Category: Buddhism & Philosophy

What’s Next?

I started this blog quite some time ago. It’s been a few years now and I’ve accumulated well over 1,300 posts and built up over 500 followers, which in the social media world means nothing but for the guy who started a small private blog, it’s pretty significant. I started writing here for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is because during my law enforcement career, I was sent home for a time and found myself with idle hands. Sitting idle, even for a short period of time is a bad thing for a police officer, since all of our skills are kept skills and need to be maintained. Enter: this blog.

Since I was no longer writing reports, briefing notes and memos on a daily basis, I wanted to do something that would allow me to maintain and develop my writing skills. Also, I found myself in a bit of a unique position where I had decades of experience in martial arts, Buddhist study and Type-1 Diabetes and felt it would be a good thing to share that knowledge, in whatever way that I could. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea if that information is getting to anyone or serving any purpose but I like to think that someone is making use of it.

Because it’s important to have goals and because anyone who knows me will admit that I’m stubborn, I started to make a game out of certain aspects of my blog. First, I wanted to see if I could post for a full year straight without missing a day. This actually wasn’t as hard as it sounds, from a content perspective; I appeared to have plenty to post about and only occasionally found myself lacking for ideas, which I overcame thanks to ideas from my wife and some very good and important friends. The hard part was finding the time to write between work, kids and other responsibilities. I actually got into the high 300’s, nearing the end of my year and suddenly missed a day and had to start from scratch.

But once I reached a full year’s worth of posts, I found myself asking what my next goal should be. I was happy writing and that aspect wasn’t a problem but I had enjoyed the challenge of reaching that year mark. Ultimately, I decided to try for 1,000 posts in a row without missing a day. Guess what, readers… Yesterday’s post was my 1,000th post. I have officially posted for one-freaking-thousand days in a row. I could have written about this yesterday, on the ACTUAL day of 1,000 but I wouldn’t have been able to screenshot the notice that proves it. And I like me some proof…

So this raises an important question now: What’s next? Certainly, I have no interest in stopping. But my reasons for writing and posting on a personal blog site have changed from they were three years ago. I think I still have some knowledge to share and experiences to write about. But given the current rigours of life and the responsibilities I carry, perhaps it’s time for me to take a step back and write LESS. Maybe I need to spend a bit more time on my YouTube channel, instead. Or maybe, just maybe, I need to finally sit down and start writing my book. Some food for my own thoughts… ☯️

George Michael Was Right…

Sometimes, you gotta have faith… Ah, that song brings me back. released in the late 80’s, it used to come on the radio in the mornings when I’d be on my way to school. Gets my foot tapping, even now. But I haven’t even gotten into today’s topic and I’m already slipping off the rails, so I’m going to rein myself in. As I said in the opener, sometimes, you gotta have faith. This is especially true when. You make the conscious decision to join a dojo or a sports club.

In general, people who walk into a dojo for the first time are likely to be inexperienced and unaware of the art they’re choosing to undertake. This makes it so very important that one be able to trust and have faith in what they’re being taught and who is teaching it. I remember when i first walked into a dojo, all the way back when I was a kid… Ironically not long after George Michael’s “Faith” was released, I had a head full of karate movie scenes and high expectations. I never could have imagined the journey I was about to embark on, or how it would ultimately change my life.

But imagine how that journey would have been different if I didn’t trust Sensei and the other senior students? Imagine if I questioned and doubted everything I was being shown and taught? I’d say it’s hard to fill a cup that’s already full but the joke is that if you’re walking into a dojo for the first time, your cup should be fuckin’ empty. Unless you’re one of these black belts who move to a different Province and end up having to train with a different style… *cough, cough* Moving on!

That trust and ability to have faith in the teachings you receive is a two-way door. You need to trust the people teaching you but they also have to be able to trust your. The dojo will only be as traditional and strong as its weakest student but it’s everybody’s responsibility to raise that weakest student up in order to ensure the strength and effectiveness of the curriculum and the reputation of the style. I recently had an associate who told me about a dojo he trained in, where he was put through hell for years on end to reach black belt.

