Community

Community

Journey, not Balance

It’s easy to accept the adage that managing life is about finding balance: personal time, family, work, other commitments. But I find that it’s a journey, not a balancing or juggling act. Perhaps this is because of my personality, or the way my brain works: I tend towards OCD and perfectionism. For me, balancing acts become extremely exacting, even captious. And a juggling act can be chaotic, stressful and tiring as I attempt to get everything right in order to keep the balls in the air. Instead, how I move through each day is a process of discovery. My method

Read More »
Mana

Re-Connection

(Re-)connection refers to the relationship we have with our bodies and senses, each other, our physical environment, and all that lies outside our regularly scheduled programming. It means to feel deeply, and to consider the interconnectedness of all things. How do we connect, or reconnect? Based on scientific and anecdotal evidence from around the world and over the eons, meditation has proven itself as paramount. Meditation is really nothing more than being aware of the movement of life, the rise and fall of sensations and thoughts. It’s not about controlling anything. The Penan people of Borneo are essentially meditating when they

Read More »
Midsommar

Midsommar

🇸🇪 Glad midsommar! Yesterday, I changed locations, again. The plan to stay put for a couple of months had to be revised due to unforeseen circumstances. That’s life. But where I am now is clearly a happy place for me. This morning’s resting heart rate was as low as I’ve seen it (I measured twice!), and HRV (heart rate variability) was nicely high. I spent a few hours after rising to ‘move in’. I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to having my space & stuff organised. Then my best friend and I meditated together, talked, and shared

Read More »
ÖtillÖ

The Rich Roll Podcast

“Intimate, deep and often intense, these are not interviews. They are conversations. A weekly aural dance designed to provoke, educate, inspire and empower you to discover, uncover, unlock and unleash your best, most authentic self.” ~The Rich Roll Podcast In autumn 2012 I suffered a pilon fracture of my right ankle in a freak accident. During convalescence from ORIF (Open Reduction and Internal Fixation) surgery the universe conspired to help me. While sitting on the balcony reading and Internet-surfing I stumbled across a video by Rich Roll, Finding Ultra :: Reject Middle Age. “Anybody can be the Ultraman. You just

Read More »
The Universe Conspires

The Universe Conspires

It’s not all rainbows and roses. Sometimes I sabotage myself. I eat, drink, and do things that do not support me. I always suffer the consequences, shake my head, and wonder how many times I have to make these same mistakes. Of course, the answer is simple, we do things until we don’t, until the interest in chasing the tail falls away. I know this from my own experience, from my spiritual teacher, and from hearing other’s stories. In these ‘slip-ups’ I feel lost, confused, even disheartened. Fortunately, in the darkest part of my life, I was more-or-less forced to

Read More »
Top Podcasts

Learn • Expand • Share

Of the 29 podcast titles in my Downcast App, four stand out. I love podcasts because they provide access to information, viewpoints and entertainment that enrich my life on many levels. In subsequent posts, I’ll provide some backstory for each of these four, and my top episode picks. (Note: each title below is a clickable link directly to the program homepage.) /Howie Peace, Plants … Namaste ✌️ 🌱 … 🙏 Rich Roll Podcast Rich delves deep into all things wellness with some of the brightest and most forward thinking, paradigm busting minds in health, fitness, nutrition, art, entertainment, entrepreneurship & spirituality. Intimate,

Read More »
High-Quality Connections

High-quality connections

A recent article by a prominent news agency grabbed my attention, “Friend zone: why we all long to belong”. Author Emily Esfahani Smith discusses how belonging–in a relationship or a group–gives us meaning, and that love and care from a parent and/or caregiver are essential for healthy development. In fact, addiction, stress and childhood specialist Dr. Gabor Maté writes that without adequate love, affection, and support during our early development the brain and body become predisposed to addiction which becomes a method for finding the connection we desperately need. Earlier in my life I believed that I didn’t need to

Read More »
Together

The Inside Happy

“It’s that Inside Happy feeling. You know what I mean?” While at the health food store yesterday evening I started chatting with one of the staff, whom I’ve not seen in a couple months because I’ve been travelling. Last we spoke I learned that she was a swimmer in high school and college but that she hadn’t been in the pool in ages. Our discussion at that time flowed between the topics of exercise, daily routines, and nutrition. She taught me a few things about sprouting, while I shared with her some of my favourite websites and books (listed below).

Read More »
Waipi'o Valley

The Current Moment

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. “ — ‘Letters to a Young Poet’, Rainer Maria Rilke Patience isn’t my strongest suit. I’m a goal oriented kind of guy.

Read More »

Ohana

In my last post I talked about Sangha. Interestingly, one of the things that attracts me to the island of Hawai’i is ‘ohana’, which is translated as ‘family’; in the Hawaiian sense, sangha and ohana are rather similar. …”Two of the most important and symbolic words in the Hawaiian vocabulary kalo and ohana, the words for taro and family can be used to describe the main focus of life in Waipio Valley. It is significant that the words are related in terms of language and legend. Kalo reproduces by means of underground sprouts, or oha, which are broken off the

Read More »

Sangha

“Are you interested in running the Pu’u Wa’awa’a Run for the Dry Forest 10k?” This was the question from my mate only days after finishing my third full distance Ironman in 3.5 months. My response? “If you’re doing it then I’m changing my travel plans and doing it with you!” Sangha is a Pali and Sanskrit word translated as “community”. Thich Nhat Hanh clarifies, however, that it’s more than a word, it’s a practice. “The essence of a sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony and love.” The few people I consider a part of my sangha/community also hold close the

Read More »

Keystones to Health

Instagram Feed

nordstrom.howie