Masters of Simplicity

I have always tried to live my life mindfully simplistic. Minimalistic living has its benefits — less stress, more focus, and the global benefit that comes from opting out of the conspicuous consumption paradigm. As my mindfulness practice continues to evolve, I am much more aware of how complexity has a way of covertly oozing its way back into my life. With a global economic strategy that is dependent upon unsustainable growth, complexity is the natural order. Resisting assimilation is a job that demands full time vigilance.

Dieter Rams and Jonathan Ive are two Masters of Simplicity that keep me inspired. When I look at their work I find it impossible to imagine a way to improve the quality. Art can be found in everything we do when what we do comes from a place of mindfulness. Dieter Rams' Ten Principles of Good Design provide a framework for ethical quality in industrial design but also to any project that is worth your engagement.

Dieter Rams - 10 Principles of Good Design

1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design makes a product useful.
3. Good design is asthetic.
4. Good design makes a product understandable.
5. Good design is unobtrusive.
6. Good design is honest.
7. Good design is long lasting.
8. Good design is throrough, down to the last detail.
9. Good design is environmentally friendly.
10. Good design is as little design as possible.

Pandamonium Aftermath

After completely revamping our annual fundraising project from the ground up and setting it in motion, I found myself pulled almost completely out of the project because of a perfect storm of personal and professional challenges that forced me to back off from my usual level of participation and yes, my tendency to over-manage. The added stress of watching helplessly as the approaching date of our Kung Fu Pandamonium event came ever closer while I had to give up more and more control, added a little more fury to my already raging storm. May 5th was a date I couldn’t wait to be past but I dreaded every moment that it inched closer.

Today is May 6th, the Pandamonium is over, and I am humbly ecstatic. My students stepped up big time to make the event one of the most successful of our school’s twenty-five year history. The entire twenty-four hours went off without a hitch, except for a non kung fu mishap that required an emergency room visit to remove an embedded rock from a skull and a single stitch to close the wound. An exceptionally cool injury with a not so cool story for another time.

My guys began the Pandamonium at midnight Friday night and kept perpetual kung fu going in the kwoon for the entire 24 hours. The school turnout was fantastic with most of our 300 students showing up to help and participate. Some students actually stayed the entire 24 hours.

Without my full involvement the event featured a food tent serving goodness throughout the day. The parking lot was decorated with balloons, and an ad was placed in the local newspaper to promote the event. Some of the charities we support were also on hand to help out and promote awareness for the causes we are supporting. Our dragon and lion dance teams got together to perform for the first time since Chinese New Year and they absolutely nailed it without practicing for almost four months. On top of all of this, our kwoon expansion was completed during the preparations for the event. My students showed that without a doubt, kung fu is about community.

As the chief instructor of a martial arts school, I can’t imagine a better legacy to leave behind than the continuation of my system and school after I have moved on. Silent River Kung Fu’s future is definitely in good hands. Thank you to all my black belts for understanding the power of example.

“A community is like a ship, everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” - Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906 )

Election Post Mortem

Well our provincial election is over with only 50% of the eligible voters turning out to choose the future direction of our province. Many people said their lack of vote expressed their protest by choosing none of the above. Unfortunately their lack of vote is totally indistinguishable from apathy. When governments count on public apathy to allow them to force and manipulate their agendas through the system, apathy is a very dangerous threat against democracy.

I heard an interesting interview conducted by Peter Brown following the election. He was interviewing two political scientists to get their insights on the election results. He noted that the Wildrose Party had much more support in southern Alberta than northern Alberta and asked his subjects why. The agreed response was that southern Alberta was feeling neglected by the ruling Progressive Conservatives over lack of government support after the southern province endured spring flooding. When Peter Brown expressed confusion as to why, if the people felt they were not getting enough government assistance, would they vote for an even further right wing party whose stated platform is for smaller government and less handouts. Both scientists just shrugged and said it made absolutely no sense to them either.

There definitely is a danger that ignorance can play a major role in an election. Obviously a lot of damage can come about from ignorance but no where near the damage that can be inflicted by apathy. Ignorance and apathy go hand in hand and one fuels the other but I feel that the solution lies in educating ourselves. At a minimum, we should spend the time to understand who we are voting for and what they actually stand for.

 “Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.” - Bodie Thoene (b. 1951)

Why Journal?

