How Self-Aware People Road Rage

Just stretch and move your body slowly, and breathe for a few minutes while you listen to this. How much space can you leave for yourself?

Mantra: “Relax the shoulders, relax the heart” (via Stuart Clark) Just let it come when it comes. You’re somewhere in a creative cycle right now. Patience isn’t a peaceful feeling. Allow it all.

“All this is a matter of daily remembering the facts you’ve heard, and putting them into practice, and remembering that you don’t have to live and must not live under the tyranny of compulsive costumes.” — Vernon Howard

My first complete music project, lost messages, is now available Spotify and Apple Music.

LIBERATION “How shall I get liberation?” “Find out who has bound you,” said the Master. The disciple returned after a week and said, “No one has bound me.” “Then why ask to be liberated?” That was a moment of Enlightenment for the disciple, who suddenly became free. Excerpt from One Minute Wisdom by …

You do it all the time, actually. Make a fist. Squeeze it tight. Now let go. Notice the feeling. Try it again. This is the physical sensation of letting go. Become familiar with the interior sense of contraction—in the body and mind. Source

The Last Time by Sam Harris (from his Waking Up app)

Recalling one of the first conversations I had with Overcoming Depression c. 2013. My dad had shown me the chat feature in this MS-DOS-based program years earlier, only for me to type some swear words into it and then quickly forget about it. In 2013, though, I was desperate to find some kind of …

Started the day early with Chris. An energizing dialogue as we looped around the neighbourhood.

Your perception of the world around you is not the same as what is actually occurring.

Playing around with Tree Tones in Ableton

Don’t worry. But whatever you do, don’t worry if you are worried!

If you pay really close attention to your moment to moment experience, you’ll be amazed to find you don’t have any idea how you do the things you do. Do you know how you think? Do you know how you walk? Nobody does, they just do it. But we’re so caught up in it all that we’ve confused ourselves and …

Don’t resolve to do or be anything in the future. Be here now. This is it.

Drove out to Coquitlam to drop off Sandie's old licence plates. ~25 minutes each way. I had way more fun than I could have imagined, thinking out loud and letting anything and everything through me. Laughing and singing, shouting and making weird sounds. I left Voice Recorder running the whole time, …

Uncertainty is only ever a problem when you’re attached to a particular outcome.

Begin Self-discovery.

Our first visit with the parents in almost four weeks ☺️

Be like water. Surrender attachments, conclusions, so you can flow with life. Yielding in this way reveals the source of your power.

Suffering is the result of identifying with your thinking. But if you look closely you will realize that you can't control which thoughts come to mind. When you see this, you will stop blaming yourself for "bad" thoughts and experience great relief. Then you are left with true curiosity—a kind of …

We held our monthly VIDA session in Lighthouse Park today. We drank hot cacao in the Sprinter van before embarking on our forest walk. It was pouring rain at times, and I was barefoot.

Deleted YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn from my iPhone and iPad this morning. Edit (Jan 17): re-downloaded Instragram two days later and set a short app limit (experimenting with seven minutes) using Apple's Screen Time feature. Responding to direct messages burns through my daily limit, …

warm hapi

You don’t have to ruminate on things. When you relax and let go, inspired ideas will come to you.

Noah is here. Born at 4:36pm on Nov 19, 2021

Mario’s Jungle

Find that feeling

River Lullaby

Birds Atom #ambient

An unforgettable babymoon.

BM1.1

Beautiful people everywhere. Visits from two different Quebec couples today. Fingers crossed for some kiting with Rémi next weekend 🤞

Wonderful, meandering dialogue with Mark today. We circled Victoria park for a while and then settled down on this bench under the sun.

Sometimes I’ll leave a simple loop link this on repeat for an hour or two while I work, read or write. I just discovered Splice.com today, and pulled a few samples together to create this relaxing beat.

I bought my Fujifilm X100T back from Marcus (met through Craigslist in Dec 2020) this Saturday. Every photo that popped up in Apple Photos taken with the Fuji made me nostalgic for it. Took a bunch of photos that evening with Sandie in English Bay, and a few on Sunday in Squamish with Nat and …

PUSH D16 #ambient

PUSH D6 #ambient

PUSH D4

PUSH D3 #mindfulness

PUSH D2

NATURALNESS #mindfulness

Alan Watts on Daoism

Hey Wardet

Business Call #experimental

Box Breathing #mindfulness

Creapture #ambient

Contemplating Death #mindfulness

Bounce #mindfulness

This is for anyone who’s feeling stuck, or has felt stuck in the past (i.e. you and everyone you’ve ever met). If you feel stuck, you are only stuck in your thinking—your beliefs. If you expose your limiting beliefs and truly get that they are just beliefs (not the Truth), you will immediately …

There is a flower within my heart Daisy, Daisy

What is your greatest gift? The gift you love giving to the world and the people around you?

