With the B.C. music scene buzzin’ right now with all sorts of sensational new artists from all different genres, drummer and songwriter, Michael Wilford’s new collaborations with a couple of them seem to be bringing a new energy to the scene.
Born and raised in Smithers BC (now based out of Victoria), Michael is not only a teacher at The Victoria Conservatory of Music, but he’s also constantly touring with multiple groups, along with staying busy as a hired gun for his specific talents in drumming and song writing. Growing up in a small mountain-town filled with peaceful, calm folk music, he’s creatively fused that with the energy of rock. With his inspiration coming from the likes of The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the rock legends of the past, the versatile songwriter will make you shake, rattle, and roll as he melodically drums away.
His first single released earlier this year, “Scotch”, was quick to receive high-praise, peaking at number 78 on the Canadian Radio Top 100 Alternative Songs. The bad-ass cowboy beat stomps its boots while the powerful and soulful voice of Chelsea D.E. Johnson (Old Soul Rebel) will undoubtedly leave you inspired. The song beat out 26,000 others to receive an honourable mention in the International Song Writing Competition that was judged by superstars like Dua Lipa and Coldplay. The song received all these accolades within only a month after being released!
He wasn’t done there though.
Just last week, on October 17, he released his new single featuring another B.C. vocalist that couldn’t compliment the song any better. “Rattle My Bones” Feat. Sail Cassady, is a somewhat dark, yet playful take on confronting your demons. Written in response to the loneliness and isolation that was endured during the pandemic at times, Michael says, “ The song characterizes my depression and anxiety as a ghost in my closet, but treats the heavy subject with a wink and a nod.”
With his plans to roll out a plethora of music in the following months, along with his perfect collaborations, Michael is an artist that’ll be turning heads in 2021.
Upcoming Events:
November 19th – with Sail Cassady at The Duncan Showroom.
With 10 seconds left in the game, I looked at my assistant coach and said, “I can’t believe we’ve done this.”
Before the final siren even buzzed, all the players and coaches hopped the boards with waving arms in the air charging down to our goalie.
It’s ours and no one can take it from us. We’re the champions this year.
If you watched us play at the beginning of the season and I told you we’re going to win the championship this year, you would have thought I was crazy, drunk and/or stoned, because we were absolutely terrible.
It’s the “C” division, which means everyone gets to play and no one gets cut from a team, that’s what the “A” and “B” divisions are for. So, the way the teams are made up is the coaches of each team work together to determine what player goes to what team, while the goal is to make the teams as even as possible.
Being that it was my first-year coaching, I was half the age of the other coaches and I was completely unfamiliar with the all players, I may have been taken advantage of a little and was given, by far, the worst team out of the bunch. The coaches are supposed to split the best and worst players to even out the teams.
Well, that didn’t happen.
I was given the four lowest ranked players while only receiving one of the top eight.
( Brian / flikr )
No biggie.
I didn’t really care about winning all that much, I just loved coaching and being around the game and players.
The kids did want to win though. It wasn’t the end-all-be-all for them, but constant losing drags the fun out of anything while the whole point they play, especially in the “C” division, is to have fun.
A couple months into the season, with zero wins, it really started to take a toll on the players. You could sense it as soon as they entered the locker room, it was like they didn’t even want to be there. So, I had to change something.
One night, as I’m laying in bed ready to go to sleep, it’s like a light went off in my head and this quote I read one time came to mind:
“Consistent persistence. One thing at a time. One day a time. Tomorrow can’t come without today.”
The quote is meant to illustrate that in order to achieve something, don’t think about the end goal but only think about the process, each day, one at time and success will be what lies ahead. Don’t even think about tomorrow because it’s still today. Tomorrow, we’ll worry about what we have to do, but let’s just focus on what we have to do today, in this moment and only this moment.
I began taking this sort of approach to the rink with me whether it was practice or games. We were only going to worry about today to get better for tomorrow.
For practices, I began focusing more on team camaraderie/chemistry and individual skills. The main key that would bring us success though, was emphasising mental health and being present in the moment.
Being that these are teens, I was reluctant to share much “philosophy” with them. Because of that, I would constantly just pound it in their heads to only focus on what they’re doing in that moment and don’t think about anything else; not your homework, a party, relationship problems or anything else a teen deals with. I would explain to them that it’s ok not to think about that stuff right now, it can be dealt with after. Thinking about it here isn’t going to change anything.
We even changed our approach to games. Instead of focusing on winning, we focused on creating good habits that, in the future, would come naturally to the players. It wasn’t about the score; it was only about how we played.
( Telford & Wrekin Council / flikr )
The ice-rink was their safe-space and their sanctity, but it was being ruined by the miserable season we were having. I was hoping that this sort of strategy would bring the fun back.
With everything, what we were essentially doing is bringing the players back to the moment and releasing all that negative noise in their heads. We were getting them to put their minds to only one thing at a time to, to only think about that while blocking out the end result of how good they are going to be in the future. It was about staying in the moment and only this moment. We weren’t going to worry about winning or losing future games or how the season was going to turn out, we were just going to be here in the moment, work hard at whatever we’re doing in that moment and not think about any outcomes.
It was a little hard at first to get the team to wrap their heads around this concept with blocking out the noise and just focusing on each drill, or each shift, one at at time. But, once they did grasp this, they responded very well. Not only did it increase the fun while decreasing pressure and stress, but we also actually started to play better.
It wasn’t quick but it was definitely happening. We could tell that each ice time, there were small improvements that all the coaches could see. Whether it be individual skills or team play, we were becoming a different team all due to our relaxed mental state of being in the moment.
From September to January, our record was 2-22. And those two wins came late in that time frame after we implemented our new coaching tactics.
Even when January hit, it’s not like we were all of a sudden the 80’s Oilers dominating teams. We still struggled, but we really started to notice a major difference in our play as well as the atmosphere around the team. The kids were rejuvenated.
( Paul Smeets / flikr )
With the “consistent persistence” at practice and with working on good habits in-game, focusing on the journey rather than the outcome, we won seven of our last ten games to qualify for the Championship Finals.
From September to January, although we were improving, you could tell it was the same team. By the time the Championship game rolled around in March, you wouldn’t have recognized us from what we were months prior.
