Category: Buddhism & Philosophy

I’m Green With Calm…

So I was sitting at my desk recently, surfing the web and seeking inspiration on potential topics I could write about, when I came across an article on something called “green noise.” Way back in 2019, I published a post on white, pink and brown noise and their potential benefits. You can read that post here. The tall and short of it, is that any of these “noises” are artificially constructed sounds that exist on at a particular frequency and can provide certain key benefits, depending on how you’re using them.

For example, plenty of people use white noise machines to help them sleep better and get some rest. For those who find that white noise doesn’t help, they can try pink or red noise (also known as Brownian or brown noise) as they have deeper depth and different effect. Pink noise for example, can potentially aid sleep by reducing one’s brain waves to increase one’s sleep stability and provide for a deeper sleep. I’ve used all three at a variety of times in my life, including during sleep, meditation and even when performing work tasks where I need to focus and block out the outside world.

Recently, I discovered green noise, which made me give my head a shake and think I was getting punked. After all, how many “noises” can there really be? Turns out, it isn’t all bullshit. In fact, I’ve recently save a YouTube video to my list that’s 10 straight hours of green noise. Although not necessarily effective as a sleep aid, green noise provides a soothing, calming effect that can be effective at calming oneself, meditating or even just to centre oneself before GOING to bed. I’ve been trying it and listening while I sit outside and enjoy a cigar. I’m not sure if it’s the cigar or the green noise, but the effects were calming.

When I started to look further into it, I came to realize that if white noise is artificially constructed, it would make sense that multiple different levels of noise could potentially be created as well. And when I looked into it to see if I could find others and lo and behold, there are more noise colours than infinity stones (little Marvel comics joke, if you didn’t catch it). While I would encourage anyone interested to do their own research, here are a few of the more interesting ones that I found.

Blue noise is something that works opposite to brown noise as it exists at the higher end of the sound spectrum. This means it likely wouldn’t be good for helping with sleep or relaxation but from what I’ve found, it’s used as some sort of distortion eliminator during sound editing and engineering. I also found violet noise, which can apparently be used to treat certain hearing issues, such as tinnitus, since it apparently blocks the ringing someone with tinnitus tends to hear.

There’s apparently also a grey noise and a black noise, which is basically silence. Wikipedia has a great page defining all of these (although without their benefits) and you can access it here. I still use pink and brown noise a great deal, for those rare occasions when I find a moment to meditate. Green noise is certainly interesting and can provide benefit if you’re just sitting outside, enjoying the weather and want to add a bit of relaxation to your day.

There are several YouTube videos that play lengthy clips of any noise, should you decide to try any of them. I’m partial to my Noisli app, which contains white, pink and brown but there are also some other apps out there that likely feature green noise. At the end of the day, adding a bit of noise to your silence can be helpful and provide some benefits. But you’ll need to try it yourself to find out. ☯️

Facebook Live!

A short while back, I treated myself to some moderately-priced media equipment, which allows me to more effectively make videos for my YouTube page. And by the way, if you aren’t a follower on my YouTube page, please take a few moments to jump over there and click the follow button. thirty seconds for you, great deal of help for me. You can find my page by searching “The Blogging Buddhist” in the search bar. But I’m getting off track here…

I had thrown a post up on my Facebook page (yes, I also have a Facebook page, which you guys can follow as well. Find it by searching, you guessed it, “The Blogging Buddhist”) asking if anyone would have any interest in having me do a live event where I could answer questions and chat about various topics I write about, such as health & fitness, Diabetes and martial arts. I said I’d base whether I tried it or not on how many like I got and I also posted something similar on here.

To my unfortunate surprise, the response had no pulse. I got a couple of likes through facebook, which was nice but I otherwise had no show of interest, whatsoever on either platform. While this is disappointing, to say the least, I’m still interested in trying it out and have friends who have made it work and look interesting (Thanks, Ricky!) so I’m tempted to try it, despite the lukewarm response. In all reality, many if not most people may not necessarily respond to some thing that requires their interaction with a posting, so I kind of get it. Maybe if they come across the Live event, they’ll be tempted to jump in.

