My 100th Post!

This is it! I have reached 100 posts on this blog! I started this blog back on August 26, 2014. It's amazing that I have kept it up this long.

Today I want to write about passion and drive. It can be hard to stick to something. I have tried and failed at numerous things. Writing a book, making films, being a better person, exercising regularly, not buying chips at work. It is sometimes so much easier to give up and just stop working towards these goals.

It would've been easier to stop writing this blog, stop coming up with ideas, stop committing to making new posts as regularly as I can. But it feels good to keep up with something. It keeps me disciplined, something I am working more at doing. Keeping a discipline of routinely sticking to something feels good to me. I am working on eating healthier food (eating more fruits and vegetables throughout the day instead of processed foods), meditating daily (I aim to do so every morning and evening), and doing my dishes as soon as I am done eating.

Sticking to a discipline is easier when applying some mindfulness to our daily habits. Over the next month I am going to try being mindful of my actions and habits and paying attention to what I am doing in each moment, as well as continuing to keep up this blog.

Don't Know

"Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know." - Lao Tzu

What do I know?

Nothing really. A lot at the the same time. But everything I know is just a very small fraction of my own experience. There is so much I don't know. Rather than strive to know everything, I try to be content with my own experience. 

The concept of "don't-know mind" in Zen Buddhism seems to suggest to just do rather than think about doing. When we eat, eat. When we walk, walk. By thinking too much about it, we begin to translate our experience into language and abstract symbols rather than be aware of the actual experience before us. I am not saying that thinking is bad, but sometimes it gets in the way.

Sometimes we just need to let go and realize that the universe and ourselves just are.

"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." - Albert Einstein

Reading More

"...perhaps I am a philologist still, that is to say, a teacher of slow reading ... for philology is that venerable art which demands of its votaries one thing above all: to read well, that is to say, to read slowly, slowly, deeply..." Neitzsche

One of my goals for 2015 was to read more. Rather, I have instead adopted to read more carefully, that is to say, more slowly. I think there is some value in taking our time with reading a novel or a text and more fully appreciating the art and the craft of constructing a written work. I find myself more thoroughly enjoying written language when I take my time, instead of rushing through one novel just to get to the next one. This incessant urge to rush through things to get to the next is unfortunately imbued into our culture and our society of today. Not only in reading but in all things. This concept of reading slowly and enjoying each moment in a book can be taken into daily life as well. Enjoy the small moments of each day instead of rushing through. take the time to enjoy the walk home, the drive to work, the dishes you wash. Notice our world. Notice our life.

I love reading books. There is nothing like sitting quietly and enjoying the subtle constructions of sentences. It is a peaceful exercise. Lately I find myself spending more time reading than watching TV or movies, or listening to music. I enjoy the solitude and the silence.

Some of my favorite books I have read so far in 2015:

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (I actually read it twice back-to-back I enjoyed it so)

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (I read the beautiful Anna Karenina last fall)

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (one of my favorite novels; I had read it before)

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (I am halfway through this gargantuan work but already it is incredibly powerful and well worth the time I am investing in it) 

The Film Shoot

I was on a film shoot this past weekend. It was a volunteer project through the New Brunswick Film Co-op, so I was working on this for free with a large group of people who were also all doing this for free. Doing free work can be a great thing. For one thing, stress is cut down way more. Everyone was there because we wanted to be. Everyone was having fun. We still worked hard, but we seemed to enjoy it a lot more. I've been on a few film shoots where people were being paid, and some of these have been less organized and people were a lot more stressed out. I was there to support the community of film-makers we have in NB and to support my fellow artists in creating something meaningful. We weren't doing it for a paycheck. We were doing it to share in the joy of creating art.

This film shoot also interrupted my routine. I typically go to bed around 9 or 10 PM (sometimes I'll stay up until 11 or even 12 on an odd night) and get up around 5 or 6 AM (I'll sleep in with my girlfriend on weekends - she is not as much a morning person as me). The shoot this past weekend was scheduled on Saturday night to run from 6PM until 6AM overnight. Obviously, this is in clear opposition to my usual sleep schedule.

One of my biggest things I have been focusing on to simplify my life is the development of a routine. I establish a routine of meditating daily to cultivate mindfulness. I exercise daily, I eat healthier, I do my dishes as soon as I finish eating (or I try to at least). But every now and then we have something that comes up that throws off our routine.