In the Finals, the kids were completely relaxed but entirely focused in the moment. They didn’t have to think much, they just played. You could tell that hammering home all those points about focus, distractions and just being simply present, was on full blown display because we dominated, shutting out the best offensive team in the league, 3-0.
I can honestly say that I’ve never been so proud in my life. I was so proud for the kids because our team, at the start of the year, was the punch line in any joke around the league. The kids lacked confidence and hated playing at times. We were terrible then, but now we were on top of the mountain. The view looked great and the kids could not have been happier.
And selfishly, I was proud of myself for what I had accomplished in my first year as a head coach. Sure, it was only the “C” division, but to see where we were and where we ended was truly incredible. What followed my pride was even more impactful for my life because as much as I was trying to teach the players, I was teaching myself as well.
Just like the players, I was doing my best to practice what I was preaching. I wasn’t thinking about the end goal, I just had my mind on each ice time and each moment. I relied on focusing on how to make it fun while changing my coaching style and doing that each and every ice time. It got frustrating at times, but I just kept telling my self, I have to do what I tell them to do.
It showed me to achieve success, whether it’s a “C” division minor league hockey championship, getting your dream job or achieving any other goal in your life, it’s all about consistent persistence.
It was his rookie year and Washington was in Phoenix playing the Coyotes. Half-way through the third period and with the Capitals in their own end, the puck bounced over the Phoenix defender’s stick and was just laying there on the right-wing boards in the neutral zone. Flying in from the left side, he swoops up the puck and in a matter of seconds, the other Phoenix defender closes in on him. As he comes down the boards and enters the Coyotes’ zone, he does a little dippsy-doodle with the puck, but the defender lifts his stick with force. Normally, in this instance, the puck would just float off to the corner and the play would be dead. But, this time the hockey gods had their input. Instead of rolling to the corner, the puck is blocked by the defender’s skate and takes the perfect deflection. The defender and he begin wrestling for stick position and he begins falling, only to have the puck land right back on his stick blade. As he lays on the ice, rolling from his right shoulder on to his back, he blindly sweeps the puck past the goalie and into the net.
You can watch 100 “best NHL goals” lists and all of them are going to have that as number one. The best goal ever scored by the best goal scorer ever: Alexander Ovechkin.
It’s very seldom that people live up to grandiose expectations, but Ovechkin not only lived up to them, he looked at them, said in Russian, “What the heck are these?”, then blew past them while setting a new standard for goal-scoring.
That standard he skated into was set by Wayne Gretzky. But, in essence, Gretzky wasn’t really a pure goal-scorer.
( asylumgfx / flikr )
I know that sounds crazy. He holds the record for most goals in a season with 92 and has the most goals all time with 894, yet he wasn’t a goal scorer?
Not really.
Gretzky was just so much better than everyone in every aspect of the game and was on a stacked team with the 80’s Oilers. He was more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. Put it this way: Gretzky has more career assists than anyone else has career points. The Great One could have scored as many goals as I have in the NHL and still be the leader for all-time points.
In terms of the era he played in, goals came by the bucket load. If the Oilers allowed six, no problem; they would just score eight with their star-studded line up. Play was way more open, goalie pads were tiny compared to todays’ and the overall game was in a completely different state. To put it in perspective, the Oilers had a defenseman who scored 40 goals. Twice. And to put perspective into the perspective, only two defensemen have scored 30 goals in a season since 1990.
This isn’t to diminish Gretzky’s scoring ability or to imply he only scored that much due to his teammates and the era he played in. If that was the sole reason he got those numbers, he wouldn’t have been the only one scoring at that pace at that time. He’s the greatest hockey player of all time, but in terms of pure goal-scoring ability, that’s the one crown that king can’t wear.
( Dougals Family / flikr )
Ovechkin has scored his 733 goals (161 from Gretzky’s record) in what some would consider the toughest era to score in. With more parity around the league, better coaching and most importantly, better goalies who wear bigger pads, The Great Eight has done his damage every single year.
If we look at Gretzky’s goal scoring, it significantly declines in the second half of his career. He scored at least 50 goals in all of his nine years with the Oilers in the NHL but then again, the era has to count for something.
Let’s take a specific year as an example. The year Gretzky scored 71 goals in the 82-83 season, six other players scored at least 50.
Compare that to today’s league.
In the past decade, the most 50-goal scorers in the league in the same season has been only two.
When considering this, this not only illustrates the era-adjustment, it brings up the question of consistency. If he’s scoring at a rate of 92, 71, 87, 73 goals in a season (in consecutive years), his goal totals are going to skyrocket in the early part of his career. But, if we compare them at the same age later on in their careers, Ovechkin takes the cake. Or the puck.
From age 32-36 (his current age) Ovechkin has played 278 games (COVID hampered season included) and scored 175 goals. That’s 0.63 goals per game.
Gretzky, at that age and playing in 254 games (lock out season included), scored only 88 goals. That’s a goals per game rate of 0.35.
( Offwing Opinion / flikr )
It says a lot when someone can do the same thing over and over again, year after year, even when defenses quite literally strategize to defend him and only him at times.
The major difference in consistency though is Ovechkin has never scored less than 30 goals in a full season. Heck, even in one of the lock-out years when they played only 48 games, he still scored 32 goals! If we stretch that out to an 82-game year, that’s a 55-goal pace.
Ovi’s won The Rocket Richard trophy more than anyone else in history (nine), he’s been the gold standard for goal-scoring since he entered the league and now, he’s only 161 goals away from a record that, when I was a kid, everyone said would never be broken.
Being 36 years old, maybe Alexander The Great just doesn’t have enough time to catch The Great One’s record, but even if he were to stop playing today, he’s the greatest goal scorer of all time. The numbers speak for themselves.
( clyde / flikr )
From Gretzky to Ovechkin and now, Ovechkin to who?
The new favourite to carry the torch of the “best goal scorer” in the league is the Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, who’s from Phoenix and grew up a Coyotes fan.
And it’s funny how they can pass a torch over ice…
Matthews was at the game, watching as an eight-year-old, when Alex scored the “greatest goal ever”.
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, the sun was beaming, the birds were chirpin’ and I was feeling like a Greek god after ending one my on-air shifts…until I get to my car.