With all of that in mind, I’ve decided that I will go live on Facebook this evening at 6:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (Saskatchewan time). The event will last somewhere between 30 to 60 minutes, depending on attendance and interest, and will cover various topics including what’s mentioned above: martial arts, Diabetes management, health & fitness (from the Diabetic perspective, especially). Come join me and throw out any questions you may have been wondering about. Hopefully, it’ll be entertaining for all. See you there! ☯️

You Get What You Give…

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… ☯️

It’s Great To Be On Track But Hard To Get Off The Rails…

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… ☯️

Clean Out Your Attic…

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… ☯️

It’s Not Me, It’s You…

Today marks my family’s second day on our epic journey across Canada and I’m clearly aware that I can’t spend fourteen straight days posting about the trip. I mean, I COULD… But the idea is to maintain a readership, not scare them all away. With that in mind, I’ve decided that I’ll be posting about the trip every few days, after photos and material have been gathered in order for share my thoughts on the trip. With that in mind, let’s get on with today’s post…

Sometimes, navigating society can be pretty difficult. You’re probably think “d-uh,” right? Beyond societal expectations and personal hopes of acceptance, there’s also the little detail that we’re all individuals. Although this should be hailed as a good thing, it also means that each and every one of us has our own thoughts, beliefs, perspective and personalities. The downside to THAT is that we don’t always mix well with those aspects in others, which ultimately leads to us not playing well with others.

Picture this; you’re working with an individual who has been tasked with a project. You’ve been asked to look into that project and determine its status as well as verify the quality of the work. During this verification, you notice that some aspects of the project aren’t quite up to snuff with how it was requested. In a casual and conversational setting, you mention this in passing to the individual working on it. You walk away happy that’s you’re able to clearly discuss this matter and look forward top seeing the updated project.

Some time goes by and you come to realize that you’ve received no updates. Curious and somewhat confused, you reach out to the individual in question and discover that not only have they not updated the project, they’re displeased with “how you addressed them” and don’t wish to communicate with you. You’re utterly confused. You run the scenario in your head and can’t understand what you might have said that could have been interpreted as offensive.

Here’s the thing; you likely didn’t! There’s an old saying that goes something like, “I only control my words, not how you react to them…” I have no idea where the saying stems from, but I’ve heard different versions at different points throughout my life. And it’s pretty accurate. With some people, you can be absolutely sweet as sugar and they’ll still get pissed off at you and think you’ve offended or disrespected them. In most instances, there isn’t much you can do about that. It’s not a “you” problem, it’s a “them” problem.

Now, I used a workplace example for this scenario but it can and does happen in one’s personal life, as well. Sometimes, it can be something as simple as missing a comma in a text message and it changes the tone, causing the recipient to take it offensively, regardless of whether it was intended that way or not. For most, this requires the ability to allow room for clarification of the interpretation rather than getting all snowflake-ish about it. But this isn’t always possible and if you’re the one overreacting about something, you may not be amenable to taking that step. Changing one’s perspective can be difficult.

And ultimately, one needs to ask oneself, even if you didn’t MEAN to offend or disrespect someone, does it genuinely make it any less offensive to the other person? If someone makes a joke or makes light of something they consider comedic but happens to be something personal and sensitive to the other, their feelings are genuine even if you didn’t mean to harm them. It’s pretty easy to sit behind a keyboard and say that one should apologize for the harm, even if it wasn’t intended as such. But this practice can become an exhausting and futile exercise, especially when dealing with individuals in one’s life who become offended and hurt at absolutely everything.

At the end of the day, there’s no easy answer to this scenario. It’s simply one of those things that a person needs to accept and recognize requires some give and take from both sides of the conversation. For the offended party, it’s important to recognize that allowing yourself to have an open perspective on what the intent of the message or action is, is important to proper communication and to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings. For the one relaying the message or performing the words or actions, be willing to view things through the recipients lens and accept that even though you may have done nothing wrong, it doesn’t eliminate the suffering that may have been cause. Food for thought… ☯️

Musical Chairs, But With Decades Instead Of Chairs…

One of my oldest and dearest friends proposed a game for our old high school gang to play, a few days ago… He challenged us to provide a list of ten songs from out high school years that we enjoyed. They didn’t have to be in order of importance or favour, but they had to have been released during our high school years. This was an interesting challenge, considering that in high school I was mostly a 70’s and 80’s kind of guy. But I met the challenge, and found ten songs I could provide. Then, the rest of the gang started providing their choices and it opened up my memories and tossed me back to 27 years ago…

