The home of Buddhism, Martial Arts, Diabetes and health…
Author: Shawn
I am a practitioner of the martial arts and student of the Buddhist faith. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic since I was 4 years old and have been fighting the uphill battle it includes ever since. I enjoy fitness and health and looking for new ways to improve both, as well as examining the many questions of life. Although I have no formal medical training, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge regarding health, Diabetes, martial arts as well as Buddhism and philosophy. My goal is to share this information with the world, and perhaps provide some sarcastic humour along the way. Welcome!
The world is a pretty complex place to navigate and anyone who’s tried to accomplish anything real within their own lives can attest to that. one of the big problems is that the world has developed into a place where society as a whole seems to believe that they’re entitled, rather than have to work for things. It can be frustrating on both fronts; frustrating for the poor bastards who think they’re entitled and frustrating for the ones who have to deal with them. But life has a way of squashing those who don’t at least TRY when pushing towards a desired outcome.
As one of the best examples I can think of, let’s take employment. Now for the most part, most people don’t envision themselves working a minimum wage job for their entire lives. Many people do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The whole point of a job is to earn enough income to get by and if minimum wage does that and the work satisfies you, I know a lot of people who do that very thing. But I mean the solid majority; who have goals, ambitions, wants needs and expectations from their lives outside of just making ends meet.
The thing is, the world doesn’t owe you a damn thing. If you sit back and complain about not getting ahead or reaching your goals but you do nothing to contribute to making them happen, the only person to blame is you. Accomplishment doesn’t happen on it’s own and the efforts required to make it happen can often seem (to the modern person) as though it should be a given. The unfortunate reality is that employers care about your previous work experience only to a certain degree. It’s your work ethic, your efforts and how hard you’re willing to push and work towards something greater that will ultimately make a difference.
I use the example of work because it’s the example that almost most people can genuinely relate to. But this concept applies to almost every sector of life, whether it’s diet, health & fitness, your martial arts or sports training… It’s all the same. Life doesn’t care about your plan. If you sit back and do nothing, nothing is what you’ll get. Only a fool holds a piece of steel hoping it will become a sword. It needs to be worked and forged, strength and effort need to be put into the steel in order to reach one’s goals. The same can be said of life.
There will always be people there to help you and guide you along the way but the genuine effort and steps will ALWAYS need to be taken by you. You, and no one else. I often think about where I’d be right now, if I’d listened to family and doctors way back in the day when they told me I had to take it easy, not get involved in sports and try not to tax my body too much. I’ll tell you where I’d LIKELY be is in a grave. Good things in life don’t happen on their own. No one is entitled. No one words you a thing. You’ll only get what you give. Food for thought… ☯️
I’ve often joked around with my buddies who have motorcycles about how “A real man’s bike runs on muscle, not gas…” If I said that to Sensei he’d probably break both my legs but as an avid cyclists who covers a thousand kilometres or more per summer season, I’m partial to an actual bike instead of motorcycles. Although I can understand the speed and feeling of freedom one no doubt feels from using such a vehicle, the dangers and overall accident rate just aren’t worth it to me, just to relive the opening scene of the original Top Gun movie (if you know, you know!).
But a growing trend seems to be these fuckin’ e-bikes. For those who may not be aware or haven’t been exposed to these abominations, an e-bike is what in Canada, is known as an “assisted bicycle” and usually equipped with some sort of battery pack that powers a small electric motor that provides propulsion to the bicycle. unlike a motorcycle, moped or scooter, it doesn’t have a combustion engine and doesn’t run on gas. In Canada, an e-bike is required to have peddles on it, otherwise it’s classified as a motorcycle and subject to all the same rules and regulations. They also can only be powered to a certain extent before becoming illegal to use on public streets and roadways. They’re also utterly and ridiculously useless…
E-bikes were “invented sometime in the early 1990’s with the first ones sold in store towards the latter part of that decade. It isn’t until recent years that that there seems to have been an uptake and increase in interest in these bikes and people everywhere are jumping on (see what I did there?). I have to confess that I don’t really see the use behind these suckers. Although I understand that so long as they’re compliant with local laws, you don’t need a driver’s license to operate one, they don’t hold anywhere near the speed of a motorcycle, with most legally-permitted ones going no much faster than a seasoned cyclist would go on a traditional bike. If it’s because you NEED the assistance because you don’t want to keep peddling, that raises the question as to WHY you’re using a bike in the first place.
