Crisp Air + Learning + Twins

Good Morning from Warren Grove, Prince Edward Island

While walking through the field trying to get closer to the sunrise at 5:45 am, the crisp air is refreshing, and the crunch of light frost backdropped with the sounds of the birds waking are all reminders to be grateful.

"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." ~ William Faulkner

Local News: Mask Mandate Lifted. 

It is hard to celebrate knowing the number of lives lost to the virus. Still, we can celebrate the ingenuity and hard work that prepared the world for safety through the speed with which the vaccines were designed and rolled out, enabling millions of people to live. CBC PEI Story Here. 

Earlier this week, the local CBC ran a story about educating high school students about Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in Canada. I celebrate that Canada is thigh-deep into the reconciliation process. However, we must keep going until we are all immersed in the one species pool mentality. 

Ever want to pick up a duck? 

I am now into week 6 of releasing our 35 years of hard work and joy over to Adam and Marsha. 

Work comes from inside out; work is the expression of our soul, our inner being. It is unique to the individual; it is creative. Work is an expression of the Spirit at work in the world through us. - Matthew Fox

Having lost twelve people I know to disease or ageing in the last few years brings home the fact we are all mortal, or at least I have learned I am. 

So Father Time came knocking and nudged us towards new priorities. 

Our relational and physical health is popping to the top. 

Close friends know I love trying new apps on my phone. And an app I am having fun with is called Sleep Cycle. 

The famous management guru said Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, "You can't manage what you can't measure." 

Sleep Cycle tracks and analyses your sleep, and if you need waking, it can do that too. 

They have a great blog, and if sleeping is something you ignore but feel you shouldn’t, check it out here. (Disclosure: No endorsement monies received)

What is your favourite app?

Mine is Readwise. 

Anyone who follows my Saturday morning musings knows that I like quotes and have been collecting them for years. But having the information stored in a spreadsheet wasn’t doing anything for my memory. 

I discovered Readwise and love it because while reading on Kindle/Kobo, PDFs, webpages, etc., I can highlight any quote, paragraph, etc. and save it too Readwise, tag it, and save it for future reference. 

So I imported my spreadsheet with over 8000 quotes into the Readwise system and got rid of the spreadsheet forever—no more cut and pasting.  

To help with memory, I have the app send me an email at a specified time each day with seven random quotes from those I have saved. It is a great refresher. You can choose how many and how random. 

It would be an excellent tool for a student, where they could create flashcards to help with memorisation. 

They gamify your use. The app tracks your consistency of use and rates you against other users. For example, the leaderboard tells me; I am #134 at 604 days in a row where I review my quotes. The leader James is number one at 1224 days. 

I was going to write a complete explanation of Readwise, but Lawson Blake does a fine job here. (Disclosure: No endorsement monies received)

I am trying to get into a daily routine of writing on my new blog, A Bunch of Good Things; not quite happening yet, but I feel it is just about to.  I also struggle with the format and the whole silliness about being perfect before putting it out there. 

“Perfection is procrastination masquerading as quality control.”- Chris Williamson.

Knowing that trying for perfection derails me from the process of learning-by-doing, interestingly, as it is how I learned to date; I need to create and not just consume.

If you wish to watch/read my attempts at becoming a writer, please join me at A Bunch of Good Things. 

"We don’t have time for perfect. In any event, perfection is unachievable: It’s a myth and a trap and a hamster wheel that will run you to death". – Elizabeth Gilbert

I am going to have a good weekend, which is perfect. I hope you do as well. 

Be nice to yourself and others. 

With love from Prince Edward Island, 

Bruce + Millie

ps. Your Morning Smile

My twin brother called me from prison.

He said: “You know how we finish each other’s sentences?”