I paid for my parking but there it was. The parking ticket.
First, I was frustrated that I was going to have to call a number, talk to someone for an hour and dispute a ticket that I clearly paid for.
Then, after I accepted that fact, I started asking myself; Why do I have to pay to park at my school?
I don’t see how this makes much sense in any way. Well one way, I guess.
Profit.
What other explanation could there be?
In general, the two main reasons for parking meters is to control parking/traffic and to make money. That being said, schools can manager the lots in different ways and do they really need to squeeze out more money from students for simply leaving their car between two white lines?
If anyone says it’s to control the parking lot so people don’t park there and then take the skytrain or whatnot, this is a red-herring.
A “red-herring” is a fish that was used by hunters back-in-the-day. After it was smoked, it would turn red and with its foul smell, the hunters would drag it across the ground forming a trail so it would divert wolves and other predators from the hunters’ actual trail. It was something to distract the predators from what was really going on.
( Sergey Kosarev / flikr )
The “we can’t have just anyone park in our lot” is a definite red-herring because that can be solved by a simple pass.
If I’m a student or part of the staff, then I would get a pass that’s displayed on my vehicle. If the vehicle doesn’t display the pass, a ticket is issued. If you’re neither a student nor staff, you forgot your pass or you’re just visiting for the day, then you’ll have to pay.
So, if we can scratch that argument out as it’s irrelevant, then what about the almighty dollar?
The agreements between the business and the parking company are negotiated and can change from lot to lot, business to business. But, at the end of the day both sides are making money.
This may sound very naïve and ignorant, but why are schools trying to make even more money? Is the money from tuition just not enough?
My tuition for two years is in the range of $15,000 to $16,000. Multiply that number by about 33 students, and we’ll use the lower number in this instance.
$15,000 x 33 = $495,000.
So, the school is taking in around half a million dollars from just one program. Then multiply that by how many programs there are and it must be considered that some programs are more expensive than others and have more students.
That’s more dough than Pillsbury.
( kingkong21 / flikr )
Now, how much is a student paying for parking over two years?
A weekly pass is $27.50 and minus the holdays and spring break, we’re in school for about 68 weeks weeks over the two years.
$27.50 x 68 weeks = $ 1,870.
$1,870 x 33 students = $61,710
No wonder they charge for parking.
Again, consider the many other programs and students. That’s only one class, over only two years.
As a business, that makes perfect sense but a school’s priority shouldn’t be profit. They already make enough from the tuition itself, there’s no need to get even more.
Furthermore, students are exactly that: students. We aren’t working full time, some may not even be able to have a job due to their schedules, yet we have to pay even more money to go to school?
And what’s the service that I’m even paying for? To leave my car stationary on concrete at a place that I’ve already paid to be?
That’s like being a member of a golf club, but you have to pay to park at the course. No one would ever accept that.
( William Ross / flikr )
Schools make plenty of money in so many areas. The money they get from parking, yes, it’s a high number but in relative terms, it’s not that much. Consider how much tuition gets paid each year by all the students in all the programs. That $1,870 is a lot more important to a student who barely works than the school that’s already making millions without those parking charges.
I hate paying for parking anywhere, I think it’s mostly just a money-making scheme; you’re literally leaving your car in a spot and you have to pay for that. But in some areas, I can understand it. It stops people from parking all day then running off leaving a person who actually needs that spot not able to take it. That’s fair, but that’s not the case with schools.
If I’m paying to study at the school, I shouldn’t have to pay again to actually attend it with my own vehicle, but this won’t ever change. No one will ever say, “Hey, let’s make less money!”, but it’s something to question and think about.
“The official strike zone is the area over home plate from the midpoint between a batter’s shoulders and the top of the uniform pants — when the batter is in his stance and prepared to swing at a pitched ball — and a point just below the kneecap. In order to get a strike call, part of the ball must cross over part of home plate while in the aforementioned area.” – MLB.com
That’s the official definition of the strike zone on MLB.com, although it seems to be more of a suggestion rather than a rule.
Ever since the first ball was thrown over 150 years ago, balls and strikes have been argued about. We’ve all seen a pitch called a strike, then within the same game, a pitch in the exact same location is called a ball.
How does this make any sense? Why do we just accept this?
It’s time we take a stand!
Ok, I digress.
But really, it makes no sense and it’s time the MLB remove the dictatorial power of a home-plate ump and replace it. Every other major league around the world has incorporated more and more technology to get calls right yet baseball doesn’t seem to want to do this.
Sure, they have video review but it’s not for everything and it’s definitely not for the strike zone. But never mind video review, you can’t even argue balls and strikes or the ump can throw you out of the game!
( KeithJJ / pixabay )
There’s subjective calls in all sports, like penalties in hockey, but none have the impact like the strike zone has in baseball because the zone controls the entire game. From the hitter’s approach to the next pitch, to the way the defense is strategizing, the count is one of the main factors in what’s determining a player’s next decision and on top of that, it’s what starts every single play in the game, unlike a penalty in hockey.
Take a subjective call in hockey, like hooking, for example. No player is basing they’re play to not hook. Of course they’re trying to avoid it, but not hooking or not taking a penalty isn’t what’s determining how they’re going to play in the game.
A better comparison would be the lines in tennis, although there’s nothing subjective about them.
The white lines surrounding the court make up the field of play in which the players are basing how they attack and defend. This is similar to how the baseball player sets himself up depending on the count.
In tennis, if the ball hits or is within the white line, it’s a point. If it’s out of the line, it’s not. What’s even more, is that tennis put technology in as soon as they could to make sure they get the calls right because it’s unrealistic, as well as impossible, for the human eye to be that accurate 100% of the time.
To show this, Boston University’s, Mark T. Williams and a team of graduates, experienced in data mining, stats and analytics, conducting a study at the Questrom School of Business that sent shockwaves throughout baseball.
They’re study showed that in 2018, the number of missed balls and/or strikes was 34, 249!
That’s 14 every game!
( KeithJJ / pixabay )
There’s no reason in this day and age of technology that we should have to deal with this non-sense.
A counter argument to this is since the definition of the strike zone is partly based on a player’s dimensions, the technology wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Well, maybe that’s a good thing.