I recently had a friend from back home, who shall remain nameless but if they take the time to read my blog, they’ll know themselves, who excitedly contacted me to tell me they had purchased a mountain bike version of one of these bad boys. His claim was that it would allow him to bike through some of the more difficult areas that he couldn’t make it through on his own. When I challenged that claim on the basis that the bike was doing the work instead of him, he didn’t particularly like that. But that’s the reality; if you can’t make it through an are on your bike, that’s likely because YOU SHOULDN’T BE BIKING THERE!
I don’t know, maybe I’m being too harsh against these things. y’all can let me know in the comments section. Maybe it’s just Monday morning and I need to get more coffee into my system. I just don’t see the POINT. It feels more like an added step towards the inevitable slip towards a passive, lazy society that’s already stepping off the edge of the slope. this will just get them there faster. I guess I can kind of see SOME appeal to having one of these as an alternative means of getting to your work in the morning, providing that you don’t live a significant distance away.
It looks like e-bikes as well as their counterparts (e-scooters, etc) are here to stay, with most major retail locations in Canada carrying some version or model of them. For myself, I had toyed with the idea of getting an electric scooter to get myself to the office in the mornings so I could leave the car for my wife. I don’t know, a scooter seems less stupid to me, since the intention isn’t to peddle on one of those. Again, maybe it’s simply because I’m partial to my bike. Or maybe I juts need to stop being so whiny. It’s just the start of the week, after all. ☯️
I have a pretty heated love/hate relationship with dentistry and dentists’ offices. It all stems from a very young age, when my parents started to bring me to the dentist office against my will. Imagine that, even as a young child I didn’t like being told what to do. Funny. But in all seriousness, when looking at it from a child’s perspective, we drag our kids in to a dentist office with their best interests in mind. After all, oral health is extremely important. But then, we subject the kids to random strangers basically grappling their way around their mouths and expect them to sit still and be happy about it. It can be difficult, at best.
For me, it came down to the speeches. I’m not one for being lectured. In fact, I was once sent home from elementary school after telling my principal that my parents weren’t paying him to lecture me. I don’t remember what I did to get sent there in the first place but as you can imagine, it didn’t go well. As you can no doubt imagine, I wasn’t a huge fan of brushing my teeth regularly and my parents would usually give me grief over it. It got to the point where I would almost try to sneak into bed and pretend to be asleep so they’d leave me the hell alone about it. It became a point of contention throughout my childhood and especially when I’d get scheduled for an appointment at the dentist’s office.
Picture this: you’re constantly getting grief from your parents over how well you brush your teeth, despite how much effort you put into it. Then, they bring you to this medical office where random strangers basically finger-blasts your fuckin’ mouth for an hour before a “doctor” comes in to look at you and tell you how bad you’re doing and how you need to brush more, floss more… basically tell you what you should be doing in the comfort of your own home where he has no dominion. I make it sound like I’m petty and bitter, but bear in mind that I’m recalling these things from a child’s memory.
The point is, is got frustrating enough for me that I began developing a deep, sincere hatred of dentistry from a young age and that frustration carried on into adulthood. The biggest piss-off was when I would be telling the staff that I was just there for a cleaning and didn’t want an examination to be given or a speech on oral health, only to be told my parents had requested the exam and I had no choice. I’d give my parents crap for it afterwards, but obviously that had little effect. So much for consent.
This dislike of having strangers in my mouth (insert oral jokes here) carried on into adulthood, to the point where I occasionally neglected my oral health for months on end, going well beyond a year. There was always an excuse; either I was transferring between postings or moving houses or tied up on shift work… When I’d finally go in, I had done myself more damage than good since my cleanings would take longer due to the prolonged absence from the chair. I eventually came to accept my fate of having to visit the dentist’s office every four months at their recommendation.
