?" is a question I spent the New Year asking my closest friends. We were traveling around the state seeing what we could over a couple weeks. We made...
Dawn
Waking up is a metaphor for life. How we start the day sets the stage for the rest of the day. They do literally studies about this stuff. When you wake up, for the first 30...
Impression
Today I learned about first impressions. First impressions are so important because the initial category that someone places you in can be a container that can be hard to escape....
Fame
Fame or going viral is popularized by today and yesterday's movement to social media. Oftentimes it can be easy to dismiss these people as having been 'lucky' or otherwise not...
Plan
Plan to succeed! Planning is what makes the difference between intending to live a great life and actually living a great life. Planning begins with setting goals. First making...
Sex
Sex is the world's strongest creative force. I'm not simply referencing the population growth that comes from being intimate. Sex energy can be repurposed. Instead of being...
Priorities
Prioritization is the difference between seeing your family for the weekend or working. Priorities shift as you age; there's different phases of life. It is natural to want...
Purpose
Live for today! What makes you happy is your purpose. Although discipline is what it takes to achieve your goals, life does not have to be monotonous. Growth necessitates...
Communication
Communication is the key to healthy relationship. Setting boundaries and expecting to be treated appropriately is critical to upholding your self-respect. Honesty requires...
Decisions
Decisions are based on priorities, whether implicitly or explicitly. Trusting yourself enough to make decisions that align with who you are at the core is a skill learned over...
Choices
God gives blessings or lessons. Growth requires both. Lessons means you are course correcting. A blessing is a gift, a break from the teaching that life has to give to us. Some...
Be the Light
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only person who is committed to living a great life surrounded by people that I love and doing what I love for work. It’s 2021 and...
James
Watching a kid run around all day is actually enchanting. It’s hilarious to watch someone run around, play, basketball, eat and generally live for a good time. They need naps and...
Elon
People may have heard of Tesla, the car company of the future, or Space X, the new NASA. Yesterday, their Founder, Elon, became the richest man in the world. When he found out,...
Soul Mate
I write here frequently about passion and purpose. Passion and purpose is like the soulmate of your activity here. I am thinking of soulmate in the following context: there is...
Harmony
Harmony! Two parts (or more) blending together to create a coherent whole. Harmony can be musical, beautiful sound. Harmony can be company busy bodies moving all around....
Lead
Leadership! What does it mean to lead? Before exploring how to lead on an individual level, let’s first explore from a higher level, as in leadership of nations and the world. To...
Sun Rise
Growth is a worthwhile challenge. There's a couple paths when contemplating growth: one path is to do the work to grow and the other path is stagnation; you can expand yourself...
Wealth is Health
What you think you create. If you reflect often on how well you’re doing in a category of your life like relationships, you will attract more of it. Consider this anecdote, I am...
Speak Wisely
Speech does more than change opinions or capture thoughts. The sound the human body makes changes the structure of the people and other living things around it. You can see this...
Cycles
Cycles are natural law. Things tend to repeat themselves over time until the lesson is learned by the interested parties. Take, for example, people who get stuck in a...
Blue < True
What is it in a name? Something like a taste. What’s it like meeting someone with a name you’ve never heard before? Is it different? Do you expect that they might be someone new,...
Sifting through Truth
Hey! So, as some of you know I’m reading Principles by Ray Dalio, which has given me some important insights into what life experience is. There seem to be a bunch of conflicting...
Ocean Swims Within
Halloween! What fun. A time for dressing up, until the day is done. Around 11, I found myself at the store greeted by green hair and purple clothing. I suppose I might as well...
Sensitive Growth
This week was more routine. People tended to bring me to high highs and spending time alone made me feel alone. I’ve been working pretty hard, and trying to take care of the...
Presence
I feel good! I want to share some of the things I’ve been doing as a kind of summary in effort to both document and express what I have found recently to be successful in my...
Eye of the Storm
Today, and this week, I learned about what it means to be in the eye of the storm. It was a relatively busy week, and at times I found myself exhausted by the idea of what I had...
Discipline
This morning, I found myself captured by the idea of progress. How physical progress: the weight you push and sustain can be related to financial progress: the dollars you make...