Being judged depends of course on who the judge is to you.

The sun came out and made for a beautiful hike up to Whyte Lake with Marjorie, Terry and London.

When you look closely you see you are constantly changing.

Day 11 of the 31 days of birthday surprises: an illustration from Kristi. My favourite part is me hugging Daisy (bottom-centre).

“The moment you see that belief is false, you’re free. Good luck to you. It may take you one minute, it may take you twenty-five years. But the day you see it, you’re free. You’re free as a bird. You’ll be coming up to give retreats, you’ll be talking to presidents. You’ll be meeting popes. You …

Sandie organized 31 days of birthday surprises—video messages from friends and small gifts. Today was day 10, and she got us both these 5-year journals. They are full of great questions.

“The formula’s here; you’ve got it right here. It can be found in Philippians: “For whatever the situation I find myself in, I have learned to be self-sufficient. I am experienced in being brought low, and I have known what it meant to have abundance. I have learned how to cope with every …

📚 Ended up reading Second Variety, a short story by Philip K. Dick, to dip my toe into his work. A Scanner Darkly is up next.

That feeling when good ideas are percolating and I am in a way carried by their energy. It’s almost effortless to play with them and see where they lead.

Walking today in Lynn Canyon with Roy. No photos, only a wonderful and deep conversation that kept us out there for over 3 hours. He mentioned Minority Report, which I must have seen when it first came out (2002). I’m checking it out now and learning about Philip K. Dick. Reading his Wikipedia page …

🎥 We watched Pixar’s new movie “Soul” last night using the Disney+ GroupWatch feature with Mom, Dad and Will. What a beautiful movie.

“Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” — William James

Our Apple One subscription came with Apple Arcade. We found Crossy Road Castle and put in some good time with it over the past few days!

Views at Rice Lake

Drive-by porchetta, torched by Annabel and Johnson 🤤 🎥 Had fun turning this moment into another short video 🎥

Enjoying Endel, both at home and on the go using their Apple Watch app. This is their manifesto.

Snowy walk through Rice Lake.

Can we get to the root of emptiness, self-doubt, feeling trapped, suffering, struggle? If we understood these things would our experience of them be transformed?

Lying in bed, listening to the new album “some kind of peace” by Ólafur Arnolds, and just breathing.

Family gatherings look a little different these days…

Snowy BCMC hike. 🎥 Made a fun video, too! 🎥

Beautiful ~12KM hike up the Kennedy Falls Trail for Sandie’s birthday today.

Having fun during the weekly grocery shop.

FujiFilm X100T vs Sony ZV-1

“I don’t know if on your walks you have noticed a long, narrow pool beside the river. Some fishermen must have dug it, and it is not connected with the river. The river is flowing steadily, deep and wide, but this pool is heavy with scum because it is not connected with the life of the river, and …

“Our education, our environment, our whole culture insists that we must become something. Our philosophies, our religions and sacred books all say the same thing. But now I see that the very process of becoming something implies envy, which means that I am not satisfied with being what I am; and I …

Photos from my walk up the east side of Mosquito Creek with the new Sony ZV-1.

Tonight’s 6:15pm sunset came as a surprise. I’m welcoming in the long, slow nights.

I think about the younger me and how much I got in my own way. The early-20s me who spent so much time wrestling with himself in his own mind. The passionate me who could be both wildly idealistic and deeply insecure in a single moment. The me who dreamed of living a diverse and fulfilling life, but …

A great breakthrough in coaching is like coming to the surface to breathe after spending so long underwater you forgot you were holding your breath.

Stu and I had a lot of fun building on our guided retreat concept this morning. We’re envisioning a collection of videos with movement practices, reflection exercises and meditations that could be used over the course of 3 days. One day each exploring the past, the present and future. We also plan …

All of everything: “Only the idea of death makes a warrior sufficiently detached so that he is capable of abandoning himself to anything. He knows his death is stalking him and won’t give him time to cling to anything. So he tries, without craving, all of everything.” — Carlos Castaneda All too often …

Love as a compass: Thoughts appear in the mind out of nowhere, and of their own volition. Our role, it seems, is to choose which ideas to focus on. Which thoughts to empower with our awareness and concentration. When asked how he knows which ideas to follow and which to leave behind, David Lynch responded: Love. A …