Before I get to the lesson this game taught me, I think it would be interesting to provide y’all with the list i came up with. Without judging how old I am, bear in mind that all the songs listed below were released in 1996, which is when I graduated high school:

  1. Macarena – Los Del Rio
  2. Follow You Down – Gin Blossoms
  3. Name – Goo Goo Dolls
  4. The World I Know – Collective Soul
  5. Time – Hootie & The Blowfish
  6. Wonderwall – Oasis
  7. Santa Monica – Everclear
  8. Where It’s At – Beck
  9. That Thing You Do – The Wonders
  10. No Diggity – Blackstreet

The nice thing about this list is that it’s beautifully incomplete. there are so many other songs from my youth that I’ve gained an appreciation for and that I love listening to, even today. My friend Leon named Mr. Jones by Counting Crows, No Rain by Blind Melon, Let Her Cry by Hootie & The Blowfish and certainly not least… If I Had A Million Dollars by Barenaked Ladies. Just about everything by Green Day… So many great choices and so little time…

As with all things in life, there’s a lesson to be learned from this simple game. Much in the same way that I was listening to music from a decade or earlier when I was in the 90’s, I’ve only truly come to appreciate the music from the 90’s in recent years. The nostalgia adds a certain something to the whole equation. The thing of it is, I didn’t appreciate the music from my high school years WHILE I was in high school. It took a couple of decades before I truly started to enjoy the music. I have well over 3,000 songs on my iTunes and growing.

Music has a way of helping with everything. It can calm you when you’re worked up, motivate you when you exercise and soothe you while you meditate. When you add some memories into the bowl, it’s a sure recipe for happiness. In a chaotic world where happiness can be a fleeting thing, a little added boost can go a long, long way. And there’s also something in there about appreciating what you have when you have it. Maybe I could have appreciated some of that wonderful 90’s music, well… back in the 90’s! Instead, I get to enjoy it only through the lens of remembering my youth. Food for thought… ☯️

Polishing Your Horns Won’t Make You A Star

They say a little competition is a good thing. I believe the expression is “healthy competition.” Although this can be fine as long as that competition is for the purposes of fun and is only a game. The problem begins when one’s need for competition extends beyond fun and games and drips into everyday life. If you compete against others in life, you’ll find yourself walking a very lonely path; even if you’re not alone.

The goal of life should be to eliminate suffering; suffering in one’s own life and suffering in other peoples’ lives. If you compete against others for the purposes of personal advancement, comparing yourself to others or for gain, such as money, popularity or status, the only outcome will be suffering. Status in life means nothing. And let’s not mistake status for success; those are two very different things and success can be measured by the efforts and goals you set for oneself. Status is how outside people see you in relation to personal gain. Not so great.

Back in the 1990’s (yes, I’m old) I had my wisdom teeth removed. While I was laid up for a day or two on Tylenol 3’s, I rented a handful of movies to watch. Yes, this was back during a time when you had to actually walk into a retail location, provide your personal information and borrow a playable tape (not DVD) in order to watch it at home. Anyway, I decided to binge on a particular series and rented every Rocky movie I could find. I was a pretty big Sylvester Stallone fan, so it was a no-brainer. There were four movies out, at the time.

When I got to Rocky IV, one of the things I was most amazed with was the soundtrack. One would think that I would have been inspired by the lesson behind the movie, but you can only watch Stallone lose, train and make a comeback then finally defeat one’s enemy before the movies kind of all blend together. Anyway, there’s a song by Survivor called “Burning Heart.” The song was released in 1985, the same year as Rocky IV came out. The movie has some undertones that’s suggestive that the message relates to the Cold War and if I had to guess, I’d say that the song was written specifically for the soundtrack.

