Passion Test

Last night I finished doing a passion test. It's easy enough to do for yourself and it's interesting becasue it gets you thinking about exactly what it is you love to do.

1. Simply write your passions on individual 3x5 cards - one passion per card.
2. Then compare two at a time and decide which you are more passionate about.
3. Keep cycling through until you have put in order from most to least your passions.

It was most illuminating. I was quite surprised how my passions are different to where I'm spending my time... and actaully quite different to where I had planned to spend my time.

Time to re-organize!

Poor Zebra

The Zebra has stripes
Black and white
Which are they?
Black or white?
Is he striped to the bone?
What colour is his meat?
Is it all on the surface?
From his head to his feet?
Or from his brain to his heart?
Do we admire him for what he is?
Or what he isn't?
Poor Zebra.

I'm back!

It's been brought to my attention that this blog has become overrun with cobwebs and dust. I'm brushing all that aside and I'm back writing. There's no time like the present!

No Guarantees

Larry Iwan was a gentleman I worked with for almost three years. I haven't actually seen him since my last day at that company just over a year ago. He retired last Friday apparently in good health and died on Monday. He didn't even get a day off.

There are no guarantees in life.

Obituary from Calgary Herald

IWAN Lawrence John "Lars" May 9, 1938 - December 8, 2008

The Following Obituary Contains Memories That Could Be Offensive To Some Readers. Did that grab your attention?

Good, because the guy that the following is about, liked to get peoples attention. Lawrence John Iwan, or Larry as he was known to many and Lars to many more, unexpectedly passed away this past Monday morning at 70 years of age. All things considered we think that is about thirty years too soon.

To say that Larry cut a unique path through life would be a grievous understatement and a true injustice to a man who truly saw no boundaries and made it a priority to soak up all that life had to offer every single day.

His cup was always half full even when merely a drop remained. Born in Winnipeg's north end in 1938, John and Jessie's proudly Polish boy would chase inclination, love and adventure across Canada for the next several decades, eventually settling in Calgary with his beloved wife and best friend Kathy.

Larry relished the awkward moments in life; often working tirelessly to initiate them. He was the icebreaker that every room needs. Quick witted and blessed with an extremely high IQ, he really could do anything that he set his mind to. A fistful of successful careers that included; race car driving, politics, photography, music and sales to name just a few.

Long days and busy nights with the ultimate pay off, weekends at the lake, Lars loved the lake it was his little piece of paradise. We can say with some confidence that the waters of Lake Mara will never be the same. We also suspect that insurance rates will come down now that he is off the water.

This past May to mark the occasion of his 70th birthday Lars went on a pub-crawl with his wife, kids and friends. A bus was rented, a course was charted, and like a band of merry pranksters, Lars and his posse traveled the city celebrating life's rich pageant at every stop along the way. In hindsight very apropos for a man who truly lived his life enjoying each and every stop along the way.

We love you Lars ... Now get back on that bus, the next stop has dancing girls! Larry is survived by his wife Kathy Stirling, whom he adored more than life itself, and his children, Michelle, Debbie, Dwight, Darren and Dale, their spouses Rene, Jarrett, Monique and Gail; his grandchildren Jordan, Claire, Max, Cooper and Adam and his father-in-law Donald "Radar" Stirling.

188.8 lbs

On October 3rd When I hit my goal weight a friend of mine said, "It's all well and good to hit your target, but it'll be interesting to see where you're at three months later."

Well, this morning I weighed in at 188.8 lbs, so I guess I'm still on track!

191.2 lbs

Today is the weight goal day. Three months ago I set myself the goal of losing 10% of my body mass to drop to 190 lbs. This morning I jumped on the scales and registered a mere 191.2 lbs. My wife and I agreed that should I starve myself all day I would be able to drop the 0.3 lbs to be 190 something.

I made it!

The amazing revelation that I've come to is that after losing twenty pounds on a body most people wouldn't have said needed to lose weight, I can see there's room to lose another ten pounds, perhaps more. The last time I was weighing in the 180s I was in my early twenties. I feel ten years younger!

I feel so much better now too. All my clothes fit loosely, I've gone in at least one belt hole on all my belts. I have so much more energy and I'm fitter, due to the increase in exercise.

This increase in exercise, by the way, has been simply walking to and from work three or four days a week. It's a 45-minute walk each way, and includes a hill-climb. I still only get to the gym once or twice a week, but the walks have given me six to eight extra cardio workouts.

My portions are smaller now. I'm following the portion sizes on packaging far more closely, and I realise I don't need to eat so much to feel "full". I'm also eating more often, making sure I get in a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack. I still eat sweets and the like, but far fewer and I far less frequently. I have also cut way back on my alcohol consumption, and have replaced it with water. There are so many empty calories in alcohol, that they really tally up quickly.

So my goal is now set on five pound increments of weight loss. I'll re-assess each five pounds to see where I'd like to end up to maximise my feeling of health and well-being.

Art Show

Today I opened up my house to show and sell my art. For me this has been a mental block, but I'm so glad to have done it now, I can start planning the next one. Although it would have been nice to see more people come out, I was very happy to have sold 6 pieces. It starts to make some room for the new creations that are in the pipeline!