This isn't always a bad thing though. The film shoot was a great way to spend my weekend. Sure I lost sleep, but I gained so much more in return. I developed stronger relationships with friends, made new friends, and contributed to a meaningful project. I left the shoot feeling like I had done something worth my time and really connected with other people. I did something I find personally fulfilling and had a lot of fun in the process. Routines are great, and I think it is important to set up rules for how we live our lives. But sometimes we have to break our own rules to accomplish something great.

Photography Part 2

Now that I have shared my hobby of photography, I also want to share that I am not obsessed with taking pictures like some people are. Going on trips and fun experiences and unforgettable memories don't constitute the need for a photo every moment. Memories are for remembering and not locking away on a computer hard drive or in a photo album.

Photography for me, as I said earlier, is a creative outlet for me. It is as much an art form as poetry, or cinema, or painting, or music. It uses rules and concepts like composition, contrast, colour theory, negative and positive space, minimalism and maximalism, etc. It can be used to draw attention to a particular subject and comment on its existence or it can draw us deep into the frame in abstract form and guide us toward contemplation of things, nature, or ourselves. 

This may seem kind of snobbish, to think that a simple picture can evoke such deeply philosophical thinking within us, but I think all art does this. For me, photography is just another extension of my creative effulgence and I feel better when I am creating something, whether it be a film, a poem, a novel, or a photograph. Creation is a great gift that all of us are born with. Don't let it go.

Try creating something yourself today. And, most of all, have fun with it.

Photography

I have been really into photography lately. Both as a hobby and as work (my current day job is as a photo intern). This has been a great creative outlet and has helped immensely with my better understanding of visual art and film-making.

Also almost all of the photos I have used for this blog have been taken by myself. So I recently created a free website to specifically showcase some of my photo work.

Check it out!

Making Mistakes

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."  

- Albert Einstein

I make mistakes all the time. 

Let me tell me you about this one at work the other day. Being a dutiful employee, I had cleaned the large printer the night before and so when I came into work the next morning I had to put back the parts I cleaned. While replacing the parts, I dropped a piece into the printer, far down where I couldn't see. What resulted was three hours of me trying to find the piece, getting co-workers to help me, and finally calling tech support to help me take the printer apart to find the piece to get it running properly. So it all worked out in the end.

However, I felt incredibly frustrated at first. I was worried that my supervisor would be upset with me for losing a piece. I was worried that the printer wouldn't work anymore and it would be all my fault.

These worries ended up being groundless, though, and the solution was easy to achieve. Most of the time our worries about making mistakes are not worth the stress we put on ourselves. Everyone makes mistakes, not just me. It's part of learning. Take the printer story for example. If I didn't drop that piece inside the printer, I wouldn't know how to take it apart properly. Now if something happens again I will feel much more confident in fixing the machine.

Mistakes can happen anywhere. I make mistakes in my relationships. I get the wrong kind of candy for my girlfriend or forget a special date or change plans unexpectedly. I say something offensive without thinking it through to a friend and hurt their feelings. Mistakes can happen with goals I have for myself, such as goals of not eating too much junk food or not spending too much money. I can beat myself up every time I give in to cravings and buy a bag of chips, or I can move on from the mistake, accept responsibility and resolve to make better choices in the future. 

I am not an accumulation of my past actions. I am this person. Here and now.

Getting Sick

So in my last post I made plans to get back into my exercise routine. Well, that didn't really work out.

I got sick last week, with either the flu or food poisoning (not really sure what happened). I don't get sick very often and when I do it usually isn't that bad, but I got hit hard last week. I am still reeling from the effects and battling a stomach ache.

Still, this is a good time for me to realize that sometimes things come up unexpectedly and I have to deal with those things. I've been sick the past few days, so I haven't exercised or written much. That doesn't mean I should stop doing those things altogether and give up on my goals of being healthy and writing more. In times like these I have to strengthen my resolve and get back to the routine. 

When I feel better that is.

Exercise

Exercise is an important part of staying healthy. But that doesn't mean I have to do it all the time.

Like anything, it is best to take it in moderation. My physical health is important to me, but I don't want to use up too much of my time devoting to going to the gym. So most of the time I do simple body-weight exercises at home, and in spring I plan on doing a lot of running.