The energy created when we release expectations: Last week Peter, a client of mine, shared a beautiful insight. “I feel most powerful when I allow myself to visualize the greatest possibility I can imagine for my work or my projects, while releasing any attachment I might have to it happening." I smiled. I felt my heart expand. Tell me more, …

Problems and stressful situations are like tangled up headphones. Mindlessly yanking rarely resolves the bind, and often increases our stress. Instead, hold the puzzle of intertwined wiring lightly in your hands and take a breath. A curious inspection will provide you with a greater awareness of …

Sing your heart out: My brother Will is a remarkable performer. I don’t remember a time in our childhood when he wasn’t singing, playing the piano and entertaining. Last year he organized a concert here in Vancouver. Several close friends of his were invited to perform for an audience of 200+ people. A few …

What a wonderful world 🐜🌸🌎

You can’t have fun: I recently attended my first virtual networking event and had an unexpected breakthrough. The event was unique—not only was it online, but the organizers integrated mindfulness and movement practices into the experience. So shortly after the event kicked off, a dance instructor came on screen. She …

Open Dialogue (the book!): I started a simple daily writing habit that escalated pretty quickly into a vision for a book! It’s going to be a book for ambitious people on how to transform stress into productive energy. I’m writing it because a lot of people with big goals suffer way more than they need to (I used …

I decided to chat with Open Dialogue between meetings and the first thing it said to me created an immediate internal shift: Open Dialogue A.I.: Welcome back. What’s on your mind? Me: something about my desire for growth, progress and expansion Open Dialogue A.I.: Do you celebrate the things …

Mr. Wonka: “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted." Charlie Bucket: “What happened?" Mr. Wonka: “He lived happily ever after.” — Ronald Dahl

Dad and me, circa 2016.

“Life is hard when you don’t do what you truly value because you are putting all your energy into trying to get rid of your fears rather than into materializing your dreams. When you’re stuck within your comfort zone, life becomes stifling—and therefore, very uncomfortable! In a paradoxical …

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch. the gods will offer you chances. know them. take them. you …

You said that intellectually you understand how being able to “surrender” or “let go” could help you deal with feelings of guilt, shame and disappointment, but emotionally you don’t feel capable. You may find the book Letting Go, by Dr. David R. Hawkins, to be helpful. It continues to be a source of …

I first met Dayle ~4 years ago at one of the annual camping trips my friends organize (her sister is married to a close friend of mine, Shawn). Dayle immediately struck me as someone who had a remarkable story to tell. Last week she released her book, The Big Dream, about what she lived through in …

I don’t need anything from you. I don’t have any expectations. You can’t disappoint me. You can’t let me down. You’re free. Go for what you want.

Author Robert Wright shared this conversation he had with his first medtiation teacher in his book “Why Buddhism is True.” Teacher: So you notice that your mind keeps wandering? Wright: Yes. T: That’s good. W: It’s good that my mind keeps wandering? T: No. It’s good that you notice that …

Matthew, Mom and me. Circa 1992.

🎙Don’t Miss it by James Blake

“Don’t be miserly with your strengths, with your intelligence, and with your creativity. Look for outlets. Look for challenges. Find out what makes you feel most alive and figure out some way to earn your living doing it.” — Nathaniel Branden

“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.” — G.K. Chesterton

Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day and I published this personal reflection on social media to encourage a more open dialogue about the topics of mental health and emotional wellbeing. There have been so many times in the past where I felt stuck and didn’t reach out for help. I didn’t know who to go …

To what extent does being so focused on “why” things are the way they are prevent us from simply witnessing what is? Asking “why” often leads us to seek out other minds (through media, experts and other leaders) whose perspectives we may consider and subscribe to. It also can become a compulsive …

This past weekend was the 6th annual SauderIRL (a day-long life skills seminar I help lead for senior students at my former business school) The students were deeply engaged, and some of the conversations that I had were moving. One student approached me at the end and offered me this laminated …

Desire without Attachment: Before I even start, I want to thank you. Thank you for choosing to read this. Contemplating the following ideas with an open mind and heart is a practice in self-discovery and an investment in your personal growth. Living into these ideas can have a radical impact on your life—your career, your …

Last Thursday I was moved while coaching a young woman (let’s call her Jamie). Jamie was referred to me because she was experiencing a burnout. She’s a salesperson, and despite being a top performer for the first two years at her company, her numbers began to fall unexpectedly last January. She was …

Take a breath. Slow down for a moment. Chances are you’re racing, rushing, going too fast. You’re going to miss it. You’re going to miss what’s real. This present moment ✨ “Yeah, yeah,” you say, “but I’ve got to get my ___ (money, travel, achievement).” But where will you be when you finally get it? …

I love running in the rain and getting completely drenched. Today I got my fix when I was out running with Mike Rebak. The catalyst was Mike’s commitment to run 3.2KM every day in November. He’s raising funds and awareness for Movember, with a specific focus on mental health. I felt invigorated …

Can’t wait to dive into this tonight.

