Process of Mastery

"What mastery might be is our ability to deal with life while improving our self in the process. It might be in balance and making it through the obstacles --and STILL come out ahead." - Tom Callos

With those words and our ensuing conversation, Tom Callos convinced me to enroll in the Ultimate Black Belt Test. My life was as hectic as ever and taking on a challenge like the UBBT seemed insane to me at the time. I am now in the middle of my second UBBT and have already enrolled in my third. I have kept our conversation in front of me for the past couple of years and his words have helped me maintain my perspective through many challenges.

Whatever challenges I face in life, I am confident that if I cannot control the outcome I will adapt and ultimately come through the other side better and stronger than ever.

“How long should you try? Until.” - Jim Rohn (1930 - 2009)

Walking Meditation

One of the most intensely spiritual and solitary moments I have ever experienced was shared in the Colorado Rockies during walking meditation with a few hundred other people last year at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Zen retreat. I spend so much of my day surrounded by the commotion of life that it is easy to lose awareness of myself, life’s miracle, and the integral part I play in the collective.

Walking meditation was a real challenge for me when I first started practicing it. It is difficult to stay in the moment when there are so many distractions clambering for my attention. However when the experience is shared with others (the more the merrier), there is the added power of a collaborative effort.

In walking meditation I practice being aware of the number of steps I take with each breath. The trick is to match the steps with the breath, not the other way around. This awareness goes a long way in keeping me in the moment so that I am walking without arriving, just experiencing the moment and enjoying the walking with no particular aim or destination.

“The mind can go in a thousand directions. But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, a gentle wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Cha-Ching!

Canada is preparing to host the G8 and G20 summits. Stephen Harper has gone on record in the past justifying the purpose of the summit as a way to address global issues like poverty and climate change. Yet Harper has decided to purposely leave climate change off the main agenda while spending over a billion dollars on expenses to host the conference. Not sure how that fits in his plan for addressing world poverty but that expense is obscene when you consider the economic challenges facing non G8 countries.

When I was growing up, I was led to believe that democracy and capitalism were one in the same. It was implied that there were two basic systems - communism and capitalism. Communism was what was happening in the USSR - suppression of human rights within a totalitarian state, and capitalism was what we had in Canada - freedom and a democratic form of government. The world was different back then. The iron curtain still existed and the cold war was one of the biggest threats facing the planet. So now that the iron curtain no longer exists, why do we allow our government to continue to conduct their affairs as if capitalism is equated with freedom? The way the west practices capitalism has very little to do with equality, freedom, or human rights. It is all about money, money, and money. As long as we continue to equate money with happiness, we’ll continue to work harder and harder while spending more and more on products that exploit people and resources in countries we don’t like to think about.

So let’s all drive our SUVs to rallies to protest the oil companies that continue to harvest high risk oil. We all need to look in the mirror if we want things to change.

“The time will come when it will disgust you to look in the mirror.” - Rose F. Kennedy (1890 - 1995)

Right Place at the Right Time

I’m sitting on my deck and watching a perfect sunset. The clouds are that shade of purple with orange highlights - complements of the sun’s setting rays. All of this with the blue sky in the background. A moment ago I was inside. Delay my excursion outside, even for a minute, and the sunset would not be what I am presently witnessing, nor would it be the same if I had come out earlier. I’m in the right place at the right time.

Something Thich Nhat Hanh has taught me is that I am always in the right place at the right time. That place is here and that time is now. The hard part is staying aware of this and actually living as such.

“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)