Although he’s found himself moving on from there due to other obligations and responsibilities, he’s occasionally visited and has been disheartened by how the curriculum has weakened and become watered down to accommodate those who prefer not to get hurt or don’t want to put in as much effort. This is a sad and dangerous path for a dojo to follow. Not only will it dilute the style and make it less effective, those who grow in rank will be nowhere near as effective and skilled as their rank suggests and could put them in danger, should they ever be in a situation where they need to defend themselves.

Sensei saw this trend start to take shape about six or seven years ago, which ultimately led to him closing his dojo doors permanently. As sad as I am about that, I’m comforted in the fact that I trained hard, learned well and have confidence in my skills, which have been time-tested and proven. I rather that than have my beloved school turned into a cookie-cutter producer of people who don’t put their full effort into it or train the right way for the right reasons.

It’s important to trust in your dojo. If you have doubts or question what’s being taught, maybe that means that the school isn’t for you and you should likely move on. This doesn’t mean you should never question ANYTHING. But how can a dojo be strong if its students don’t trust each other, raise each other up and you don’t believe in what the sensei is teaching? Not only does this make it hard on you but on the dojo as a whole, as well. Always remember that choosing a style or a school to train with is a subjective thing. There’s nothing wrong with a school being wrong for you and moving on. Food for thought… ☯️

Even The Finest Armour Can Rust…

There’s a consistent truth to life that eventually, we all get older. I never got it or understood it when I was younger. My parents felt old to me when they were almost twenty years younger than I am now. I never understood all the jokes and memes about how waking up in the morning was like the sound of a thousand mouse traps. But I swear that my joints are the reason why mice stay the fuck away from our house in the winter. A little touch of cold and all of a sudden I have to rock back and forth a dozen times to roll myself out of bed. But I digress…

I’ve always prided myself on maintaining my health as best I could. Getting the basic equivalent of a death sentence from my doctors at the tender age of 10-years old woke me up in a way that most adults wouldn’t appreciate, at the time. I started training in the martial arts, taking control of my food and make conscious choices about my health and my future. Having been educated on all the complications Type-1 Diabetes can bring, I refused to become part of the overall statistic. There was no fuckin’ way in hell anyone was going to amputate one of my limbs. losing my eyesight or having a heart attack also didn’t sound too appealing.

I’ve had the benefit of navigating the rough seas of Diabetes with a certain amount of pride. And zeal, I guess. Given my increased level of fitness, proper diet and attention to my condition has allowed me the benefit of reaching my current age with all my limbs and organs intact, a clean nervous system and essentially no complications after over four decades of dealing with Type-1. In my early twenties, I travelled to Japan and subsequently, Okinawa. I soon after passed my first degree black belt. I became a teacher of others. I excelled in every job I ever held. Despite all odds and opposition, I graduated from the RCMP Training Academy in Regina, Saskatchewan and became a Mountie. Despite what some may say and mistakes I’ve made, I have a story to tell…

Despite how hard I’ve worked and how many obstacles I’ve faced, time is beginning to show me that I need to slow down. I don’t move quite as quickly as I did years ago, which was premised by the broken rib I suffered last April from a punch I should have easily blocked. Getting out of bed, even after a full eight hours of sleep, has become more difficult. Getting through the day without increased amounts of caffeine (or a nap, if its the weekend) is becoming more and more difficult. I worry about things like cholesterol and blood pressure now, and have prescribed “preventative” pills for both. Apparently, that’s a good idea if you’re above the age of 30 and have Type-1 Diabetes.

