Just Breathe + Mastery + Still Being Trained

Good Morning from Warren Grove, Prince Edward Island

The full moon above caught my eye while on Thursdays early morning walk.

Thank you for allowing me to join you for a cuppa this morning.

I hope you had a lovely week without too much stress.

I tell myself to breathe.

I enjoy the peace emanating from Max Strom via this TED video.

Anxiety, stress and sleep dysfunction are skyrocketing around the globe. It's time we look at the unspoken reasons why. These debilitating challenges change with ten to twenty minutes of breathing exercises daily. Max Strom, who has taught breath-work for 20 years, reveals his insights into the healing power of the breath.

When I started the blog in 2014, I did not know the first thing about writing but jumped in anyway. 

The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. ~ Mortimer Adler

I’d love to master a skill; I find writing challenging yet fun. I have seen it written in many places; one must read a lot to be a good writer. Read, read, read, write, write, and write.

- Vincent T. Lombardi.

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell stated that, on average, it takes 10,000 hours to perfect a craft.

Steve Martin said on perfecting your craft, “ one must be so good that they can’t ignore you.”

I find it intimidating having my name on a written piece floating on the internet for who knows how long. However, when I look at my first written posts and more recent ones, a sense of improvement gives me hope and a desire to continue.

Learning new skills can take effort, especially ones that don’t come naturally.

It is so easy to listen to the negative voice in my head pushing me away from attempting anything new.

In his book The War of Art, Stephen Pressfield calls it “the resistance.”

Stephen Pressfield is an author of over 20 books, making a few into movies.

The essence of his ‘resistance’ message is this:

1. THERE IS AN ENEMY

The playing field that you, the aspiring artist, stand upon is not level. It is stacked against you.

2. YOU ARE THE ENEMY

Resistance (self-sabotage, procrastination, fear, arrogance, self-doubt) is inside you. No one inflicts it on you from outside. You bring it with you from birth.

3. RESISTANCE WILL KILL YOU

If you don’t believe me, look around at friends and family who have talent and ambition in spades ... but are drinking, doping, abusing themselves and their loved ones, wasting their lives because they can’t get out of their way and do the work they were put on this planet.

Trust me: you will NEVER, NEVER achieve your dreams until you learn to recognise, confront, and overcome that voice in your head that is your own Resistance.

4. YOU ARE NOT ALONE

You're not "wrong" if your head is your own worst enemy. You're not "weak." You're not "sick." Everybody experiences Resistance.

Resistance is an objective force of nature, as immutable as gravity.

5. RESISTANCE CAN BE BEATEN

There's no magic bullet. No hack, no trick, no tip, no class, no degree.

But you, armed with the right knowledge and resolution, can acquire the self-motivation, self-discipline, and self-belief necessary to become a focused, mentally-tough working pro.

Every week I look forward to receiving Mr. Pressfield’s newsletter to read his thoughts on writing or reading.

One day, I decided to hit reply and say thank you for a book of his I recently read.

To my surprise, he responded.

He noticed I was in Prince Edward Island, and from the initial email, we had many more back and forth.

He shared that he and his wife have always wanted to visit our Island. So as any Islander would do, I left them with an open invitation and a place to stay if ever.

In thinking ahead to spring and our desire to do more bike riding this summer; I sought information about different bikes, and I came across this interesting story.

Andy Dix spent 17 years honing his craft as a master furniture maker.

In Wales, he gave two years of his life to building a prototype bicycle made from wood.

I am sharing this comment from Positive News.

“Ash is a kind of underdog: relatively cheap and fairly easy to process,” Dix says. “It’s a very utilitarian material, but it turns out it’s also brilliant at absorbing vibration. I was gliding along battered roads that would have shaken me to bits on a carbon bike. Then, finally, the penny dropped: not only could I make a bike out of wood, but it had inherent advantages over other materials.”

Timber is carbon-negative from the cradle to the grave. Being so, I thought this was a great idea.

Twmpa Cycles was born and is based in Hay-on-Wye at the foot of the Black Mountains in the Welsh borderlands.

If you are a gear-head and appreciate engineering talk, you will enjoy this video which goes into great depth about the science behind the bike.

This week, I discovered a YouTube channel called Trybals. A Pakistan-based youtube reaction channel.  It creates cross-cultural reactions to art, music, food, and culture worldwide.

Each character is priceless, and their personalities endearing.

I had many laughs and felt a connection to each one of these fellow human beings. We are all cousins!

Our world is an ecosystem in which our only real chance at survival as a species is cooperation, community, and care, but it’s being led by people who believe in an egosystem, run on competition, power, and self-interest. – Austin Kleon

I watched many Trybal videos. So it was hard to choose one to share. The video below shares their reactions to Pentatonix, an acapella group is singing Leonard Cohen’s song, Hallelujah.

The Pentatonix video was not all that visible in the above video. 

So here it is. 

We wish everyone peace.

With love from Prince Edward Island.

Bruce & Millie

ps. Your Morning Smile

It seems I have spent a lifetime of mouthing mechanically, “Say thank you... Sit up straight... Use your napkin... Close your mouth when you chew... Don’t lean back in your chair...”

Just when I finally got my husband squared away, the kids came along.