December 6, 2015

The best things in life are free.  But do we truly get that? 

One of the great inventors of our time, Dean Kamen said “The ideal would be a machine that has no size, no cost, never breaks down, is available wherever you need it all the time, free.  That will never happen, there is a very pervasive but naïve assumption that aid means you give things away.  If you give things away with this mythical idea that it should have no cost, it will end up demonstrating that it will have no value.” From the documentary, Slingshot.

Sometimes, things need to take a piece of us before we realize the value added.  If we received the physical wellbeing, added confidence, and all the spill offs of the approach to mastery without giving anything of ourselves, we likely would not see the value in what we obtained.  What this means is, yes, there is a price to success in whatever you do, but it is in that sacrifice that the true value of the achievement is realized. That is common human nature.

We are crazy creatures.  Our brain seems to want to attach a sacrifice to every experience in order to give the experience value.  Take for example spending time with your kids.  Does the experience seem a little sweeter when you have put off work in order to spend that time.  Knowing you gave something up, has somehow made the time more valuable.

Take a lottery winner as another example.  Within a year, most winners would not rate there life enjoyment greater than prior to the winnings.  I think this is demonstrated because monetary freedom removes much need for sacrifice.  Remove the catalyst (sacrifice) and they lose value to life experience.

I am not sure if it healthy to be that way.  I really believe if we become more aware of the miracles that happen each day in our life, and the mind boggling probabilities that have come together for these miracles to happen, we would require less sacrifice to see the true value of our lives. Perhaps we might even recognize the sacrifice to be a miracle in itself, and to add value to the experience from a different perspective. 

For example we may gain an appreciation for the time spent away from the Kwoon for work as valuable, rather than toilsome.  From this perspective, stripping away our conventional view of value, we multiply our recognition of miracles in our life tenfold.

How we value the things most important in our life, has great implication on the value of our life. 

November 29, 2015

In light of the most recent festival of trees and the looming Christmas season, I thought it most appropriate today to discuss the Christmas tree.  As a forester I find it discouraging that arguments against this tradition are most often fed with a great deal of misinformation.

It goes without saying that cutting a tree results in negative consequence to our earth, but let me put forward an argument that just may lead you to dawn the axe this Christmas season.

Most people are not aware that the majority of Christmas trees are harvested from Christmas tree farms.  They are grown for one purpose, and one purpose only.  Young trees are NOT harvested from forested land base similar to that of the current timber industry.  In the absence of a Christmas tree demand, this land in the majority of circumstances would be utilized for other commercial crops.

For seven plus years then, we have a crop of juvenile trees that are cleaning the air, stabilizing soil, and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.  A crop that in the absence of the Christmas tree tradition, would never have existed. Trees are recycled in organic fashion through chipping and mulching and utilized for mulch and pathways.

When our family brings a real tree into our home, it becomes the center of attention.  It brings a peace and relaxation during a season that has all but forgot that. It reminds us of the importance of our forests, the bond we share with nature and our responsibility to protect it.  

November 22, 2015

I am sitting in a subway when over the intercom I hear “Sheep train approaching, on route to Monkey station”.  I look down the barren tube where the tracks gently fade away into the darkness, and hear the howling whisper of the approaching LRT. In no time the train breaks from the tube of darkness and whistles on by where I am standing next to the tracks. I take a studder step back as I didn’t quite visualize the velocity of this Sheep train, my hair blowing in all directions mere feet from the behemoth. She is cruising, with more velocity than I could have ever imagined.  This train however, isn’t stopping.  It keeps on flying by and every second more of its length disappears beyond view.  My option is clear, if I am ever going to get to the next station, I need to move fast and make the leap.

So here I am, same as most years.  The winter has punched my work in the guts with a cold icy fist.  Work is down for the count for another year.  And here I look at a speeding train trying to figure out how on earth I am going to board this baby and fulfill my goals of the I Ho Chuan.  There is no doubt the intimidation of re-engaging with a team firing on all cylinders is very intense. I have to push out the thought that perhaps a team so well engaged just might not need me at all. 

But it is no different than any other year.  I rely on the training I have done in exile, take the time I have left and put my everything into it from this point forward.  As always I ask the team in advance to please be patient with me while I get caught up with everything.  This week I have some wrap up commitments for work, unfortunately cannot make the demo for Saturday but will be back at it full force start of December. I look forward to boarding the speeding train with you all and flying on through to the next Kung Fu station.

November 15, 2015

I believe we have moved dangerously to the point where most people are willing to chance a product failure for sake of a lower price point.  It is really sad to see that a sales person is more proud of the extended warranty they offer than the product itself.

The obvious danger of our slide to a less than average quality standard is the accumulation of useless junk. More importantly, though, is when that standard begins to manifest itself in things of much greater importance.

50 years ago, a product did not generally need an additional purchase of a warranty. In fact, products went so far as including a warranty no charge.  In direct reflection of this, people of that time cherished the less tangible, long term values of relationships, friendship, family, health and community.

I heard a radio broadcast that really resonated with me this week.  It was emphasizing the importance of investing in things that are going to last long term.  Invest time in your relationships, invest time in your kids, invest time in your community.  I challenge the I Ho Chuan to stretch your acts of kindness beyond opening a door for someone or letting a person in traffic.  This week, I challenge you all to fill your acts of kindness with praise for your kids and spouse, forgiveness of a neighbor, care for your planet and community. I believe these things were a nicety for people 50 years ago, but much more a necessity for us today.

November 8, 2015

https://youtu.be/E90ZOF78vAY

November 1, 2015

Day 20 in Dawson Creek met the morning with a fresh blanket of snow. While the majority of the population was cussing the early onset of winter, I was elated.  You see my family decided to come up on Saturday which allowed me to cruise a couple of eerie streets with a miniature version of Captain America and a little dude named Kylo Ren.  The streets were dark, it was rainy and cold, there wasn’t a sidewalk to be seen, and yet it was awesome.

With the early snow came a shutdown for the day, which allowed for a really great afternoon spent cruising the new dinosaur museum outside Grande Prairie.  (Who new Grande Prairie had dinosaurs?).  From there the family departed back to Edmonton and I headed back to Dawson.

I don’t normally blog much about my daily events, but this was pretty special and just writing about the day has really made me smile.  Sometimes some of the greatest gifts are hidden where we don’t expect them.

October 25, 2015

There is no exception to perfection.  The phrase sounds harsh and absolute, but then again, I would argue it should be.  Using myself as an example, I have noticed that generally the areas that really require improvement in my life started from making a very small, very innocent exception.

That exception, through the large intermingled roots that tie everything from diet, exercise, life experiences, relationships, spirituality, and purpose…. affected them all.  I don’t think there is a choice. I don’t think I can compartmentalize any one aspect of my life and say I can make a poor decision here without consequence…to everything.  By that reasoning then, for me it is impossible to expect success if I do not pursue mastery in everything I do.

And we should.  Mediocrity cannot be removed from just one aspect of our life.  If it is in one, then it will be in the others as well.

In Dawson for the last 13 days, my biggest challenge, as normal, is diet.  In a smaller town options are pretty limited.  Most often I feel like a horse that has been sent out to pasture but told he should only eat the four leafed clovers.  Options are scarce making good decisions even more difficult.  But I know that a poor diet choice is twice as easy to duplicate the next time. I think of poor decisions as trail breaking in all the wrong directions.

With the combination of pursuit of perfection in all aspects of our life, an unacceptance of average in anything we do, and following that up with wise decisions that extend beyond the Kwoon; success should be inevitable…..sounds easy right.