If you would have told me, twenty years ago, that I would have to constantly check and worry about my blood pressure, I would have told you to, as the French would say, go fuck yourself. But believe it or not, here I am! Taking preventative measures for my health and slowing down, as time is wont to do. But slowing down doesn’t mean stopping. As I’ve always said, life brings movement. Movement brings energy. Energy brings life. If there’s one thing I can guarantee, it’s that I’ve never done anything less than 100% and I don’t intend to stop, creaky joints and all… ☯️

Zen And The Art Of Blood Sugars…

I had something interesting happen to me yesterday. I took a workshop to practice speaking on camera. Something required by virtue of my current job. Now, I consider myself something of a reasonably well-controlled individual who can compose and control himself at the best or worst of times. But there’s something about dealing with the media and being questioned on camera that causes me a great deal of stress and anxiety, more than I care to admit. So it came as a surprise to most people in my inner circle when I revealed I was taking media training.

The workshop included a short lecture on media and press interviews in general, followed by some short videos that illustrated what NOT to do while being interviewed. It was valuable information and I learned a lot. The workshop concluded by having all of the participants provide a brief, five-minute on-camera interview. I watched a number of people go before me and learned a great deal about that, as well. When it came time for me to go up and provide my interview, I was reasonably surprised by how stressed I was over it. Considering it was only for a small group of my work associates and not the actual press, I’d hate to see how I would have actually done on air.

Anyway, I leaned on my training and allowed myself to control my breathing and slip into a meditative state, something I hadn’t actively done in years. Most people believe that meditation has to involve sitting cross-legged on the floor with your eyes closed, breathing deeply and doing nothing else. The reality is that meditation is something one can do while in motion, while performing other actions or on the fly. With practice, one can learn to be in a meditative state throughout one’s day. It’s actually SUPER handy, allowing you to reduce stress, fatigue and clearing the mind. It’s also SUPER handy at taking you out of the stressful moment and find peace.

I gave my interview with a level of cool-headedness and calm that shocked and impressed the others around me. I barely realized the interview was over until the facilitator told me it was. I was pleased at how calm I was and how I had used skills I trained for decades to de-escalate my stress. But this is where the “something interesting” kicked in. My blood sugars bottomed out. Badly. It made me recognize how deep a physical effect meditation can actually have on a body. It kind of struck me out of the blue. But it worked. Meditation works. It’s unfortunate it took something actually stressful to make me remember that… ☯️

What Do YOU Know?

When you’ve trained and travelled as much as i have over the course of my life, you get to see a few things. I’ve seen people who know nothing that thought they knew everything. I’ve seen people who knew plenty who were humble enough to recognize they knew nothing. I’ve always fancied myself as somewhere in between but I would be lying if I said that it was easy backing down, especially when I was of the opinion that I was right or had the better way.

I’ve always fancied myself as the type of guy who could be humble enough to allow someone, especially of a different style, to express themselves and provide a different perspective. After all, the only real difference in any style of karate is that we all do the same thing in slightly different ways. Until we don’t. And that’s a situation the practitioners should all remember when butting heads on techniques. I got to experience that firsthand, less than a year ago.

Uechi Ryu is significantly different from Shotokan, in that the former focuses on tight, small circle techniques with a focus on fine-point strike. The latter focuses on crossing long distances, elongated stances and full impact strikes for every technique. There are a number of significant differences beyond that, but that’s a very generalized summary of how the styles differ. Uechi Ryu also owes its origins to Okinawa and Shotokan is a Japanese style that descended from Shorin Ryu, which is also an originating Okinawan style. You’d think coming from Okinawan roots would make the Japanese style a little more humble. It did not.

I encountered a particular situation some time ago; one that made me question whether I should take a firmer stance or simply let it go. For the most part, the easy route is usually to let it go. I guess the question is how far do you let it go before you wind up compromising your teachings in exchange for those of another? It’s important to be respectful of other styles’ perspective and techniques. But how far do you allow that respect to go, if it contravenes your own style’s way of doing thing? That is the question and that is what I faced all those months ago.

We were performing lines of techniques that included a simple front kick. How ironic that one of the most basic of techniques would be the one that two black belts would differ on? The Shotokan black belt commented on how I should be using the ball of my foot as an impact point. I argued that Uechi uses the bog toe, training to focus the dynamic tension of the remaining toes to strengthen the impact point as such. He countered that doing it this way posed too much of a chance that the technique would break the practitioner’s big toe. I stated it would only happen if the practitioner did it incorrectly… Impass.