It still isn’t easy; I usually schedule a cleaning only to have the hygienist say, “I see you haven’t been examined by the dentist in quite a long time. Can we fit him in with you, today?” In the interest of my oral health, I’ve often said yes but for the most part, I usually make it clear that I’m only there for the cleaning and want nothing to do with the dentist. It makes for some tense visits but it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks and as an adult, I’m paying for the cleaning so do the cleaning! (Takes deep breath and exhales slowly).
In recent years, dentists have begun addressing a recessed gum I have at the gum line of my bottom teeth. Although I understand the logistics behind what’s happening and the risks, I have no interest in having the roof of my mouth painfully grafted to attach to a single tooth. I’ve been through enough pain in my life. Last Wednesday, I had a cleaning appointment where they addressed this concern yet again, which I promptly responded to leave it alone and just do the cleaning. like parrots, these guys…
All jesting and complaining aside, good oral health is important and quite integral to one’s overall health. In recent decades, studies have shown that poor oral health can contribute to heart disease, cancer and can even have an effect of Diabetes. HealthLine.com has a good article on the topic that you can read here. And that’s on top of the obvious stuff, such as cavities, gum disease and tooth loss. So despite all my pissing and moaning about it, oral health is pretty important, especially to people with Diabetes who are basically affect by EVERYTHING.
All in all, it doesn’t have to be a complicated thing. Good oral health starts with you, at home. Brush your teeth regularly. Although the mantra was a MINIMUM three times a day when I was a kid, the prevailing number is at least two. Brushing first thing in the morning gets rid of all that bacteria that accumulated and is conveniently sitting in your mouth, not to mention getting rid of that nasty morning breath. Pair that up with a decent mouthwash and you’re good to go. Brushing right before bed ensures that you remove all the food particles from your mouth rather than let them sit against your teeth and gums all night while you sleep and decay your teeth.
Flossing or using a water pick, which was recommended for me this time around, is also important. Oral health starts at home with you. We get so busy in our daily lives that we often neglect little aspects that are important to pay attention to. Good oral hygiene and health is an easy way to prevent issues that would otherwise burden and endanger one’s health unnecessarily. Will I get over my dislike of dentists? I have faith but I doubt it. When something is rooted in your psyche since childhood, it can be difficult to drop. But that won’t stop me from taking my own steps to ensure good oral hygiene. With everything Diabetes throws at me, it’s one less health problem I need to be worrying about… ☯️
Martial arts is pretty old… In fact, setting aside my personal preference towards karate, there are styles that are thousands of years old. In fact, I found an interesting webpage that has a list of the oldest recorded martial arts. You can check it out here. Please bear in mind that I don’t know how complete this list is and I didn’t research any of these styles, so take it with grain of salt. My point is, martial arts is not a modern thing. And it can be very difficult for someone from the modern world, even an avid practitioner, to consolidate ancient methods with modern mindset.
The key point is that you can’t “modernize” martial arts. You can bring martial arts INTO the modern world and it’s certainly good and important to be open to new learning methods. The issue and point of today’s post, is that unlike most things in this modern world, martial arts is not technologically driven. Nothing will be done for you. No steps will be taken on your behalf. There are no participation trophies in karate and if you’re part of a dojo that awards them, run in the other direction as they obviously don’t have your best interests at heart.
Karate and the martial arts in general, come from the heart. It requires a person to dedicate themselves, sacrifice themselves and their lives. Not in a deadly way, obviously but in in the form of their time, their leisure and their energy. I lost count of the number of times I was nixed by my peers in my younger years for choosing to go to karate instead of staying at a swimming hole during a hot summer day or leaving a get-together in favour of training. Non-practitioners would have no way of knowing and understanding this importance. But it exists regardless.
You have to commit your heart and spirit to the art, work hard and be willing to understand and accept that this ain’t a knitting circle; there’ll be injuries, fatigue, pain, slip-ups and misunderstandings and disappointments at seeing others progress where you may feel that you should have, as well. reasonably speaking and with no malice intended, if you’re unable to put your heart and spirit into your training and sacrifice what’s required, martial arts may not be for you and you shouldn’t even be iIN the dojo. Martial is particular thing that is set apart from traditional sports. Thos who complain and whine abut the process are not deserving of the result. ☯️
I got creative with my title, this morning. Basically, it’s nice if you can have yourself travelling on track… plans, goals, ideas and motivation are all important aspects of life and one can often feel as though they’re “on track” when they’re focused on working on those aspects. The problem with a vehicle that rolls on tracks is that it’s also limited and trapped by them. When was the last time you saw a train travelling down a paved road? The same can be said of one’s goals and plans. As I often say, life rarely cares about one’s plans, and it’ll kick you in the ‘nads if you try to oppose it.
