It’s been a while since I wrote a life lessons series post, but I’ve been waiting for the right one. The one I’m going to share today is especially meaningful to me, because it’s the quote I chose to sign off with on my sensei’s dojo wall when I was given my black belt. (more…)
These days, we take many activities for granted. We complete tasks absent-mindedly, relegating what could be a really enjoyable thing to the realm of “chore” – a dirty word for many, to be sure.
One of those activities is shaving. All too often, shaving time gets lumped into the same category as sweeping the floor or doing laundry. I already wrote about how shining your shoes can be a relaxing and meditative experience, and shaving is no different… if you do it right. (more…)
You may have heard the term before: mutual funds. But what is a mutual fund exactly? How do they work? And why should you care? (more…)
So like I mentioned in my last post, one of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to write down one thing that made me happy each and every day this year. To symbolize my commitment to that goal, I was shopping around for a nice leather journal to write my happy thoughts in. (more…)
Like every year, you can choose to remember 2017 however you like: the good, the bad or the ugly. For me, I like to take a moment this time of year to remember all of the good things that happened in my life over the past year, and use that to set up next year to be another great one. (more…)
The holidays are supposed to be a time to eat, drink and be merry. So why is it that they usually come with nothing but stress for so many out there? (more…)
Vancouver is a beautiful city. Nestled against the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of Canada, it has views of both the ocean and the Rocky Mountains. What more could you ask for? Well, how about one of the most amazing Christmas light displays in the world? (more…)
This is a continuation of an earlier post on the journey to black belt. The grading felt like it was over as soon as it began. One minute we’re warming up, and the next we’re bowing out. I knew it would go quickly, but not that quickly. I mean geeze, I don’t even remember parts of my grading.
I’m told I threw knees during sparring, yet I have no recollection of that. I thought I performed four katas, when I really did six. What I do remember is that the warm-up was tough, designed to exhaust you before the grading even began. If you didn’t pace yourself, you were in for a world of hurt. So what else happened at our black belt grading? (more…)
I hear people complain all the time about how they don’t have this, or how they wish they had that. What I find interesting is that, when I ask them what they’re doing about it, they usually hum and haw and make up some sort of excuse about why “now’s not a good time for change.”
Well, news flash – there’s never a good time for change. We’re creatures of habit, we hate change by default. But if you want things to be different in your life, you need to do things differently. I saw a great comic the other day; in it, a leader stands on a stage asking an audience, “Who wants change?” Everybody raised their hand. Then, in a second image, the same leader asked the same audience, “Who wants to change?” Crickets. Everyone had their eyes to the floor. Two images, one striking message.
Change starts with you. And there’s three things you can do to bring it about. (more…)
It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. There’s artisanal food, artisanal furniture, and artisanal mining – yep, that’s a thing. So what does the word actually mean? And why does it seem to be thrown around so carelessly? (more…)