The strike zone should be a set size for all players. This would make it completely even and fair for anyone to prepare. Do we lower the hoop on a basketball court for a player that’s 5’5” and then raise it again for the 7’1” player? Size is an advantage or disadvantage in all sports, it’s what you make of it.
With all this considered, we wouldn’t be removing the home-plate ump entirely, we would just be removing his ability to call strikes and balls, replacing it with doppler radar technology. This has already been used in other leagues with ease and success.
There would be radar set up in the stadiums that would have a set target area over home plate. It wouldn’t change between each batter, it is what it is for everyone. With each pitch, the ump would receive a signal from the radar on a device he holds and then he would relay it to the field. Some will say that this is basically removing the home-plate ump from the game, but I think not.
Umpire’s and refs aren’t competing in the sport, they’re there only to call it. For example, the ref in soccer doesn’t determine whether a goal was scored. The ball crossing the white line determines that, the ref just tells you it did cross the line. He’s just there to relay that information.
Having radar call strikes and balls would eliminate close calls, but more importantly it would remove the egregious ones we see daily.
( stanbalik / pixabay )
If you think this may ruin some of the tradition of baseball, what tradition? The tradition of getting calls wrong? The tradition of two of the same pitches getting called differently from inning to inning with zero explanations? I’m all in for keeping traditions but this is so unnecessary, archaic, and is just downright silly while looking like the bush league.
When I see a pitch cross over the white line of the batter’s box and it’s called a strike… Yes, that’s silly. Yes, that’s bush league.
With the technology we have today, this should have been done yesterday, but baseball simply refuses to acknowledge the problem. This seems to always be a conversation that is had after a bad call, then after some bantering, everyone moves on, accepts it and forgets it, untill the next missed call.The strike zone has too much impact on the entirety of the game for the calls to be blown as often as they are. We have the technology, so lets use it.
The moon’s dim glow is the only light that shines your path. Relaxed and enjoying your late night stroll, you spot what appears to be a snake just a few meters ahead. You begin to tremble in fear, a bead of sweat drips down your temple and you Usain-Bolt-it in the opposite direction, finding another way home.
The morning comes and you walk down the same path. You notice it and with a smirk, under your breath you mumble, “It was just a rope.”
This Buddhist parable has been around for centuries and for good reason; it’s a simple illustration of how our entire reality is created from our thoughts and perceptions.
Yes, there could have been a snake on your path rather than a rope, which would be good reason to be concerned or apprehensive, but the fact remains that it wasn’t a snake. The only thing that created the “snake” was your thinking. Nothing physical, nothing real, nothing else but your thinking.
Every second of every minute, of every day, we are the only one’s creating our world around us. Every emotion and every experience we’ve ever had has been through our thoughts, nothing else. Whether it’s happiness, anger, sadness, depression, anxiety, insecurities, or anything else, it’s all due to our thinking and perceptions.
An easy demonstration of this can be done as you sit and read this.
Pause and think about something hilarious.
( Pinterest Humor / flikr )
What emotions are you feeling? Are you feeling angry? Sad? Or are you feeling a sense of happiness? Some joy?
Now, think of something that makes you really angry or upset.
( Kathy Nobels / flikr )
What sort of emotions do you feel now?
It’s impossible for the body to feel anger when thinking of a happy experience. You only begin to feel anger when you start thinking about that thing that makes you or made you angry.
Simply put; emotion is thought.
To resume our little test, it’s important to ask yourself what’s changed in the moments between your positive and negative emotions? You’re sitting in the same spot with everything around you and everything in your life being the exact same as it was in the previous moment. The only thing that’s changed is your thinking which has created your perception of that moment, inthat moment.
It’s easy to look at these examples and misconstrue their lessons to be about positive thinking, but that would be a mistake. The main principles of the examples, a long with the parable is: thought creates your experience but also, don’t always believe what you think.
On average, the human brain thinks around 70 thousand thoughts a day and with that, they aren’t all going to be rosy ones. Some will be filled with tons of negativity, it’s just who and what we are. Throughout evolution and for all sorts of reasons, survival being number one, the brain has developed instincts and certain responses to different situations. That, coupled with our ego’s can, in a way, trick us…
You call your best friend and they don’t answer. Days go by and you don’t get a response. You might begin to feel irritated or even anger towards your friend because your perception may be that they’re ignoring you. It stirs in your mind and you get increasingly annoyed each day they don’t call back. Then, later in the week you find out they’re dealing with a family matter so they weren’t able to speak to anyone the past few days. If you’re their true friend, all of that negative emotion will automatically switch to compassion, sympathy and maybe even a little guilt for getting angry with them in your mind. The only thing that’s different now is what your thinking.
( crumpledpaperbirds / flikr )
Our mind can play the same type of tricks on us that can lead to depression, anxiety, pressures, insecurities, etc.
We feel these negative emotions when we do one of two things; we’re either replaying the past with regret or we’re trying to predict the future.
When we get caught up thinking and churning about the past, wishing it were different, that’ll lead down to depressing thoughts, making you feel depressed. It doesn’t matter how much we think about it, the past cannot and will not change.
If we get caught up worrying about a future event, that leads to anxious and stressfull thoughts, leading to feelings of anxiety and stress. We can’t foresee the future, it’s completely unpredictable and if we really think about it, the future doesn’t even exist yet, only in your head it does.
So, if living in the past can cause depression and living in the future causes anxiety, where does that leave us to live?
In the moment.
Now, “living in the moment” can be a term that gets thrown around like a hot potato with flaming spikes on it but, do we really understand what it means?
Living in the moment is simply a way of thinking…or non-thinking.
When you listen to your favourite song and you can feel it in your bones while your groovin’ and movin’ to the beat, do you feel like your thinking?
When you’re watching a great movie and you feel completely engulfed in it, almost forgetting that you’re sitting down, do you feel yourself thinking?
If you’re an athlete, when you’re “in the zone” and just reacting to the play, do you feel yourself thinking?
In all these instances, we’re living in the moment. We don’t feel like we’re thinking, but we are.
