Premonition; Advice; Steve Jobs

Jobs confided in Sculley that he believed he would die young, and therefore he needed to accomplish things quickly so that he would make his mark on Silicon Valley history.

“We all have a short period of time on this earth, ” he told the Sculleys as they sat around the table that morning.  “We probably only have the opportunity to do a few things really great and do them well.  None of us has any idea how long we’re going to be here, nor do I, but my feeling is I’ve got to accomplish a lot of these things while I’m young.”

-Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Pg. 155

If They Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say

Elementary school isn’t so far away when one looks back because of all the hurtful things that were said.  I’m average height now, but spiked in my early years.  Every year we had an event called a walk-run.  It’s where you could either, you guessed it, walk or run.  It was designed to improve company fitness morale and it worked.  For every lap of a very long course, one would attain a painted-on-both-ends-popsicle-stick.  After the event that lasted a few weeks, we would trade in our popsicle sticks for awards and certificates.

I was always out there running but was always made fun of.  My legs would flare out as I would run because I didn’t have control of my body yet.  I actually didn’t even know this was happening until I saw one of my student peers running, throwing their feet out to the side mid-stride and laughing and pointing at me.

In High school, I had the same English teacher for three years beacuse that class split with another one.  Over the course of those three years, she proceeded to tell me that my writing skills were deteriorating.  I had been writing the same way she had wanted and she was failing me.  When it came time for provincial exams before graduation, I told her that I was going to an exam prep course for English writing.  She told me that they were worthless and it wouldn’t be able to help me anyways.

If they don’t have anything nice to say, f*ck ’em.

I now run sprints and compete in local trail race events.  That exam prep was the best time I’d had, learned a new way to write essays and brought my average up in her class because I rocked that provincial exam.  Now I’m a published author.

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”

CTK

Something In My Veins

Birthday is coming up in January.  Capricorn.  Goat.

Chinese Zodiac is a Goat as well.

Ninjagoat.

Another year almost done and I’ve got more drive than ever.

Feelings of running out of time – who has time for burnout?

Something in my veins.

The Brave Soldier; Ling Shu

A Discussion of Courage

Huang Di said, “I would like to hear about the origins of bravery and timidity.”

Shao Yu said, “The brave soldier…anger causes the qi to be abundant, the chest to strengthen, the liver qi to be raised, the gallbladder qi to be extended, and the gap between the eyebrows and eyes to be raised.  The hair rises and the face becomes green.  These are the origins of a brave soldier.”

Huang Di said, “I would like to hear about the origins of the timid soldier.”

Shao Yu said, “The timid soldier…although there may be a proper and great anger, qi is unable to fill the chest, and although the qi of the liver and lungs are raised, the qi is sparse and returns below.  Therefore, anger cannot be sustained for a long period.  These are the origins of a timid soldier.”

*Emphasis mine.  The Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot) is an ancient Chinese medicine text written ~2500 years ago.  It is the basis of all things Chinese medicine and acupuncture.

The Search; Steve Jobs

Coming back to America was, for me, much more of a cultural shock than going to India.  The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do, they use their intuition instead, and their intuition is far more developed than in the rest of the world.  Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion.  That’s had a big impact on my work.

Western rational thought is not an innate human characteristic; it is learned and is the great achievement of Western civilization.  In the villages of India, they never learned it.  They learned something else, which is in some ways just as valuable but in other ways is not.  That’s the power of intuition and experiential wisdom.

Coming back after seven months in Indian villages, I saw the craziness of the Western world as well as its capacity for rational thought.  If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is.  If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things – that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more.  Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment.  You see so much more than you could see before.  It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.

Zen has been a deep influence in my life ever since.  At one point I was thinking about going to Japan and trying to get into the Eihei-ji monastery, but my spiritual advisor urged me to stay here.  He said there is nothing over there that isn’t here, and he was correct.  I learned the truth of the Zen saying that if you are willing to travel around the world to meet a teacher, one will appear next door.

-Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Pgs. 48-49

Disappointed

What’s the point of running a trail race if the organizers don’t know the course, aren’t at their post, and send me and two other guys in the wrong direction?

I feel strangely upset about it and am having a hard time letting it go.

So I send it out into the ether in hopes that I will be able to come to terms with it all.

I can tell the story, b*tch out the organizers – but it just doesn’t matter.  Because I’m a loser.  Because of somebody else.

And that hurts.

CTK

Holding Onto Summer

(And I still can cause I live on the coast and I ain’t seen snow yet.)

Second Nature

At Dawn

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.  Don’t go back to sleep. – Rumi

Up before the sun.  Fog on the water.  Workout.  Walk dog.  Feed chickens.  Make breakfast for the fam.  Don’t eat it.  Fasting.  Work.