Journalling for me has never been an easy task. I watch people fall off the journalling wagon every week as they struggle to find something pertinent to write. I myself have struggled hard over the last two years to find some direction in my journalling.  Five years ago my journal initially began as a method to organize my ideas as they pertain to my kung fu. The opportunity and responsibility that earning a black belt brings to a person’s life creates a vortex where ideas, emotions, values, and yes, ego, combine into this intellectual primordial ooze just waiting to be catalogued and recorded. As I kept up with my weekly journalling over the years, my sense of responsibility for the state of the world continued to colour my postings. I found myself drawn into political debates over environmental and foreign policy issues despite never being politically affiliated or inclined. The evolution of my postings were reflecting my own personal evolution. I now realize that this personal evolution would never have taken place if I hadn’t first taken the initiative and begin journalling.

So why has journalling been such a struggle over these past couple of years? I think part of my problem lies in my schizophrenic approach to my journal. I try to make my postings pertinent to my personal convictions, my role as a teacher, and my contribution to the Ultimate Black Belt Test. In my attempt to address all three roles, I tend to not serve any single one of them very well. This has caused me to question the value of my journal.

I struggle to find focus and purpose in my writing and I question the value of my writing. So why do I continue? I think I answered that myself in my first paragraph - I have evolved because of my journalling. I not only care about the problems of the world but I now have a better understanding of why the problems exist, what we’re doing to exasperate the problems, and what I can do to be part of the solution. I am a better, more humble, and more cognizant human being because of what I have learned through my journalling.

Journalling is a tool. It can serve you or you can serve it. These past two years I have been serving my journal. I need to reclaim the process as a tool so it starts to serve me again. The first step is to remind myself that if my journal is serving me it will also serve my students and the UBBT. I need to write for me.
     

“What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it.” - Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832)

One More Try

Once again we find ourselves facing another election. I live in the province with the largest CO2 emissions in Canada with no end in sight as long as our provincial economy continues to rely upon the extraction of oil.

Our government has done next to nothing to diversify our economy despite years of surplus budgets. Now that we have a candidate promising free handouts in the form of dividends during any budget surplus years, her election is sure to seal our dependance even deeper. At some point we need to govern for the future of the province as opposed to the future of the party. Our government needs to treat oil like it actually is a nonrenewable resource.

The clock is ticking and while oil will outlast many of us, there is coming a time when either the well will run dry or the addiction will be broken. Either way, oil is not a viable future to bank our children’s lives on.

“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Broccoli

My youngest daughter is my resident expert on food and nutrition. Of course everything she says I should be eating tends to be foods that I would rather not eat. It’s funny how my taste never seems to correspond to my body’s needs. Downright hilarious.

Based upon her recommendations, I have concocted a super smoothie that caters to my not so unique needs. The great thing about smoothies is that they are easy to make and the taste of the sum of the ingredients is vastly superior to the taste of the worst individual components of the recipe. In my case the worst would be pineapple (for my knees) and broccoli - God’s super food.

This year I have empirical evidence that broccoli definitely has a positive affect on my immune system. Beyond one major bout of influenza over Chinese New Year, I have not   been sick for over a year. Three times over the winter I felt a cold coming on and all three times the symptoms disappeared within twenty four hours of me consuming a broccoli laced smoothie. Coincidence? I think not.

Jeff's Cold Busting Smoothie

40g Whey Protein Powder

1 banana

1 Fuji apple

125 ml pineapple

250 ml broccoli

125 ml blueberries

250 ml ice

“I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.” - George H. W. Bush (b.1924)

There Was A Time

Everyday should be Earth Day. There was a time when everyday was. Back before the economy became THE priority - when food, water, shelter, and clothing were the necessities of life. Somewhere between the time when we started using money as a medium of exchange and now, we began to value money more than the necessities it is used to acquire.

The shift from a necessity based economy, to a money based economy has brought with it great stress and pain for the earth. There was a time when the established generations planned their consumption carefully to ensure the well being of future generations. Today, the future is measured by economic growth. Stockholders demand profit and investment return without any concern of how those profits are being generated. We rape and pillage for the economy today without considering the long term consequences for our own grandchildren, let alone a stranger’s grandchildren on the other side of the planet..

The earth provides enough to satiate everyone’s needs, unfortunately it cannot produce enough to satisfy everyone’s wants. The haves can’t seem to get enough to be happy and have nots can’t seem to get enough to survive. The solution seems so simple but unfortunately it relies upon the haves willing to sacrifice their wants. Really tough to do when the the iPhone 5 is only months away.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” - Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)