( Pin Zou / flikr )
Our brain’s only job is to think, it can’t and won’t do anything else. So, if we just get out if it’s way and ignore our negative thoughts of worries, stresses, anxieties and so on, we can let it work naturally. This isn’t easy but with the awareness of knowing that our thinking in the moment is what’s creating our experience, along with understanding that thoughts can trick us so we don’t take each one so seriously, we can begin noticing a shift in our thinking and and increase in our peacefullness. It doesn’t take much effort, it’s just awareness and consistency because it’ll benefit us in every way imaginable; our physical and mental health, our production and efficiency, what we value and the list goes on and on.
And living in the moment sometimes gets confused with only worrying about the now and not caring about the future.
This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Living in the moment will only prepare you better for the future because you’re using your intuition and creativity, all while in a calm state of mind. This is always when we make our best decisions because the mind isn’t clouded with obstructive thoughts about the past or future. It’s here and it’s doing what’s best for you in that moment.
As shown above, we live in the moment all the time, but we just don’t realize it. Being completely present has us ignore all our negative thinking and simply be present in the now. Our brain processes the information how we need it, in that moment, without any judgements, preconceptions, or anything else that could hinder our thinking.
Take the snake and the rope example. If the person was living in the moment and not wrapped up in his “fear-thoughts” of the snake, he may have been able to approach closer, realize it’s not a snake and continue on his way home. On the flip side, even if it was a snake, if they were in a relaxed, calm state of mind, he would realize it’s a snake as he got closer, still avoiding danger.
If we “live in the moment” many times throughout our day, almost by accident and without noticing it, how do we actively access it?
There’s two simple, but profound ways to achieve this.
( Thailand-Traveler.com / flikr )
The first is to actively listen. Listen to your surroundings, whatever that may be. Whether it’s the birds and the bees, the radiator, the rain hitting the window or the buzz of traffic, just listen to it. Listen to them without any judgements or try not to label the sounds. As the great Zen philosopher, Allan Watts, once said, “Just listen to the noises as if they were all a part of the soundtrack of life.” By actively listening, our mind has no choice but to be brought back to the moment. We can’t listen to the past or listen to the future, we can only listen to the here and now.
The second and most important thing to do to get into and stay in the moment is to not think. Yes, don’t think. Sounds strange but your brain will do it for you, just get out of the way and let it work. A way to do this is to simply “recognize” that you’re thinking. This means when you begin to feel caught up in thoughts, tell yourself that you’re thinking too much. Literally tell yourself “I’m thinking right now, I don’t need to think.” I know it sounds a little crazy, but it really works!
The way all this has been put here may come across as: “If thoughts are emotion then just think happy thoughts and everything will be gravy”, but that would be untrue.
Not only have we been thinking this way our entire lives, these thoughts can seem so real and we can’t help but attach ourselevs to a lot them.
But, with the awareness of knowing that we create our emotions with our thoughts and now that we know our thinking can trick us, we can begin to find peace more often. It’s not easy but it can be done with daily and constant practice, leading to increased time in the moment, rather than in the past or future. This will not only increase our happiness and decrease depression, anxiety and so on, it’ll also keep us at peak performance by being in a calm state while using our natural intuition and creativity, not clouded by our poor thinking.
“Thought becomes perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.” – William James
If the Pinocchio curse were real, the American mainstream media would have a nose long enough they could light a Marlboro in the pouring rain.
The first and most important lesson that’s taught in journalism class is to present unbiased and fact-based news.
As reported by Gallup’s Megan Brenan, their poll from September 2020, shows that 60% of Americans either have very little trust or don’t trust the media at all.
Yes, we’re Canadians but it’s obvious how much the US media impacts us. Furthermore, it’s in both the Canadian Charter of Rights and the American Constitution that it is our right to have a free press. It’s necessary for proper democracy. Receiving unbiased and fact-based news is how the public can make informed and rational decisions.
This isn’t about picking sides of any political parties, or in support of any of the politicians mentioned, nor is it to imply we should get our news from fringe conspiracy websites. We should simply support and want the complete non-misleading, non-sensationalized, fact-based, unbiased information as our news. And this is not what the American mainstream media does today.
With the emergence of the internet, information is available at an infinite level. In turn, we can bring truth to power and validate, confirm and fact-check anything shown or said on a news outlet.
We don’t have to go back far to see how this has been helpful.
(R.I.P)
(Bingee / Flikr)
In 2020, there were countless protests, and for good reason. It started with the inexcusable death of George Floyd and with many other things occurring throughout the year, protests continued.
Remember that couple standing on their lawn pointing guns at protesters?
On June 28, 2020, protesters took to the streets of St. Louis after Mayor Lyda Krewson spoke irresponsibly on a Facebook Live feed. What she said isn’t important here. A protest is always justified so long as it’s peaceful and it remains within the limits of the law. This one didn’t and the media did not show us that initially as they should have.
The purpose of the protest was to go to Krewson’s house as they chanted for her resignation. Making their way to the home, they passed a couple who were standing on their front yard pointing guns at them. This sparked outrage by the public, shunning them as a couple of gun-crazy lunatics. But, was this the reality of the situation?
What the media did not show and what the internet allowed for us to learn, is that the protesters were trespassing on private property, which is somewhere that protesting, by law, isn’t permitted. In addition to that, the couple didn’t have guns at first. They began by yelling at the protesters to leave. It wasn’t until the group kept coming closer and the couple began feeling threatened is when they went back into the house to get their guns.
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Guns may not have been necessary but, American laws are a lot different than Canada’s and the couple were lawful, what the protesters did wasn’t. Peaceful protesting means staying within the limits of the law and these people didn’t. In Missouri, a person is able to defend their home with a gun. Agreeing with the rule is irrelevant. It’s the law. Period.
It’s really not even about who’s right or wrong that’s the most important part of the story here. It’s about how the media presented the event, consequently resulting in further disunity within the country.
Why they do this is beyond questionable. How come they couldn’t show the entire video or explain the entire situation and let the public decide? Instead, they show clips and images of a couple pointing guns at a seemingly “peaceful protest”. It just created more division between people.
Which was something they did for four years with Donald Trump in office.
Again, clarity is needed. Trump didn’t need the media to divide the country, he did a lot of it himself but, the media played a huge role in severing relationships between people by how they portrayed some of his policies.
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Take that “Muslim Ban” for example that they kept calling “Trump’s List”.