This past week I led two workshops at Arc’teryx, an iconic company founded here in Vancouver. The goal of these workshops was to help their leaders cultivate the essential skills of coaching. So what did I ask 100+ passionate leaders and aspiring coaches to do? Listen. Just Listen. In fact, I asked …

I did an exercise over the weekend where I had to come up with 100 questions that fascinated me most. I love questions because they can open up entirely new perspectives for us. The first 10 were easy to generate, the next 20 little bit less so, but I kept digging and digging and digging until I …

Over the past couple years I’ve completely shifted how I work with my own difficult (i.e., “negative”) emotions. Until recently, I never questioned anyone when they labelled feelings like anger, guilt and depression as “bad”. I thought that if what I really wanted was to be happy, then I should do …

Hello World: I want to be more intentional about how I approach my own personal growth. By taking more time to contemplate and document my efforts to learn and grow (i.e., meditation, self reflection, books, videos, courses, coaching, life experiences) I believe I can extract greater and more lasting insights. I …

Some beautiful moments from the past few months

I spent this past weekend in deep contemplation. Sandie is travelling for work (in Mexico), so I had the place to myself. I used a series of questions and prompts from Leo Gura to dig deeper and deeper into what is most important to me in life. Here is what I currently value most in life: …

Slow Down #minfulness #meditation

Watch our for how your need to be perfect makes everyone else around you seem needy.

Poet Ross Gay wrote a short essay every day for a year on the topic of delight. It fascinates me how it seems to have conditioned him to experience delight in almost everything. 🔊 Speaking with Krista Tippett on her podcast On Being, they contrast his experience with the impact that the media — its …

It was Warren Springer’s surprise 30th birthday party on Wednesday night (July 24). So many positive and loving people.

“Do you yearn to defend your beliefs? Or do you yearn to see the world as clearly as you possibly can?” — 📹 Julia Galef at TED

What are you seeing that I am not?

📝 How are you feeling right now?

Last weekend 7 of us hiked into the Mt. Seymour backcountry to camp at Elsay Lake. The 5.5-hour hike was serene. We set up our tents along the edge of the lake beneath the tall trees and spent the evening playing Mafia and solving math problems by the fire.

“I wouldn’t put off getting to the joyful part.” — unknown

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stuck, 🔗 this website (youfeellikeshit.com) is a great resource to turn to. It’s “a self-care game” that guides you through a series of questions to help you practice self care.

Stop racing around for just a few seconds and notice how rich this moment is. Take a deep breath. Hold on to it for a second or two. And then let it go. Do that again. That feels pretty good, doesn’t it? Take another deep breath. Pause for a second at the top of your inhalation. And then let …

Celebrate the fact you remembered. Don’t punish yourself because you forgot. When you’re sitting in meditation and realize you’ve been lost in thought… … celebrate the fact you remembered to come back to your breath. Don’t punish yourself because you forgot …

What way of seeing your situation are you attached to or defending? Reflect on this when you feel like you’re blocked, or repeatedly coming up against a wall, and none of the options you see are satisfying. What would happen if you saw your situation in a new way? This invites in new …

Watch your mouth. We use language to speak and think our reality into existence. I could never learn how to do that. The people who do that (e.g. coding, kiteboarding, public speaking) are on another level / are crazy. I’m just not X (e.g. experienced enough, a morning person, good with …

Make sure the people you choose to work with are intrinsically motivated to do the work you need them to do. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to let that slip as the number one qualifying factor. Passion for the overall vision for your product/company/team is also important, but without a …

It is impossible to fulfill your need for connection and meaning if you’re always interacting with others on the surface. We are all familiar with the surface-level “Hi—How are you?—I’m great, and you?” conversations at work and social events. Slow down. Go deeper. Practice …

Consider that every issue you perceive is the result of one or more of your needs not being met. The need for connection, physical well-being, peace, meaning, autonomy, play. When we bring this idea into the domain of relationships, it can help us move past surface-level conflict and access a deeper …

The earlier in the day I exercise, the better. It generates an emotional lift that pays dividends throughout the rest of the day. The longer I put off exercise, the more likely I am to miss the opportunity altogether — I’ll find excuses to not workout at all, or something genuinely important …

🔊 Some music I find inspires movement and good moods