Espoir
Espoir. It means hope. My neighbors speak French. Today I heard it for the first time while taking my laundry upstairs after the gym. I've been doing the 5:30 routine, and now I...
Greatest Character
One of my secrets to a happy life is meditation. Growing up with a religious background, my parents would have my brothers and I all sit together each night to pray and thank God...
Waking Up
Recently, I’ve been watching videos of successful people and TED (great alternative for content to consume in the evening). Most relevant today is a video I watched about the...
Reaching New Heights
When you’re feeling down or stuck in a thought. There are a couple things to do. First, resolve the thought. If you are unhappy with the way you managed a situation, decide how...
Nature’s Nature
My Dad’s favorite rose is the Double Delight. It’s Delightful. It smells good and is fabulously beautiful - double delight. For as long as I can remember I have had a unique...
All is Well
Not feeling like yourself? Having a day where you feel less than perfect? Like things could be better? Get outdoors! Appreciate the scenery, change your frame of reference....
Forgiveness
Dear Reader, The most worthwhile experiences in life may not be easy. Stepping up and into yourself means forgiving your past. This allows for a more peaceful present and a great...
New Opportunities
Life is a journey. A really pleasant one at times. I find myself appreciating my life more each day. Today was a reflection on new opportunities. You experience every moment...
Physical Health
This week I learned the importance of sleep and generally taking care of yourself physically and how that influences your mental health and therefore your reality as a whole. The...
Trailblazer
There are two paths. Well there are actually many paths, but it is easier to make a decision when you pretend only two exist. The first path is safe, comfortable. It has neither...
King Jesus
This weekend was awesome! I went to the Capitol, Sacramento, with my Dad and Shelly. We prayed, danced, sang, and explored the city. We were there mainly because of Sean Feucht's...
Momentum
Today I swam out to the buoy again. It's become habit for me. I no longer hesitate to do it. I just get to the beach, run in the water, and start swimming. My day started slowly....
Flying up
Letting go is one of the hardest things in my life. I don't like the conclusion of anything whether it be a relationship or an experience I have often had trouble letting go....
Gifts
Hello and welcome back to another night of SB Chime! I'm your host, Kev, and tonight we'll be going through my mind looking for something worth sharing. Finding your gifts can...
Growing up
Hello and Welcome Back to another episode of SB Chime! Today is another day where we don't know where this will lead. Recently I have been eating roughly the same diet daily and...
Pillars
A single pillar stands tall. A man can stand on top of the pillar, and feel tall. Surround the pillar with other pillars and we can build structure on top, and even around them....
Hard Work
Hello! Welcome back to another day of SB Chime. The news today is my hometown is on fire. Really trippy experience to have your Mom call you in the middle of the day and ask if...
Hendry's
Tonight we are talking about my favorite place in the whole world, Hendry's Beach. Tonight I met Alan. Alan is retired and spends his nights around sunset flying his kite. The...
Living in Nutrition
There's something beautiful to be said about taking care of the body. First, that the body will reward you with pleasurable sensation if you maintain it properly. Start by...
Passion and Purpose
Today I took a trip to LA. I started eh day around nine-thirty with a smoothie bowl with mostly Mango, Coconut Milk, and Banana. I added Lion's Mane Mushroom Extract, CBD,...
Beachy
There's something, well everything, serene about being at the beach. The waves crash and people laugh. It's like a warm embrace from the world. When I walk the beach, I...
Skills
Today I learned. I learned watching myself move through my experience and working to express how I feel is the best course. I am clear and moving forward when I am acknowledging...
Identity and Independence
Today I saw family. I had no idea how effectual it is to be greeted by people who love you. Knowing others from your past where you may have focused differently reveals fractals...
Mind is the Beach
Walking through my mind is a gentle stroll through the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The sun is bright and you catch it glistening from the water. The rollercoaster roars with...
Sunny Santa Barbara
Walking up to the pier surrounded by palms I see families and friends, sisters and brothers, bikers and skaters. A cute couple walking by, people siting in the streets, a girl...
Melting Pot
Things have the tendency to integrate. Let us look at this from the perspective of people. When located in the same physical/emotional/mental spaces, people create focus points...