Firstly, this so-called “Muslim Ban” wasn’t necessarily a full-scale ban, it was a restriction on immigration from those countries. The only two countries that had a full ban of entry to the US was Syria and the most Islamic country of all… North Korea (hashtag sarcasm). This had nothing to do with religion, most of the countries just happened to be Muslim majorities, which was perfect for the media’s narrative that The Donald is racist and Islamophobic. And he could very well be. That still doesn’t change the fact that the media was giving us misleading information. You could have been Atheist, Christian, or Jewish and the limitations would’ve still applied to you, but you would have never heard that when they would say the “Muslim Ban”.
Secondly, the same media outlets would call it “Trumps List”, which again, is just so wrong. The original list of seven countries was conjured up as part of provisions to The Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, which was signed by none other than Barack Obama. Although Trump enforced these travel restrictions, it’s still unfair and not accurate to call it “Trumps List”.
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This is not about being right or left. It’s only about how we’re given information and what information we’re given.
The one thing that we should all put a label on ourselves is that we support the free press and proper journalism; it needs to be full of all the facts and removed of any bias and sensationalism. The media has an immeasurable influence on public perception, and they’re relied upon to make crucial decisions in our everyday lives. So, when our news isn’t honest, we can’t make honest decisions.
Protests are allowed as long as they’re peaceful and President Trump did and said plenty of ridiculous and appalling things but, that shouldn’t lead to misinforming the public. We’re smart enough to decipher things ourselves. Just give us the facts, all the facts.
Actually, maybe the public is Pinocchio, and the media is actually the cat and the fox.
Fun Fact: We’re closer to the time of Cleopatra (70 – 30 BCE), than Cleopatra is to the building of The Great Pyramid (2601 BCE).
Yup, that’s how far back Egypt goes. And it keeps on giving.
The greatest and longest civilization known to man has had its lasting effect on the world for thousands of years. From its inventions and innovations to its religions, languages, numeracy and construction methods, its given us so much. Over 2,000 years have passed, yet the Egyptians have cemented their spot in our world’s history.
The pyramids have already seen it all so there not going anywhere and until we have absolutely zero reminisce of our modern technology, which would take centuries if not millennia, the Egyptian legacy will carry on.
When it comes to their innovations and inventions, I don’t even know where to start.
Our 365-day calendar, sailboats, copper piping, a mail and postal system, make-up, paint, perfume, hair combs, toothpaste, toothbrushes, door locks, all types of mathematical arithmetic’s, master bedrooms; yup, they covered it all and that’s just a minuscule fraction of what they did. Not to mention, they invented high heels. Yes, even they were “in” 3,500 years ago, although it was only for the upper class as the lower class walked barefoot. The higher the heel, the higher the position. Heck, they even invented breathe mints using things like cinnamon and honey. Your welcome Tic Tac.
They didn’t forget to have fun either.
Next time you go bowling, say thank you to our ancient friends because they were throwing balls at pins over 4,000 years ago. They even invented dice that would be used in a multitude of activities.
(Heidie Konkanen / Flikr)
The Egyptians were very in touch with the medical side of things as well. They were the first in history to practice a type of gynecology, they had pregnancy tests, birth control, bandages, prosthetics and could even fix a broken nose with rhinoplasty.
As I said, this is just a tiny fraction of what they accomplished, and we can already see the impact it still has in today’s world. One of their key innovations though is how they wrote.
Many historians and archeologists believe the first instance of the first full sentence being documented was carved in a cylinder seal by the Pharoah Seth-Peribsen during the Second Dynasty (2890 – 2686 BCE): “He has united the Two Lands for his son, Dual King Peribsen.” That’s the first sentence ever written!
How they wrote was just as important as what they wrote on.
The Egyptians were the first known people to write on a paper like material using the plant papyrus, which was grown and cultivated all around The Nile River. They would cut it in thin strips, press it and dry it out to form a smooth writing surface.
(Below: Papyrus plant)
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We could spend days or even months going over what they discovered, invented or innovated and we still wouldn’t cover everything. Remember, they were around for 3,500 years so the list is endless.
Besides all these achievements, there was one thing they did not accept or appreciate. They didn’t know though that what they denied may have been the first sign of the largest religion in the world today.
The Egyptians were polytheists, so they believed in many deities. They had different gods representing almost everything in their daily lives from war and hunting to fertility and the afterlife. For a short period of time though, one Pharoah abandoned all of this.
Amenhotep IV landed on the throne around 1350 BCE (the exact date is still debated among historians, but this is the general time frame). The name Amenhotep means “Amun is satisfied”, who was the god of the air, but this name didn’t last very long after he became king.
He changed his name to Akhenaten, which means “Aten is satisfied”; the sun god. The reason for this change was more than just him wanting a new name. He’s considered to be the first-ever monotheist in history believing in only one god: Aten.
At a time of unprecedented wealth in ancient Egypt, Akhenaten was making major changes with his resources and power. His belief in only one god led to the closure of temples of other gods, statues of deities being destroyed and moving the capital city from Thebes to a city he built named Akhetaten (Horizon of the Aten), better known today as Armana.
(Below: Statue of Akhenaten)
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This change from polytheism to monotheism wasn’t popular with many in the kingdom, especially the high priests. His reign lasted about 20 years and after he died, he was considered the “Heretic King” for his views. Once he was no longer wearing the crown, most of his statues were broken, covered over, his writings trashed, his temples destroyed or they were used for other deities. The people wanted to forget about the Heretic King.
Although the people at the time thought this was heresy, he was actually before his time and is considered by many to be the forerunner of Christianity and most monotheist religions today. Before him, ancient civilizations believed in multiple gods in order to make sense of their world but not Akhenaten. To some, he may have been a heretic, but to others, he’s a pioneer.
With everything the ancient Egyptians did, what’s most admirable about their civilization is how long it lasted: approximately 3,500 years. Over that time, everything went through an evolution. From their language and communication methods to math, politics and everything in between.
Compare that to us today. The industrial revolution was only a couple hundred years ago and look what we’ve done to our society and to Mother Earth since then.
(Elias Rovielo / Flikr)
The ancient Egyptians are doused in mystery, but the facts that we have are undeniable in their worth. If we dive deep into how they lived, we can learn a lot. It’s not clear if living in Egypt 4,000 years ago would have been better, but there is something to say for a civilization lasting over 3,000 years and then taking a look at what we’ve done in only a couple hundred.