I spend about 15 to 20 minutes doing a workout every morning (or I at least aim to do it every morning. Sometimes I fail).

    I usually do three sets of ten push-ups.

    Three sets of ten leg lifts.

    Three sets of ten tuck jumps (a jumping variation of squats).

    Three sets of ten crunches or V-ups.

    Three sets of twenty second mountain-climbers.

    Sometimes I will end with thirty seconds of planking.

    Lunges are good too.

   I also do a few sets of pull-ups on a chin-up bar when one is available (thankfully, there is one at my work - I usually do four or six sets of eight a day).

    I also do a lot of stretching (I love stretching out my joints and muscles, maybe do a few yoga poses).

The main point is that I do exercises that I find fun. I enjoy doing these exercises. I stay mindful of my body while I workout. I don't listen to music or do my taxes at the same time. I be present in the moment and feel my bodily sensations.

I felt really inspired after reading Joshua Millburn's post on 18 Minute Minimalist Exercises. His writing showed me that I don't need to go to the gym for an hour every day to be in great shape. My goal in exercising regularly isn't to get buff or look good. The goal is to feel good. To feel good in my own body.

I have been kind of slacking on the exercise routine, but the rest of this week I am going to really nail my goal of getting up in the morning on time and giving myself a good workout. Honestly, my day starts off so much better when I do. Hopefully, I will be in good enough shape to run a marathon this year! Stay posted for that in the future.

If you want some ideas for exercises you can do at home, here is a great link for 50 Great Body-Weight Exercises You Can Do Anywhere.

On Routines

Today is my first day back to work after being off for March break. It was a relaxing week but also a lazy one. Coming back to work today, having to get out of bed early and get ready, actually felt really good. It felt like I was establishing a routine again. The week I had off was filled with sleeping in, lazing around, not doing work. I had goals for the week. I wanted to get a lot of writing done. I wanted to get a lot of reading one. I wanted to exercise a lot. I did some of these things, but they certainly didn't reach the level I had hoped for. And I only did one blog post last week!

Now that I have a full work week, I have structure. Structure is important to making a good routine. I failed to commit to a routine during my week off due to lack of structure. I am not saying that I necessarily need a full-time job to keep a solid schedule. Many people work free-lance or independently and can establish solid routines to get work done. But those people still establish a structure for their weeks and days.

We are creatures of habit. Most of what we do day in and day out, we do out of habit. We don't consciously think about the things we do after doing them for so long. Coming back to work, I hope to establish a better routine. I need to consciously think about this at first to get into the habit, but after the next two weeks, if I establish a healthy routine, I will habitually stick to it and hopefully feel much better.

Having a good healthy routine based around a structure is a good way to simplify and improve our lives. I have a routine of getting up in the morning and exercising, then meditating for ten minutes, and then writing a journal entry before I need to get ready for work. Having this repeated set of activities every morning creates a routine that boosts my creative energy throughout the day. I aim to do these three things (exercise, meditate, write) each morning (at least Mon-Fri) for the next two weeks. We'll see how I am doing after that.

Paring Down the DVD Collection

I am a film-maker. I went to film school. So it goes without saying that I have a certain love for cinema. I enjoy watching movies. But lately, I find myself watching less. I only watch one or two movies a week and usually that's one with friends or my girlfriend, so it's a social function, or it's one I watch to expand my cinema tastes and learn something from an artistic perspective (I watch a lot of art-house films - the Criterion Collection is great for those!). And I watch almost zero TV shows (except with my girlfriend - we usually have one show on the go together).

Yes, I still have Night of the Hunter on DVD

Since embarking on my journey into minimalism I got rid of a lot of DVDs (check out my posts when I was playing the Minimalism Game). I still have quite a few movies in my collection though. So I am going one step further. I am paring down the collection and keeping only the DVDs that will fit onto one shelf of my bookcase (I used to have two but I got rid of one when I moved into my new apartment). The ones I keep are either for personal reasons (nostalgia or I just simply enjoy the film), or for aesthetic reasons (I can learn a lot from a film-making standpoint). Whatever the reason is, the film I keep must add value to my life. The other part to this is that I must frequently come back and reconsider my choice of possessions. Is this thing still adding value? Remember, things always change. We always change. So we must always reevaluate the things we include in our lives.