Tracks can also be representative of something far worse, which is when someone has a narrow, isolated view of something and refuses to broaden their perspective in a constructive way. This can often lead to that person feeling isolated, alienating others and causing more issues within their own life than they rightfully would if they’d just take the time to open up and recognize the difference between their perception and what is. This is what’s often referred to as having a “one-track mind.”
Let’s take an example of “Person X” who converses with a random person who may make a comment that X may takes offensively. As the old saying goes, we can only control our words, not how others interpret them. X may feel as though that other person has offended or disrespected them, even if the person in question meant nothing of the sort. It’s a difficult line to draw, because no one should be telling someone how to feel. But by the same token, one can’t allow themselves to get offended and hurt every time they hear something they don’t like. To do so isn’t conducive to good relationships, efficient networking and even a balanced career.
At the end of the day, all one can do is try to be aware of other people’s perspectives and be willing to broaden one’s own. We live in a modern world where people get easily offended by just about everything. It can be murky waters to navigate and one could easily argue that it isn’t their job to adjust themselves to someone else’s sensitivities. Although this is true to a certain extent, there limits to both sides of that equation. If you are the “offender,” just bear those things in mind. If you are the “offendee,” and you find yourself getting hurt or offended by almost everything everyone says, it may be time to stop and take a good look at your life, your perspective and your views. A little change never hurt anyone. Food for thought… ☯️
I’ve almost finished my first full week back to work since coming back from vacation. Unlike most people, I chose to drag my work laptop with me and complete certain tasks while I was away. I’ve received mixed comments for various people on this practice… Some, believing I should completely shut out work while I’m gone and others admiring my tenacity and loyalty to the work. For myself, my OCD just wouldn’t allow certain tasks to go a full two weeks without my hands on it so there I went.
Despite having had my computer and access to emails, one of the things that surprised me the most upon my return was the accumulation and piling of work that continued to happen. It’s made this week somewhat hectic, especially in light of specific issues I’ve had to deal with. One of those issues, as one could well imagine, is my lack of fitness. I’ve fallen into the same precipice as most people who go on vacation; I never exercised.
Don’t get me wrong; I went swimming a couple of times with Nathan and had several reasonably long-distance walks. But in terms of working up a sweat for something other than the New Brunswick humidity, I was found significantly lacking. This is why, once we were safely back home, I decided to knuckle down and push myself to include a number of steps in my daily routine. My job is very sedentary, seeing me at a desk for several hours a day. Even with the occasional health break to get up, stretch and take short walks, this style of work can be detrimental on the body, especially if you aren’t exercising outside of work hours.
If you’ve my blog for even a short period of time, there’s no need to remind you that just about EVERYTHING affects Type-1 Diabetes, especially the blood sugar levels. Working at a desk all day, followed by a carb-heavy supper and flopping on the couch for a couple of hours before staggering your way to bed in a half-awake stupor is not conducive to good blood sugar levels. Hence, the need for some fuckin’ exercise in one’s down time.
I decided to incorporate a few easy changes into my daily routine. As I mentioned above. I promise I’ll stop repeating myself. Carrying on. I’m starting my morning with a smoothie. This doesn’t seem like a big change but the reality is that starting your morning off with some form of breakfast is important. although there are different schools of thought behind this, starting your day with a positive boost of nutrition is integral to having the kind of energy you need to reach the end of your day. I also still have a BlendJet and I never use it, so this justifies my purchase. But I digress…
Next, is a daily workout. This one is a bit more difficult, especially since I have a tendency of overdoing it and injuring myself. For example, I did a short, body-weight and dumbbell only workout on Sunday evening before starting back to work. My goal had been to wake up early on Monday morning and do some light cardio before work but my legs refused to function and basically stuck a middle finger up at me (or is it middle toe, since it has feet?). The goal is to start small and work one’s way back up. Here’s the workout I did…
On its face, it’s nothing out of this world and I should have been able to do it with ease… Such was my mistake. Even simple workouts will require some easing into after a hiatus of any length, even a short one. But staying active is important. I don’t have the space to post all the benefits of exercise, honestly. But doing so helps with cardiac health, weight management, blood pressure, blood sugar levels… The list goes on and on. Karate classes also start up again next month, so that should be fun.