Do you think our civilization could last another 3,000 years?
You’re sitting on your couch, elbow deep in a bag of Cheetos with your favorite drink beside you. There’s just five seconds left in the game. 5-4-3-2-1 and bam! You jump as high as you can popping a hole in your ceiling because your team just won the championship. Maybe a couple of tears of joy run down your cheek and life is grand.
But, wait. Did I say your team? Weren’t you on the couch with an orange stain on your shirt? They’re playing 2,000 miles away and have no idea who you are. Why do you care so much?
It’s something that I’ve thought about a lot in recent years and it’s important to recognize why we care so much about sports because it’s deeper than we think.
All my life, all I’ve ever really been into is sports. Didn’t matter which one. Even as an adolescent, all I did was follow all the leagues, teams, or players. From the four major North American sports to soccer, tennis, golf, and anything in between. It’s the competition I love. Sports are the best, and now one of the only real and non – scripted, reality shows that we could ever watch. In each game, fans are, in a way, picking a protagonist and antagonist and watching a story unfold before their eyes.
(Muhammad Hussain / Flikr)
So, how entertaining I find sports is why I love it. But why do I care so much about my favorite teams and players? Why do I care so much if “my team” or “my player” wins or loses? How does that win, or loss change anything in my life?
What I mean by that is, it doesn’t change anything physical in my life. A win or loss doesn’t change my health, it doesn’t affect my family, my career path, or my finances (betting doesn’t count because that’s a choice made outside the actual sport). So, if it has zero effect on our actual physical life, why do we care so much about this stuff?
Well, one of the reasons we care so much is because it’s simply fun. It’s just something that we enjoy following, it makes us happy. It’s a release from the worries of everyday life and that’s a sign that we subconsciously know a win or loss doesn’t really matter. If we truly thought that winning and losing had a serious impact on our life, we wouldn’t be able to use it as a release. It would be something else that adds to our daily stressors and anxieties. It’s genuinly fun for people to go through the highs, the lows and cheer for their favorite teams/players chasing a championship.
What’s more, getting together with friends to watch a game or even watching it alone brings a certain wholesome fun to us. There’s not much negativity that we have to worry about when watching sports, unlike the things the real world offers us.
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But, is that the only reason we care so much about these teams and players? Just because it’s fun?
No. There’s more to it.
The more significant reason why we care so much is that humans are tribalists. We hold value in being part of a group and being loyal to that group. Following our favorite teams or players gives us a sense of community and connectedness to others. We want our tribe to beat other tribes and when they do, we feel like we’ve also achieved success through that. And if they lose, we confide with others in our tribe.
To give an example, we can take a look back at when the Vancouver Canucks were playing in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Sure, they lost the series, but the loss was only one night. There were six games before that, not to mention the entire playoff run. Once Alex Burrows “slayed the dragon” in the first round beating Chicago, there was a different feeling all around town and it only got stronger after each round the team advanced. When Kevin Bieksa scored in overtime to solidify their spot in the finals, this city was absolutely buzzin!
And to be honest, Vancouver isn’t even my favorite team so I didn’t have the same excitement as most others for them making the finals, but the feeling that I got being in the city was undeniable. It was like everyone was rejuvenated, everyone seemed nicer, more polite, outgoing and just generally in a way better mood which changed the entire atmosphere of the city. And it all had to do with their tribe: The Vancouver Canucks.
(Below: Outside Rogers arena before game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals)
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The city felt so connected to the team that it gave the people a sense of inexplicable calm and joy that reverberated throughout daily life in Vancouver. From grabbing a muffin at the local coffee shop to standing in line at a urinal, it was just a beautiful time in our city and we have the hockey team to thank for that.
As much beauty and community-connection tribalism can bring, it can also be a destructive force to watch out for if it goes too far. This is where caring so much can go overboard.
An extreme, but real, example of this occurred during the 1994 Fifa World Cup held in the US.
The Columbian national team rose from the bottom of the ranks in previous years to become a strong team entering that tournament. Unfortunately, one of the main reasons for the national team’s success was because tons of money and resources were dumped into the program. Who initiated this and did most of the funding you ask?
Pablo Escobar.
It should go without saying that this obviously has its downside being connected and funded by one of the biggest drug lords the world has ever seen. And what many people thought could only be a false nightmare, became reality on July 2, 1994.
In their second group match Columbian defender, Andres Escobar (unrelated to Pablo), stretched out to block a pass and inadvertently deflected the ball in his own net. Columbia lost that game…by one goal. The loss played a major role in the team being eliminated from the tournament just a few days later.
When Andres returned home to Columbia, he was killed with six shots at point-blank range. Six shots because that’s how many times the announcer yelled “goal!” on the Columbian TV feed when the defender scored on his own side, while the shooter also yelled “goal!” after each blast. If you want the full story, there’s an excellent documentary called “The Two Escobars”, created by the 30 for 30 crew at ESPN.
The feeling of embarrassment and defeat that Pablo Escobar felt because his team was eliminated is what lead to the killing. This is non-sensical tribalism at its finest. Pablo was so devasted and angry that his “tribe” had been eliminated before he expected them to be, that he needed to see consequences, there needed to be repercussions and punishment.
Over a game that a bunch of people try kicking a ball in this rectangle thing with a net.
It’s just that: a game.
I understand that’s an extreme example and that this isn’t something we experience much in North America but we’ve all seen the tribalism go too far, even in our own city. Yes, the 2011 playoffs felt like a magical time, but all that magic deteriorated after the loss was followed by rioters who ruined everything for everyone.
Sports are a very powerful part of our society that can bring a lot of positivity and excitement to our life. With a mix of sensible tribalism and just good ol’ fun, we’ll experience these activities with the utmost enjoyment. It helps us get through our days, it creates a sense of community, worth and it makes us happy which counts for a lot. That being said, we’ve all seen that it can also be unbelievably damaging if we take our tribalism and fanaticism over the edge and take these sports too seriously. We must keep it light, keep it fun and just play on. It’s all just entertainment.