Push.  Acupuncture.  Write.  Kung-Fu.  Dream.  Query letters.  Emails.

Home.  Cuddle.  Movie.  Love.

CTK.

Final Rep

I’m at the gym, gimme a sec…

I’m just looking for something…

I’m on my last rep and while I know my heartrate is dropping right now, I’m just trying to get it right…

Ah…there we go.  Mindsetting with music…

I Believe

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge-

That myth is more potent than history.

I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts-

That hope always triumphs over experience-

That laughter is the only cure for grief.

And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

Robert Fulghum

Inner Ninja

The internet makes us want to be famous.  Either that or the fear instilled by toothpaste companies (“If your teeth aren’t white, you’ll never get the woman and car of your dreams!”).  We watch how many ‘Likes’ and ‘Friends’ and ‘Followers’ others have and all of a sudden it’s a ‘my Dad can beat up your Dad’ competition – even if it doesn’t seem as such.

I’ve made the mistake of reaching out into the world to all sorts of people and avenues in order to gain traction in certain fields – or so I thought.  What I ended up with was just another ego-game of my own.  And notoriety, as I’ve come to realize, happens not in the bits and bites of the interweb but in the trenches of real-life interactions.

An interesting behaviour happens when it becomes about the metrics instead of the content.  It’s like focusing on the bottom line instead of the patient-interactions and results in clinic.

HDS reminds me at times, “The journey is mine alone.”  And taking this month off to reflect and find out what’s good in my life has enabled me to find some peace in times of war.  War inside of my mind, of course.  Like an inner ninja.

Come train with me – in person.

Who Are You?

I had said my goodbyes.  However, a provincial legislation matter that a group is talking about lured me back.  I doubt my return will be for an extended period of time, but I’ve decided to clean house while I’m around.  How many friends of friends of friends do I have?  I don’t even know these people, never talked to them on the phone and I’ve had the horrible experience of trusting an online relationship to mean that all is okay in the real world.

No longer will the platform hold a place in my life where it’s touted as some networking tool – only disguised by my ego.

I’m almost done, and in my true circle of friends, family, martial artists, authors and Chinese medicine folk, it looks like the magic number of ‘Friends’ has dropped to 187.  Gonna try and get it down to 150.

Fight, Fight, Fight

They got these commercials on TV and at the movies: “Join the army.  Fight.”

Fight for your freedom.  Fight for your life.  Fight for your parking spot.

I’m at the beach breathing in the sea air off an island and I’m thinking, sometimes it’s not time to fight.  Sometimes it’s time to just let it all in.  Let those feelings wash all over and…yield.

Receive what comes.  Follow what goes.

CTK

Rare Opportunity

Today I seized a rare opportunity.  Usually, because of my current hectic work and life schedule (that I created for myself so I could try to walk my path of success), I get to work out (any of the following: sprints, heavy bag, lift, play Kung-Fu) two to three times a week.

I try to get in something anytime I can.  Two days ago, I played with a Tai Chi practitioner who is an acustudent of mine.  I also have no issues going to the gym in work clothes.

This morning I woke shortly after six.  Well, the alarm went off at six and I wrestled with my mind for approximately 15 minutes and finally got up.  I made my way downstairs and out the front door.  Headphones on.  I ran 10×100 metre sprints each followed by 10 burpees in the dark.  When I was finished, I made my way to the basement while the sun tried to shine light behind those morning dark clouds.

Today, after seeing a patient, I had a break.  Just enough to make it to the gym to lift.

Two workouts in one day?  Like a pig in mud on a hot summer’s day.

CTK

I Don’t Watch TV

But when I do, it’s with my wife with melted cheese on nachos with salsa on a Friday night with the children tucked warmly in bed.

Personal Power

“It was the myth – the belief of all those legends that enabled me to switch on my confidence.  Kung-Fu, and specifically Temple Kung-Fu – the one place in all the world that was built on probably the most lies ever – made me feel invincible.  If I was facing off against somebody that I thought was better than me, I would just get in the zone – that zone where I felt invincible.  And maybe that’s the part of being young in Kung-Fu, but it was all about belief.  I believed that I could hold a horse stance for longer than anyone else so I did it.  I believed that I could throw lightening bolts – it’s just that I hadn’t reached that level yet.”

Paraphrased from a conversation with Original Kung-Fu Brother, D. Rose.

Personal Problems

You can’t let your personal problems get in the way of your success – because all those stories just end up being excuses.

Hat tip to Tim Ferris for the vid.

The Baddest Man Alive

Hemingway

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write.

Let them think you were born that way.”

~ Ernest Hemingway