Thank You to All the Women in My Life
Here’s how all the women in my life have helped shape me to become the man I am today… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – March 8th was International Women’s Day and a reminder to me of the incalculable positive influence women have on our world. I can honestly say that the best of who I am as a man and how I show up today is...
Spice Up Your Relationship with a Blind Date
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – My partner and I wanted to do something different and adventurous for Valentine’s Day. So she had this idea about us going on a “blind date”. Where we would meet at a restaurant and bar as if being set up by our mutual friend “Bill”. The idea was to stay totally in character (i.e. as if we had just...
Slow Way, Way Down for Extraordinary Intimacy
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – As I write this I’m sitting in an airport on my way to give a TEDx talk titled: Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shutdown World. One of the central themes of my talk is how, as a fully impotent prostate cancer survivor, I have slowed way, way down for my female partner and what doors to truly...
Becoming a New Warrior Helped Me Find Music Again – by Jim Donovan
by Jim Donovan On my way home from Bedford, Indiana, I knew life would never be the same. I had just completed my NWTA Weekend and was making the eight hour drive from southern Indiana to Pittsburgh feeling elated, exhausted and WIDE OPEN. I had just undergone a profound inner transformation that had yet to settle in. It was on this drive that music unexpectedly reappeared after a decade-long absence. I had spent the previous five...
Don’t Quit – a Message from Dad
by Gregory Tapler My son is at an age where he likes to (and actually can) play organized sports. We decided to move him towards basketball for a number of reasons and he seems to be enjoying it very much. He’s an only child and when he’s at home playing, he commentates his own games. He changes teams, players and keeps score. It’s really enjoyable as a father to listen to his creativity and spirit. When he plays, he has this...
To Be A Man – an interview with Robert Augustus Masters
by Boysen Hodgson Bill Kauth, the co-creator of the New Warrior Training Adventure and co-founder of the ManKind Project sent me Robert Augustus Master’s book “To Be a Man” early in 2015, signed with an inscription: “For Boysen: If, after 30 years, I was to write a book, this would be it! Enjoy – Love Bill” Reading the book, it’s clear why Bill would speak so highly of it. Men’s work has...
“Wifely Duty” and Why So Many Married Women Eventually Prefer No Sex
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – Guys, I have bad news for you. You know the joke “If you want to have sex, don’t get married!”? Well, it’s largely true. And it gets worse. According to an analysis of U.S. Census data, 36% of women living with a same-sex romantic partner in their 40s had been married to a man at some point; among...
How to Eliminate Performance Anxiety Forever
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – The idea of “performance” is part of the very fabric of our culture. It is a goal oriented, comparison based paradigm that affects our behavior on the playing field, at work, as a parent and most intimately, as a lover. It is in the bedroom however that the very notion of performance can wreak havoc...
Out of Our Heads – a film about Men’s Work
by Boysen Hodgson It is not easy or comfortable to overcome cultural stereotypes of masculinity. “Out of Our Heads” is a film about ‘Men’s Work’ similar to that offered by the ManKind Project. Men’s work is about reclaiming the disowned emotion, connection, spirit, and vulnerability that we, as a culture, have made taboo. Generations of rigid enforcement of male roles … the ‘guy...
There is No Such Thing as a Broken Heart
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – A young female friend of mine who is helping me with one of my book projects came to me for some relationship advice. She told me she was scared to tell her boyfriend how she really felt about him – to open up and be authentic and vulnerable. “What are you afraid of happening if you tell him how you...
How to Avoid a Life That Sucks
Here’s a way to make sure that your life never sucks again… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – Let’s face it, we all have a lot to complain about. Maybe it’s our partner who just doesn’t get or appreciate us, the crummy job, the crummy job lorded over by an asshole boss, inequality, inequity, politics, the weather, news, wars, not...
Men and the Fine Art of Surrender
Surrendering to “what is” can be one of the most courageous acts a human being can choose to do—here’s why… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – In most cultures, “surrender” is usually equated with giving up, yielding to the power or control of another, allowing one to be dominated, essentially demonstrating weakness. No wonder it has...
Netflix and the Demise of True Romance
Sharing a Netflix movie doesn’t have to be the highlight of your romantic evenings together. Here’s a way to keep the fires of intimacy burning ever brighter as your relationship matures… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – About the Author Michael J. Russer is a prostate cancer survivor who was left completely impotent as a result of...
Dads, Sons and “The Talk”
Dad’s giving their sons “The Talk” are often moments of extreme discomfort and hilarity – here is one such case… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – One of the more interesting, and often humorous, rites of passage as a Dad is having the “talk” with their sons about “The Birds and the Bees”. Thankfully, the one I had with my son was so...
Chasing the Rainbow of Life Purpose
Here’s how to redefine your “purpose” in a way that makes it instantly accessible no matter what you do in life… – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – The idea of “finding my purpose” has haunted me my whole life. I’ve always felt incessantly – even compulsively, compelled to determine “what am I here on this...
Three Ways to Kill the Rut of Routine and Revive Your Romance
At some point most relationships end up in the rut of routine, here is a sure-fire way to get out of it and stay out for good. – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – Ever drive to work only to arrive and remember little if anything about the details of how you got there? That is one of the ways routine shows up in our lives. We put things...
How to Melt Anyone’s Heart in 10 Seconds Flat
– – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – How does one go from being totally shut-down most of their adult life to living fully heart open and connected? For me, it requires doing one simple daily exercise to keep me in my heart. And, as a side benefit, it also opens the hearts of others –all in 10 seconds or less. This is so simple you...
Presence vs. Performance in the Pursuit of Extraordinary Intimacy
The obsession with male performance in the bedroom is a misguided intimacy killer and here’s what you can do about it. – – – See the author’s TEDx Talk on Creating Extraordinary Intimacy in a Shut Down World – – – Conventional wisdom tells us that great performance in the bedroom means you’re more of a man. The main thing to remember is that women want a guy who can go at it for hours...
The One Secret to Feeling Totally Alive
The way to feel totally alive is actually quite simple (but not necessarily easy) and it boils down to making just one choice… – – – I recently watched a “B” adventure / comedy that provided some unlikely hidden wisdom. While neither the acting nor story were all that great, something did catch my attention. The main character was essentially a loser limo driver with failed dreams of being an actor. A big part of his problem was how...
The Way of Transformation
Excerpted from “The Way of Transformation: Daily Life as Spiritual Exercise” (London: Allen & Unwin, 1988) by Karlfried Gras von Durkheim The man who, being really on the Way, falls upon hard times in the world will not, as a consequence, turn to that friend who offers him refuge and comfort and encourages his old self to survive. Rather, he will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help him to risk...
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     The ManKind Project® is a global nonprofit education and training organization dedicated to helping men find and live the best of who they can be as men. We support over 1000 men's groups in over 10 countries around the world. Our flagship training is the New Warrior Training Adventure. Over 58,000 men have stepped out of their comfort zones to make a better life for themselves and their families. |
