Tai Chi Video

10 Ways to Enjoy a Balanced Life

-Keep a journal,…track your thoughts/experiences and don't dwell on them!
(A great primer on journal keeping, is a book called “The Artists Way”, by Julia Cameron.)

-LET GO! Strive for less control and more for “going with the flow”. (There are people we are meant to “encounter” that we might otherwise miss if we always choose the “fast lane”.)

-Learn to be more nurturing,…especially if you‘re a guy! (Most women have this one mastered already!…give friends a back rub, feed the birds, choose healthy foods, volunteer, give generously of your time & money!)

-Before you speak, pass your words through the “three gates”. IS IT TRUE? IS IT KIND? IS IT NECESSARY? (A “Sufi” philosophy.)

-Take a class in Tai Chi, meditation or yoga. (These kinds of activities help “re-wire” your circuitry,…your internal hard drive. It’s best to learn from a qualified instructor, but there are some good books, DVD’s & videos available.)

-Drink more water…eat less, and limit your use of alcohol, caffeine & other stimulants. (Anyone who drinks coffee to “ward off” mid afternoon drowsiness, might be surprised to discover that one of the main causes of mid-day drowsiness is dehydration...lack of WATER. Less caffeine will make you less irritable, & easier going, better equipped to handle frustration & conflict!)

-Laugh more often! (There is proven research on the therapeutic value of laughter.)

-Sing more often! (…singing, like laughter, is another form of therapy!)

-Learn to Draw…again!! Drawing is a healthy form of self expression. (Most of us scribbled on the walls when we first discovered pencils or crayons. Sure, our parents didn't want to see us "writing on the wall" but it was normal & healthy "self expression". People who believe they can’t draw, stopped drawing at an early age, when they began to compare their work to others. Comparison is a left brain tendency, and can be a negative one at that. We should engage in activities because we enjoy them, not because we are less skilfull than someone else!)

-Learn to be a better listener, be genuinely interested in what others have to say!

Now this is cool!
A woman named Mary Lou Jepson has developed a solar powered laptop.

The laptop also has an attennae (for wireless internet, I guess) and a "wind-up crank" to power the battery on "gloomy" days. Comes with an durable bumper guard in case it's dropped and when "closed" is water resistant. The goal is to eventually be able to provide every child on the planet with a laptop. Individuals or corporations that really want to make a difference in the world, can donate one of these OR for a limited time participate in their "one for me one for you" program.

Here's the deal...for $400.00 you get two laptops, one for your child, grandchild, neice or newphew (or maybe for the "kid in you") and one is donated to a third world, underprivileged child. Yes, admittedly what they really may need is food, shelter, medicine but as Mary Lou Jepson said, "they also deserve an education" (not her exact words).

As they say, "knowledge is power". Or there's the other adage too, that you "give someone a fish, and they have food for a day...teach them how to fish and they have food for life".
I give this organization my "hero of the week" award. (H.O.W.!!)
Check out their website www.laptop.org

I was fascinated to hear research confirming that artists & musicians (right brain creatives) have a bigger “corpus collosum” than left brain thinkers. The corpus collosom is the nerve fibre that transmits data between both brain hemispheres.
You could almost say the right brain is like fertile ground…building “beanstalks for Jack” to climb to higher places!

With a little more investigation I also found out that women have a bigger corpus collosum than men. It’s not surprising.
Women have a tendency to use both sides of their brain as opposed to men who function mostly in the left. Women are equally functional in left brain skills, but constantly go back to their right brain where they access their “emotional, intuitive and nurturing” abilities. (All right brain attributes!)
One example is the fact that women communicate their feelings and emotions better than men. (Sometimes to their own detriment as the research suggests.)

This “healthy” right brain activity may also offer an explanation why women on average, live about 8 years longer than men.

Some people may find the "blogs of others" to be a bit pretentious,...perhaps those of us who maintain a blog, live with the delusion that hundreds of subscribers tune in to read about our daily adventures. I blog for two reasons (not because I possess great wisdom or have more insight than others):

1.) My website was not “built” by me, but by a friend named Ron Good* (a great harmonica player who also performed on my CD). Ron gave me the opportunity to contribute something fresh to my website, by means of a blog. This I can do....just "log in" and post some thoughts.

2.) My "blog" serves as another way to communicate with participants of our Tai Chi classes. (Fall sessions are starting soon!) Here I can write about how Tai Chi helps create a sense of well being & balance. I try and give specific examples the participants can relate to, so it doesn't sound like hippy-new-age "Yak-a-doodle-doo"!

I’m grateful for the times when I feel "in balance". I believe it’s the result of being able to pursue things I’m passionate about....like playing the guitar for a living, practising my tai chi & calligraphy (by documenting my thoughts in a journal). These are some aspects of my life I like to post as blogs, regardless of whether anyone reads them or not.
(*you can check out Ron Good’s website @ www.rongood.net/harphouse)

It was six years ago today that we sold our house in Calgary, loaded up our U-Haul and made our way to our new home in Peace River. As our oldest son Luke drove the family van, I drove the U-Haul truck. In the cab...it was just me, and our "pet frog" in his fish tank.

We left Calgary around midnight and drove all through the night. I wasn't able to get radio reception until somewhere near "Valleyview, AB." and I heard on the CBC news that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

About an hour later, I heard on the news that another plane had crashed into the Trade Center. Exhausted from driving through the night this all seemed like a nightmare as I came to the sombre & shocking realisation that this was no accident.
While unloading furniture into our home we'd break for a moment to watch television news clips of this cowardly act of terrorism.

Today, on the 6th anniversary of this sense-less tragedy, my thoughts are with all my American friends.

I have the utmost respect for parents that raise “fully-functional” kids!

By fully functional, I mean children that have been “nurtured”, make good choices in life & seem to know how to survive in the world. They can cook their own meals, do their own laundry, and purchase their own ipods & “designer clothes” with money they have earned at their after school job. These kids are well on their way to becoming “SELF-REALISED”.
I’ve known several young women who do all the things listed above, AS WELL AS do some basic carpentry & car repairs and are forceful & assertive when they need to be! These women have a huge advantage over some guys I know who basically “need a mother all their lives”.
This is my view (MY blog)…but if a husband doesn’t share in the house cleaning & laundry, cook some of the meals, and help raise the kids…the marriage is at risk. SOME GUYS ARE LIKE MAGICIANS. They have succeeded in turning their wives into their mother. Maybe that’s why they looked elsewhere for their romantic fulfillment?
Dads & Moms…my thinking here is, the best thing we can do for our sons is teach them how to be fully functional, rather than to end up having to spend ½ of their life earnings on child support & alimony!!

I frequently meet folks who tell me that they used to play a musical instrument (usually the guitar or piano). Most of them say that they don’t remember how to play anymore.
It’s kind of sad to put in all that time & energy just have a skill…fade away. I usually suggest to these people that they try and pick up the instrument again but there’s an old saying, “What you don’t use...you lose” and perhaps it holds true for these former music students.

On the other hand...there are people who go through life and seem to be able to maintain their skills. These folks always seem to have a goal, and they don’t stop just because they are “getting too old”! I find these kind people a real inspiration! And hey, there’s also a saying that applies to this remarkable group of individuals,...“Refine everything in your grasp and more will be added to you”.