Anyway, there’s a particular line in the song that speaks to me and has done so ever since. It goes, “In the warrior’s code, there’s no surrender. Though his body says stop, his spirit cries NEVER! Deep in our soul a quiet ember knows it’s you against you; it’s the paradox that drives us on.” And that’s the message: the true competition is against yourself. Work to be a bit better than you were the day before. Set goals and fight to complete them. As long as you have moved one step closer today than you were yesterday, you’re competing the RIGHT way. But as soon as you compete while comparing yourself to anyone else, the only possible result will be suffering. And that doesn’t work for anybody. Food for thought… ☯️

Wisdom From The Most Unlikely Places…

There’s a lot going on in the world, these days… It sucks, because most of us would agree that we would prefer not to have these events happen in our lifetime. It reminds me of my grandfather… He fought on active front lines in Europe during World War II. Unlike many others, he wasn’t drafted, he enlisted. He left his family and his home to go fight oppression, thousands of kilometres from our Canadian shores. He was never nationally recognized, never provided with the honours he deserved but ever loved by his family.

In some ways, a lot of ways, I’m fortunate. Even with everything happening in the world, I won’t get drafted, I’ll never see war and I’ll never experience what my grandfather did. I have him to THANK for that. No one should have to live through any of that. We’ve suffered through a rough couple of years, with COVID-19 bringing the world to a halt, followed by creating a level of chaos my country has rarely seen on its own soil. Now, war rages in Europe and Asia. yes, Russia has a higher percentage of its land in Asia, though we don’t think of Russians as Asians. But I digress…

Before I delve too deeply into current world politics, my point is the image above. I’m one of the few, rare people who have actually read JRR Tolkien’s novels and have experienced the full story. The movies were fantastic but despite their length, they left out a lot of details from the book. One of my favourite is illustrated in the image above. And they do have a scene in Fellowship of the Ring that covers it. Frodo and Gandalf are resting on a landing inside Moria, when Frodo begins speaking about how he wishes the ring had never come to him and how he wishes none of it would have taken place in his lifetime. I can relate.

The scene is made memorable by Gandalf, iconically played by Sir Ian McKellen, explaining that it isn’t up to us to wish that things wouldn’t happen within our lifetime but to make the most of the time we have, regardless of what’s happening within the world. Wise words and from the least likely of sources. As I’ve often said, we most often find our destiny on the road we least thought to travel. Although it’s a weird place to find such wisdom, a fantasy book has provided it. Make the most of the time you have. Food for thought… ☯️

Rain, Rain, Come And Play…

People have this unfortunate tendency to dislike rain. And I get it. It makes the day greyer, brings one’s mood down and prevents doing anything outdoors. But a solid rain also does a number of positive things. For one thing, rain is an important part of plant growth without which, none of us would be here. Outside of that, there’s something therapeutic about hearing a steady drum of falling rain on the roof of the house or against the windows. If one has the time to sit and listen, rainfall can have a similar effect to white noise and can calm and soothe a person after a long day.

A saturated neighbourhood…

The past week has involved a certain level of heat that I usually have difficulty dealing with. I’m the kind of guy who prefers to sweat over freezing or shovelling snow but it’s like I always used to tell some of my co-workers, it’s easier to add on a sweater than do the opposite. You can only remove so many pieces of clothing before it becomes an HR issue. That’s why I’ve always been a bit more comfortable in cooler climates than during extreme heat. And this past week has seen the hottest weather of the summer. It’s made it hard to be outside for anything without having a hard time breathing and turning into a see-through, sweaty mess.

It’s also seen me sleeping in my basement, since our air conditioner can only do so much. But the rain kicked in a bit during the weekend and during the beginning of the week and it’s gone a long way towards cooling things down. It also helps in keeping my shitty lawn watered so I don’t have to do it. Granted, my lawn is only shitty because I have absolutely no ability to grow things and keep them alive, whatsoever. That sounds pretty bad, considering I have two small children. But I digress…

Hopefully the rain helps with that horrible bald patch I haven’t seeded yet

Falling rain is also an excellent aid when taking a nap. Since I’ll be travelling to Saskatoon for my eye injections today, I likely won’t get to indulge in that. Light knows I didn’t get the chance on the day I took these photos. But if one hears the falling rain while lying down and allowing oneself to relax and fall asleep, it can be incredibly centering and therapeutic. One could almost consider that a form of meditation.

Most people tend to dislike and avoid the rain. Having grown up in the Maritimes, right next to the open bay, have allowed me to sit through some AWESOME rain storms coming in from the ocean. That’s probably why I have a bit of a soft spot for the rain. It elicits good memories and calms me. And we all need a little more of that in our lives. And since it cooled the temperature, I was actually able to sleep in my own bed. That sounds like a win/win… ☯️