I chose not to argue. I was comparing our respective training and found my opposition lacking. He was in his early 20’s and had only been doing karate for about a third of the time that I had. I felt that I definitely had time and experience on my side. The difference is that I was in HIS dojo and was there to learn HIS style. Even though I felt that he might have been wrong, I acknowledged that it would have been rude to correct an instructor in his own dojo. I stayed silent on the matter but it might go a short distance towards explaining why I no longer train there. Besides their exorbitant costs…

Cross-training in different styles can be rough, especially if that other style differs significantly from yours. But a big part of the dojo culture is respect and understanding. Even if someone’s way of doing something may be different from yours or the techniques differ, be willing to keep your mind open to learning a new way of doing things. This is genuinely the only way to expand your overall martial arts toolbox. Food for thought… ☯️

Stay In Your Lane…

The World Wide Web is an amazing thing, allowing the general population to have immediate and almost uncensored access to the world’s information. It’s a truly wondrous thing and I have to admit, it would have made high school projects a lot easier for me, had I access to it in the early 1990’s. But as with all things in life, a balance is required and there are negative aspects to having this immediate access at all times.

One of the bigger problems is that we’re constantly exposed to the world’s negativity. When I was younger, we only heard about pertinent crimes and issues that took place in our little corner of the Province. Anything beyond that didn’t matter because it didn’t relate to us. Although this might seem like a bit of a “head in the sand,” it certainly allowed for a more peaceful life. Anything of pertinence or from outside our little circle would be broadcast on the news or the radio, so we were never truly left in the dark.

The online world has become the primary means of communication in the world, alerting everyone to everything at all times. People are often shocked and awed at the things happening in the world, ignorantly unaware that these things have been happening all along; we simply weren’t aware of it. But the big change has been social media. Good ol’ social media… The unwanted step-child of the internet. I have a distinct love/hate relationship with social media, having stepped away and cancelled my accounts on more than one occasion. If it weren’t for the sheer convenience of communicating with friends and family, I likely STILL wouldn’t have any social media accounts.

Friends and family, as it relates to social media, is actually the point of today’s post. Social media unfortunately allows most people to become armchair warriors, arguing on matters that they would otherwise have no knowledge about. Or basically just complaining. And that’s where things get difficult, for me. I don’t have many genuine friendships and the associations I maintain online are often more for nostalgic purposes than anything else. The friendships I maintain involve a more traditional “in person” component. Call me old fashioned.

This is why, when someone becomes an aforementioned armchair warrior, especially on a topic that shouldn’t elicit such a response, it becomes difficult for me to maintain that association. A big part of my beliefs is the elimination of suffering from my own life as well as the life of others. No easy task, to be sure but it’s made all the more difficult by the fact that I sometimes see people I know and respect letting the cheese slide off their crackers for trivial matters that should simply have them scroll on by as opposed to commenting.

The irony is that one might take the view that by writing this post, I’m doing the very thing that I’m writing against. I guess the difference, in my view, is that this is a phenomenon that DOES directly affect me, my relationships and how I view and associate with said people who follow this practice. Unlike others, however, I won’t engage in the matters that I don’t agree with, I’ll simply scroll on by. Or in extreme cases, I’ll unfollow/block the offending party. I hate to admit that I’ve taken this step on occasion, even with family members.

I had a cousin, with whom I had minimal contact for decades. About ten years ago, we made contact and began communicating again when his mother, my aunt, passed away from cancer. An extremely intelligent and well-educated man, we had some reasonable conversations and I was happy with the concept of having a close family contact only a few hours away in Western Canada. And then, something funny happened. He got a speeding ticket and began publicly bashing law enforcement for giving him said speeding ticket.

Now, I’m pretty thick-skinned and this kind of thing has been happening throughout my entire career. I’ve sat in my mother’s kitchen while some of my uncles have literally bad-mouthed police and government for how they deal with things but that was usually i the spirit of discussion. In my cousin’s case, he was just angry about getting a ticket and it was everyone else’s fault. Had it been just a one-time thing, I likely would have left it alone, having scrolled on by. But when he got a total of three tickets within a two-month period and failed to see that perhaps his driving was the issue at hand, I had had enough.

