US Navy Seal David Goggins grew up bullied by his father and classmates.  He was poor, friendless, and basically unloved.

His youth was spent in misery until the day he realized that no one was going to help him.  He had to become hard.  Harder than anyone.

Since then he’s finished some of the most challenging military training in the armed forces and numerous ultra endurance races.

Say what you want about him – he exudes bravado and talks with excessive profanity – but he has found a way to be his best.  (Listen to him on the Finding Mastery podcast)

There are times in life I feel like I’m living clean and purposeful.

And then I find myself mindlessly eat a box of girl scout cookies.  Or realizing that’s it’s been two weeks since I’ve gone for a run or had more than seven hours of sleep.

I’m learning that what they teach in meditation is how I need to approach life.  When focus slips and my mind wanders, I need to notice it, reset, and refocus.

We never entirely banish our demons.  The best of us merely learn to live above them.