Last but not least, which has also elicited some mixed comments from folks, is I’m doing an alcohol-free month. I should have waited until I made it to the end of the month to include this or write about it but who am I kidding? I’m too stubborn NOT to stay off the hooch for another two weeks. It’s not that there’s a problem with my alcohol consumption, per se… But sometimes I get a bit too comfortable sipping wine or a straight whiskey when I’m writing. But I I’ll write a more comprehensive post on THAT aspect next month, once we hit September.
It’s amazing how just a few small changes can help with any aspect of one’s health. Whether you’re goal is to increase you cardio/stamina, lose some weight, manage your blood sugars or just become stronger, healthier and live longer, you can’t lose. You just have to keep moving. After all, no one ever won a race by sitting still. Food for thought…☯️
Despite how I may have been giving off a negative connotation about my trip out East, there were some good aspects to it. The best was getting a briefcase from my father. Although getting a briefcase doesn’t sound like a big deal, it’s what was contained inside that caught me by surprise. Watch the following YouTube video to see some of what was passed on to me by my father on this last visit. Enjoy! ☯️
Hey folks, I’ve been blogging for a few years now and it dawns on me that I don’t often get many questions or comments on my writing (unless it’s something negative that usually isn’t commented visibly). Anyway, with my recent purchase of some new media equipment, I thought I would take this show live and actually do a Facebook Live event where I could answer questions as they come in. Topics of discussion would include health & fitness, Diabetes, martial arts and thoughts on general matters. I’d love to give this a go and see if it’s potentially something I could start doing regularly.
I’ve already posted about this on my facebook page (yes, for those who didn’t know I have a Facebook page AND a YouTube page! Y’all should go follow those right meow!) and this post will appear there as well. My plan is if I get a significant number of likes on this post, signifying people’s interest in participating, I would schedule the live for this coming weekend and post the schedule on my Facebook page. I could do one in the morning and one in the evening to accommodate folks who may not be available. I’ll leave it to all of you to determine whether this happens or not. ☯️
I haven’t posted to my YouTube page in what feels like forever and I treated myself to some new media equipment, so I thought I’d cover off some of the insights I gained from travelling to New Brunswick. You know, the insights I was supposed to cover on that long-ass post I wrote the day before yesterday? Yeah, that one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video and I’d be forever grateful if all my followers reading this post would take the time to follow my YouTube channel, as well. ☯️
I recently read something about how one’s heart and mind are a little bit like an attic. It tends to gather and accumulate a lot of stuff that not only will one never use again but it takes up space and can increase the overall weight one is carrying. This can be tedious and can cause a lot of hardship, especially if you’re the type of person who tends to dwell and focus on these old dusty memories and feelings.
Much like a dusty attic, we sometimes need to clean said dust off and eliminate the weight of the hard feelings and bad memories that hold us back. This can be easier said than done, and shouldn’t be mistaken with forgetting the memories in question. After all, those who forget the past will often be condemned to repeat it. But by eliminating the excess pain and emotion and retaining the memories, one can begin to remove the pain and sadness that take up the most place in our heart and mound. And once that clutter is removed, it will amaze you how much farther you can run.
Old quarrels no longer matter. Confrontation, arguments, whether you were right or wrong and painful memories will do very little else than cause further pain. This is why it’s so important to let them go. Like so much sand between your fingers, let these negative memories wash away with the current, free to flow through your fingertips and off into non-existence. Once you reach this level of freedom, it will go a significant way towards eliminating the suffering in your life, which will in turn make it easier for you to help reduce the suffering in the lives of others. Food for thought… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 