All in all, the internet is a great resource for people and has joined the world in many amazing ways. Lost friends and family and now easily connect and communicate, people can learn and gain knowledge in ways they never have before and the world’s news is at one’s immediate fingertips. There is a lot of positive that can come from these things but as with all things in life, there is some negative as well. Instead of complaining about things online, take the time to ask yourself if it’s worth your time to do so. Ask yourself, will this help me or others? Will this contribute to the betterment of the world? If the answer to either of those is no, then perhaps scroll on by is what one should do. Food for thought…☯️

The Only Way Is Forward…

I have often written that it’s very important to live without regrets. The reason for this is simple; every decision and life choice, good or bad, has led to who you are, right now. And who you are is pretty fantastic. Self-love and self-image are important factors to a person’s wellbeing and existence. Sometimes, life will seem rough and difficult but as the old saying goes, this too shall pass. I found the above image online somewhere and it spoke to me. I think it represents an important lesson that we all too soon forget.

I remember myself, when I was younger. A skinny, sick little bastard who got sick with every little illness that came past. I had a rough go of it, when I was younger. I was severely bullied and not the modern, snowflake version of bullying everyone complains about today. I mean four guys surrounding me in a locker room and beating the living shit out of me. But I survived. I wouldn’t wish many aspects of my childhood on anyone. But t be honest, i had a loving family who did their best, a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I was well-off in many ways that I didn’t know to appreciate, back then.

Don’t regret who you were before. That person contributed to who you are now. And the important lesson is twofold; if you’re unhappy with who you are, recognize what you want to change and work for it. If you’re happy with who you are, roll with it. The person you were paved the way for the person you are. And all that matters is who you’ve become. Food for thought… ☯️

From The Least Likely Sources…

I kinda like this. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that Robert Downey Jr. has been involved in movies for decades before the MCU “made him famous.” Personally, I thought he was great in Sherlock Holmes and Tropic Thunder. But from an 80’s standpoint, Johnny Be Good, Weird Science and The Pick-up Artist comes to mind. A great actor. But the thought provided above does get one thinking. Depending on who you’re dealing with, sometimes there’s no winning and you’ll just have to forge your own path regardless of what others think. ☯️

If You Can’t Block The Noise, Cancel It…

I’ve often written about how hard it can be to find moments of silence within one’s day to meditate or even just to let one’s head cool after a long day’s work. This is especially true if one has a family with small children who want your attention once you finally walk through the door. That’s where noise-cancelling headphones come in. Just to be clear, I don’t mean earbuds. Earbuds have got to be the stupidest damn thing I’ve ever used. At least headphones from the 80’s and 90’s would muffle some noise but earbuds don’t do much (at least for me) other than get jammed inio one’s ears and push earwax further. But I digress…

On my last birthday (which was September 11th, thanks for remembering), I decided to do the responsible thing and look for something that could count towards a birthday gift from my family that I could use for work, at home and for fitness. I landed on wireless headphones made by JBL, their Live model 660NC. I didn’t land on these easily. In fact, I looked up a number of different headphones from a number of different locations in order to land on a set that I felt would provide me with what I needed. After travelling the city and searching online, I landed on JBL, which ironically, is the same brand of Bluetooth speaker I’ve been dragging around with me for years.

I finally landed on purchasing from a local retail outlet and found the set I wanted. I was lucky enough to find them on special. According to BestBuy’s website, “Featuring adaptive noise cancelling technology, they avoid the interference of unwanted ambient noise to deliver loud and clear audio. Easily customize the settings and features of the headphones in the My JBL Headphones app.” Although a bit pricey (I paid a couple of hundred for mine), they would prove to be a life saver in terms of daily life and bring some much-needed peace in a chaotic and noisy world.