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."
- William Shakespeare

211.4 lbs

Today I was at a friend's place and we both jumped on the scales. He recorded 212.0 lbs and I was 211.4 lbs. That's about ten pounds lighter than the heaviest I've been, but it's still more than I'd like to be. So we made a commitment to drop 10% of our body mass by October 3rd. That would have me at 190 lbs, a weight I haven't been since before I came to Canada in 2002.

My wife, Gosia, also committed to losing 10% of her body mass which would have her back at her pre-pregnancy weight. I won't say what the numbers are... women are sensitive about that kind of stuff.

Status Symbols (Published article)

Oprah Winfrey’s “Big Give” has just finished playing on television. For those who never watched it or saw the promotions for it, Oprah had a number of contestants on the program giving to people in need each week. The person who gave the least or had the least effect was voted off by a high-profile panel of “expert givers”.

What struck me about this was the apparent “backwardness” of the show. Instead of the contestants trying to get the most for themselves they were trying to give the most away.

Why I say this is backward is because in life the status symbols people crave are possessions. Very few would brag about the amount of money they gave to charities last year, though the same people would happily take you to their garage to see their new car or take you on a tour of their home pointing out the various upgrades, or show you the photos from their recent holiday.

Why don’t people proclaim how much they give away?

It’s odd that it’s actually seen as rude to brag about the amount of money one donates, yet it’s not rude to casually discuss the money one spends on oneself.

In an age of abundance and in many cases gluttony, there are still massive portions of the world that struggle daily to even feed themselves.

So it is interesting then that now as our society becomes more conscious of mother earth, of waste and of understanding others, that the status symbols that still thrive are the self-centered, wastefully extravagant kind. We’re all guilty, myself included. In this day and age it’s nearly impossible not to get caught up, especially in a city as wealthy as Calgary is.

“And what’s wrong with that anyway?” You may be asking.

I guess nothing. Everyone makes their own choices as to how they want to allocate their resources, financial or otherwise. People tend to allocate where they see themselves getting the most bang for the buck.

What bang are people looking for when they buy status symbols? Prestige perhaps. Uniqueness. Popularity… even fame. And what will that buy them? Happiness would be the hope, but happiness is rarely if ever the result. True happiness comes from knowing yourself, from self-satisfaction, from making a difference, from contribution to others. Essentially happiness comes from giving.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mohandas Gandhi.

The problem with all these things that we acquire is they steal time away from us. Last week my automatic garage door stopped working. I know it’s not a status symbol, but it is a sign of abundance. So now I’ll have to get it fixed, so that I can access my garage. If I didn’t have an automatic garage door I wouldn’t be losing any time this week getting it fixed! As a society we run so many errands and make shopping trips to purchase status symbols, or upgrading the ones we bought last year that no longer cut the mustard.

If we replaced that time in acquisition mode with time in giving mode we would likely find ourselves more at peace with the world. In addition to the benefit that would be seen by our friends and family, who would spend more quality time with us, we would also have a fair bit of spare change left over. We could give it away to someone who needs it more than we need to buy yet another flat screen plasma television!

Choices (Published Article)

The path we take in life is just that, it’s a path. Where that path goes is completely up to us. We make the choices and decisions which will guide our life in a certain direction.

In fact where we are today is a result of all the decisions and choices we have made up to this time. Look at every aspect of your life and think about how it came to be the way it is. Somewhere along the line you chose that to be a part of your life.

I was thinking about one of the conscious choices I make – my friends. On the weekend we had a party for some of our friends and there were fourteen of us in total. I was paid a compliment by one friend who didn’t know many of the others when she said, “Your friends are really nice people.”

It’s nice when someone pays you a compliment, and especially nice when they compliment your good judgement. We enjoy our friends and although we have only lived in Calgary for five years we have a strong network, which has taken time and energy to build.

I remember when my wife and I first came to Calgary. We didn’t know anyone and on weekends we would stay at home and play board games. Our phone would only ring when a telemarketer called, and I would relish the opportunity to speak with them!

We made a conscious effort to make friends. We played on teams through sporting socials clubs and we looked in every place we could think where friendly people might exist who could become our friends. We were prepared to put in a concerted effort to invite them for dinner or to organize outings together.

As a result we now have a strong network and find ourselves busy on most weekends, spending time with friends. In this column I have previously mentioned the value of time, and I have chosen to spend my time with good friends. These are the sorts of people we can rely on, who are honest and whom we can trust, with whom we have interesting conversations based on common interests and intellect. These are all people I could trust with my children or my wallet. They are people who make us feel special. These are people who enrich our life.

Becoming friends with all of these people took effort on our part, but the rewards are great. As life goes on I see that what makes our lives valuable is less concerned with the monetary wealth we have, but the golden friends around us.

No matter what situation you’re in now with regards to your friends or anything else in your life, ask yourself whether you would choose what you have now if given the opportunity to start fresh.

When you think about your friends could you trust them all? Are they always reliable? Do they ever let you down? Do you respect them? Do you get excited to see them? Do they make you feel good when you’re together? Do they make you feel like you are important to them?
It’s important to respect yourself so that you surround yourself only with the people who deserve your friendship. Along the way we have met many more people than we are now friends with. Our friends today are the ones we consciously chose to become friends with.

So far, the diligent effort and perseverance has resulted in a happy social life for us. Diligent effort and perseverance is a formula for success in any aspect of life.