the ‘resume’ vs. the ‘eulogy’
10 books that made my year
Reading as a child was a beautiful thing. I would take adventures to other worlds through The Magic Treehouse, nod off with my friend Artemis Fowl and cozy up before bed with my brothers, listening to the tales of a certain famous wizard who need not be named. Continue reading “10 books that made my year”
a picture is worth 1000 words
There is a beautiful moment, in the wing of many hospitals where people are in palliative care. The moment is one of memory, remorse, joyfulness, love and regret.
the way of the warrior
“The perfect blossom is a rare thing, you could spend your life looking for one and it would not be a wasted life…”
Bushido – the way of the warrior. Continue reading “the way of the warrior”
on daily meditation
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth” Continue reading “on daily meditation”
readers are leaders
A book is a dream that you hold in your hand. – Neil Gaiman
fight or flight
There is a moment of turmoil between my alligator brain and my conscious brain each and every morning. I feel I am not alone.
The turmoil occurs at the precise moment my alarm clock begins to sound and I am to make the decision on whether to get up immediately, press snooze or spend 20+ secs thinking about how crazy my day is going to be and then press snooze.
I am fascinated by this moment. It is such a primal event, fight or flight in its most basic representation. This morning my dilemma was this:
fight: face the day, get up early and seize the opportunity before me.
or
flight: put off the suffering of vertical life and retire further into my warm, safe bed.
I think the application of this principal is huge. If I cannot control the simple decision to wake up early and have a more productive day, over sleeping in, how can I trust myself to make difficult decisions when more than sleep and sunken eyes are at stake.
Think about this the next time your alarm goes off, own your morning routine and become the master of your daily decisions.
When given the choice, will you fight or flight?
on purpose, what’s yours?
When you awake each day, what is the first thought that crosses your mind? What is the first thing you do? Why are you doing what you are doing?
If you do not think about these questions, you will never have the answers. The problem I have found, is that not asking these tough questions is equally as bad as not asking them enough.
We are creatures of habit. Our habits define who we are and who we become.
Trying to reach the tipping point between action that is keeping you stalled (or even in recession) and action that will take you towards your goals and greater purpose is the essential missing link in many of our lives.
I ask myself this question each day, “why are you doing what you are doing?”. Until you answer this question, until you realize what it is you truly want and admit it with honesty to yourself, it is almost impossible to achieve.
If you really want freedom and financial wealth, or to become an expert in your field of study or to live in nature or be a school teacher, you need to realize this within yourself, be honest with yourself and embrace it.
I was recently moved by an article by Derek Sivers, “Why are you doing”, which inspired me to write this post (read it, you will be thankful). Instead of trying to regurgitate his ideas in my own words, I will leave you with them:
Maybe the most important thing to you is learning, or creating, or giving. Maybe it’s how many people’s lives you can influence. Maybe it’s how deeply you can influence just a few people’s lives.
Once you realize it and admit it, you need to pursue it.
Like if you want freedom, then you own a business but delegate all the work. You won’t be learning or creating or giving as much as you could with a different strategy, but that’s OK. You know freedom is what you’re after.
Sometimes your best strategy is counter-intuitive.
on the good life
The good life. A whisper, wives-tale, unreachable, too reachable, promise. Something you learn about growing up. The good life. Something you are meant to achieve. A balance of personal sacrifice, freedom and happiness. All of us are suppose to be working towards it yet so few admit to ever arriving.
I regret that I do not yet have the key to the good life for you. Those answers I have yet to find for myself, but I do believe a few things to be true for anyone hoping for more happiness.
Have good thoughts.
“the soul is dyed the colour of its thoughts” ~ Heraclitus
Good is such a subjective word, but that is why it works so perfectly for the idea of a “good” life and the practice of having “good” thoughts. Have good thoughts. More of the thoughts that make you happy and fewer that do not. Easier said than done. For me, it started with 5 mins, each day, for a week. 5 mins of positivity, reflection and gratitude. If I was feeling like shit that day, maybe it was 5 mins of thinking about how or why I felt that way and how to avoid it in the future. Have good thoughts, dye your soul a whole new colour.
Make gratitude a habit.
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…” ~ Marcus Aurelius
The more I read, think and learn about what it is that will make me happy and fulfilled, the more I realize that it comes down to habits. I came across an idea recently I absolutely LOVE that I think describes it perfectly: The journey is the way. We are all products of our habits and to live a more fulfilled life, habits must not be overlooked.
“Get to iconic levels not by your to do list, but by your NOT to do list.” Robin Sharma, from a talk at the Archangel Summit 2016.
If you can do ONE THING TODAY to improve your day and inject some instant gratitude into your life, it is to read the following quotes which I shall leave you with today:
When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…
and
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Both quotes are from Marcus Aurelius in his work, Meditations. I read or reference this book monthly. I highly recommend it as a starting point or point of continuation for learning more about stoicism, the good life and philosophy. Get it from Amazon here.
in search of moments
There is a beautiful moment, (a day or two too early and you miss it, a day or two too late and you miss it) when the summer heat turns to autumn cool and the leaves of the forest make their most miraculous swan song.
This moment is spectacular. One can spend their life in search of a perfect fall moment and it would not be a wasted life. I have the privilege of living in a place where the colours of autumn are perhaps the most vibrant of all.
Having just experienced one of the more perfect fall days of my life, it has me thinking about this moment in time and other moments in time, where if you are just early or just late the moment is gone.
How many of us can say we have just missed an opportunity and many more could think back on opportunities we did not even know we had that were missed.
My thought is that these moments of perfection do not come too often, especially if you do not know how to look. This is where I find my thoughts today, wandering and in search of moments. I think in part we are always searching for moments, moments to be turned into great memories, moments to be frequently shared and embellished and moments that seemed so perfect that to even recall them in detail does not do it justice.
Here’s to a life full of those moments.
happy hustle 