When purchasing this product, you get a USB-C charging cable for easy recharging, an audio cable for those devices you can’t connect through Bluetooth, and a nifty carrying case. The cushioned ear pads fit comfortably over the ears and block out all ambient noise, with multiple settings available through the JBL app, which I also downloaded and seems to work great. I use the headphones at work when trying to concentrate, I use them for workouts (some routines require some alcohol-based cleaning afterwards) and I even use them when doing dishes or chores around the house to block out noise and allow my head to cool.

Sometimes I listen to green or pink noise to allow my head to cool. Sometimes I listen to music or even binge-watch my favourite shows on my favourite streaming service. The benefit of having wireless headphones is I can wander and get things done without worrying that the cord will pull my phone or device off whatever surface it’s laying on. It’s definitely a good alternative for those who live in an environment where blocking out the noise is necessary or needed. Although the JBL LIVE660NC works well for me, the important thing is to find a set that fit well over YOUR ears and provide the benefits and features that you want. ☯️

Learn To Slow Down…

My father would get a great laugh out this, if he could read it… Or maybe he wouldn’t, since he laughs about very little these days but when I was younger, I used to comment to him about how we needed to do more stuff and be more active. Although he didn’t disagree, he often told me that sometimes ones just needs to slow down and appreciate the calmness of life as opposed to constantly burning energy trying to hammer through one’s day. Even though I didn’t agree with him at the time, I have to admit that the old man was on to something and it’s a lesson I am now trying to impart on my own children.

I used to be a slave of the rat race; waking at extreme early hours and usually lacking sleep, hammering through a day and doing more than my fair share just to be considered as “doing my job,” only to return home at night, exhausted and spent with no energy to enjoy the down time that I was earning money to live. My perspective has changed significantly in recent years, especially with time and age beginning to take hold.

For the most part and even once we moved to Regina and I took an administrative role within the RCMP, I would wake at the crack of dawn, prepare lunches for myself and Nathan, shave, shower and bolt out the door in order to get to work early so I could enjoy that first coffee and get through my emails uninterrupted. Then, I would work whatever assigned duties I had for the day. If I was lucky, I would head home at the end of the day. If I had work books or reports to complete, I wouldn’t allow myself to leave until I did so. I would get home in time to shower once again, if I hadn’t done so at work, before letting my head hit the pillow and doing it all over again the next day.

Bearing in mind that this didn’t even include the karate classes I was attending a few nights a week, Sure, I had weekends off but I would usually be so spent and cranky that I would barely get enough rest to be recovered before having to face the follow week and going through all of it again. Not exactly conducive to family life either. Considering I had my children a bit later in life, finding the energy to keep up with them is challenging at the best of times. Trying to do so when exhausted from a full work week is even worse.

Nowadays, my perception of how my day starts has been changed, mainly through personal choices. I still wake at about 6 am but I don’t rush out of bed like a fool. I walk to the kitchen, grab that first gulp of caffeine and diligently prepare Nathan’s lunch. Then, I’ll look through the fridge for leftovers that I can use for my own lunch and prepare that. If she’s up, I’ll say good morning to my wife and we may chat about a thing or two. If I didn’t do so the night before, I’ll grab a hot shower and get dressed for the day. This still sounds like a routine but the difference is I do it over a much longer period of time than I would have before. And that’s okay.

I still get to work somewhat early, but I don’t stress over doing so. If I get there early, great. If not, I don’t worry about it as long as I start my day on time, which I always do. I put in an honest day’s work for the salary I draw, then I go home. Unlike most people, I reserve my evenings and down time for myself, my wife and children. I focus on my fitness and I allow myself to go to bed when I want to sleep as opposed to fighting to stay awake due to some clouded opinion that there isn’t enough time in the day.

The result of these changes has been a calmer self, lower blood pressure and a better overall control of my Diabetes. Life won’t slow down. We all know that. But YOU can still slow yourself down. Take time to stop and smell the flowers. You’ve done yourself and your family a disservice if you die of a heart attack trying to keep up with everything. Or like Ferris Bueller said on his infamous day off, life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Food for thought…☯️