In the past several years, words like “offended” and “triggered” have been getting increasingly more common in our society and one of the main reasons for these terms is to drive change. They’re used to recognize something that we think is wrong, off-base, deemed inappropriate and we believe something should be done about it. Some of the change that this, for lack of a better term, movement has created has been great in progressing our society. Its helped create more awareness in many aspects of our daily lives like racial divides, the LGBTQ+ communities, mental health struggles and more.
But, are we taking it too far at times? Does something have to change or be canceled just because some deem it offensive? Who’s the judge of what’s offensive and what’s not?
I started to ask myself these questions after seeing a video online of an event at an American university that I found appalling.
It was taking place at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the event was organized by the UMass College Republicans. It included three speakers in which case one of them was author, professor, philosopher, and self-proclaimed feminist, Christina Hoff Sommers.
Dr. Sommers has been an advocate for women’s rights and equality ever since she was a youth. She’s stood in protests and marches in the ’60s, ’70’s, ’80’s, she’s written books for the public, textbooks for schools, and she’s served on the advisory board for the Independent Women’s Forums. That being said, she holds strong views and somewhat disagrees with today’s feminism movement. I won’t explain why she disagrees because it’s irrelevant to the point. You can read her book about it called “Who Stole Feminism?”. Furthermore, whether I agree with her view or not is unimportant as well. I don’t know enough about earlier feminism in comparison to today’s to make an educated opinion on that subject. What I can make a judgment on though, is how the crowd reacted when she began speaking. Those who disagreed with her views while considering themselves feminists would constantly be shouting at her and over her. She was barely able to get through her speech. This, I found ironic: feminists trying to silence a female.
(Below: Dr.Sommers giving her speech at UMass)
(Daily Collegian / Flikr)
I could see and understand a little if they wanted her gone because she was spewing truly hateful and inappropriate things but if we’re being reasonable, she wasn’t. Her views aren’t radical at all; she’s been fighting for women’s rights for over 50 years. However, because some members of the crowd disagreed with her, they tried to silence her. They deemed her speech offensive, and it should have been labeled with a trigger warning. This is, in fact, actually regressive as opposed to progressive.
Does she have to put a trigger warning on a speech that she’s delivering at an event that she was invited to? With all due the most respect, if you don’t want to hear what she has to say, you don’t have to listen. Going to the event and trying to silence her is quite literally the opposite of free speech, which is the very backbone for a functioning democracy.
This is one small example but it’s a microcosm of today’s society. There are countless examples of this sort of thing happening all over, whether it be in the US, Canada or elsewhere. This is evident in the “cancel culture” where someone has to be removed from all platforms because a certain group of people have been offended.
In a lot of these instances, you’ll see the offended person wanting others to see their viewpoint, yet it’s completely unacceptable for them to see someone else’s view if it differs from theirs, so they’ll try to silence that person. How is this equality?
Take the Ms. Sommers case I mentioned above. She was trying to speak about how to improve women’s rights yet since it wasn’t the same as the new mainstream norm, she was attacked and silenced because some were offended. Her ideas and concepts weren’t even considered. They already knew she didn’t agree with them so they simply attacked her.
But what about Professor Sommers? Do we not think she was offended standing on a stage being yelled at while trying to deliver a speech to the people that came to hear her? A woman was being silenced by other women who consider themselves feminists. They were doing what they were fighting against. It just didn’t make any sense and the fact that they were offended superseded that logic. It seems that the most important part of these conversations is whether someone is being offended or not as opposed to the person’s intentions, ideas and what’s true.
One of the major problems is, is that this new sort of “culture” is so loud and gets pushed so hard by those who are offended that if you disagree with them, you can be called and labeled a racist, a bigot, a misogynist, a hater, or anything else derogatory. It can ruin people’s reputations and careers all because some have been offended or triggered. It’s as if people’s intentions mean nothing anymore. Christina Sommers was sharing her views on how to improve our society but people were acting as if she was calling for some terrible extreme action because she disagrees with them on how to get to that society.
(P.Luca / Flikr)
It appears like if you don’t agree with a certain group, then you’re not fighting for change and you should be discredited, ignored, and maybe even removed from civil discourse altogether.
This is the opposite of what a democracy is supposed to be.
Civil debate is going by the wayside because being offended is becoming more important than hearing someone else’s opinion or even the truth at times. Yes, sometimes another opinion or even the truth can be harsh, rude and yes, it can be offensive. You have the right to be offended. You do not have the right to silence other people. That’s not free speech. That’s not democracy.
And please, don’t get it twisted. My point here has nothing to do with rights and lefts; I don’t play team politics. Nor am I saying that being offended has zero relevance because it has helped create change when it’s used productively. But a lot of the time it’s not being used productively.
Being offended does not give us the right to attack someone or silence them nor should it override the importance of debates that can move us forward. True and open democracy is where every single idea and opinion should be included and debated. Even the bad ones because we can use conversation to filter them out.
Screaming over, insulting, attacking, diminishing, discrediting, and silencing those that disagree is regressive. This isn’t how we built our society. We haven’t made progress by silencing people. We’ve made progress by listening to all ideas and opinions and throwing out the trash ones. Trying to hush everything that may be offensive to someone, does nothing to move us forward, it’ll only bring us backward. How do we not see that this completely goes against what we believe or what we’re fighting for? We believe we’re fighting for inclusion, acceptance, and a progressive society but many who believe they’re fighting for that, are the ones silencing people.
Again, the irony.
With all this in our culture right now, being a student at a post-secondary school, I and many classmates have felt that we’ve had to keep our mouths shut on a lot of issues because we don’t agree with some of our classmates or professors. And this isn’t to blame the school or our classmates, it’s just the way of our society and culture right now. We fear that if we share our honest opinion, we’ll get labeled all sorts of negative things when in reality, we have the same goal as everyone else.
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I’ve grown up in a very diverse family that includes straight white Europeans, my cousins who are part of the LGTBQ+ communities and one side of my family is black. With all these differences between us, our love for each other has never wavered while we’ve always been able to share our honest opinions without insults or trying to silence one another. We disagree on a lot of things and we agree on a lot of things. But, at the end of the day, we all understand that we all have the same goal in mind: a progressive, inclusive, equal and open society.
We can all take different roads and still all meet at the same place.
