inspire – The Conscious Pilgrim

busy busy busy

I’ve been writing a lot lately, and not only in this blog, so I’m hoping that I don’t end up falling behind in this, but I’ve been working on grants for touring with Confusionaires and working on a few new songs I’m excited about. It’s also a busy time at my day job but that doesn’t really impact this blog much.

Soon, my band will be announcing our Mexico tour, and we’ll be able to count ourselves among the ranks of export ready Canadian bands, which is big for us. We’ll be there for 10 days and play 7 shows (maybe more). Before that, we’ve got a a 2-nighter of Elvis, and a 3-show run of Buddy Holly performances at the end of January that you should most certainly buy tickets to… please… because Mexican gigs pay in pesos…

All that to say I’m really in a state of equal parts shock and gratitude, but I’m reminded that it’s important speak love into other people’s lives, too. We humans get so wrapped up in our own shit that we forget to come up for air sometimes.

A friend of mine is in sales, and recently posted a very vulnerable and beautiful post about the state of the world and ho she felt like she was distracting people from these things that need attention. It prompted a conversation and we got to really encourage each other in our ventures because these things are important – even though they’re not a war in Gaza, or a homeless crisis – we still get to facilitate people bringing joy into their lives, which is incredibly noble – but I hadn’t thought about it in those terms, and neither had she. It got me thinking about how rare these conversations are and that they shouldn’t be so rare.

Did these conversations used to be more common? Before the internet and the de-personalization of everything? I don’t know, and I don’t remember.

But I want to go to that place with people, to inspire and be inspired… and I have people I can do that with, and I am very lucky to have them… but there must be more. People are not just their avatars… they are complex and flawed and wonderous… and we should know more of them.

Anyway… that’s my stream of consciousness for today.

Much love.

finding the edges

As I round out the first couple of months of 2023, I am ultimately content with my progress as it pertains to physical fitness (despite some inevitable frustration with the speed of that progress, but hey!). The reason I am content with my progress is because it IS progress, and in order to feel the way I want to feel, I need to be pushing forward.

I’m not opposed to rest & recovery. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about personal challenges within my vocation. I’m talking about writing better, lifting heavier, playing guitar more proficiently, helping my contemporaries at work to deal with challenging situations and learning from them. I’m at my best when I’m actively engaged in what I am doing and who I am with, and I wager that you’re no different.

I’ve learned that nobody wants to see a ‘pretty good’ rock & roll band, they want to see a great rock & roll band – a truly exceptional rock & roll band, for that matter. In the same way, my girlfriend doesn’t want to have a conversation with me when I am distracted by a TV show or a social media post; not when she could have an honest, engaging discussion with me – she wants to be reminded that she’s more important than whatever content I am consuming.

It’s too easy to live a life of leisure; to enjoy the fruits of your labor without any plan to return to work. As humans, we’re predisposed to this, likely due to some evolutionary trait that permitted us to be content with a certain set of comfortable circumstances. Personally; and I know this is common to many people – I’m happy as a clam being on vacation, but there IS a point at which lazing about reaches it’s limit, and the need to accomplish something kicks in. This is why I’ve gradually fallen in love with making a plan. “Finding the edges” is a crucial part of this, because we need to know what the limitations of our capabilities are, particularly if we’re going to push or stretch them and avoid complacency.

Complacency is what happens when we stop rising to meet new challenges and succumb to the comforts of life. We accept the reality with which we’re presented and have a hard time seeing beyond it because we’ve stopped looking. For many people, this is retirement, but for most of us it means giving in to a lifestyle that isn’t necessarily easy, but that we’ve decided we’re okay navigating. This might look like a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle… it might look like retirement… or it might look like sleeping in a ravine in a makeshift tent and spending your day scheming to get a fix to numb your pain.

We all share this humanity, and some compassion is required in order to navigate these waters… but maybe that’s a post for another day.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Plans change. They can change and they will change – and it’s only when there is no plan that change is particularly hard or uncomfortable.

Training this week has been reasonably solid. My work schedule has changed a bit, and with the advent of subscribing to a Monday-Friday work schedule for the first time in over a decade, a few regularly occurring things on the calendar have been shuffled out of necessity.

If anything, my workouts are longer somehow. Monday (which I took off this week w/ the Family Day long weekend), as well as Thursday and Saturday are long endurance days. A solid 60 – 75 minutes of running. Tuesday and Friday are weight lifting days, as they historically have been, but with an endurance component as well, which is divvied up between the stair-climber, the stationary bike, the rowing machine, and the tank. Wednesday & Sunday are rest days.

I’m also making an effort to spend some time stretching and doing some isolated core work on a gym mat at the end of each of the 5 sessions. I’m sure I will reap the rewards of that in time, but for the moment I’m just trying to make sure I get it done.

This should get me into outdoor running season, but things are constantly changing and fine-tuning. It’s a process.

purpose driven

“I live in a mindset of prosperity, so I see prosperity – and I am truly happy doing what I’m doing. When I lived in a negative space, all I saw was negativity.”

I’ve made more than a few changes in my life in the past couple of years, and it’s paid off in more than a few ways. I’ll preface this blog entry by stating that I’m not here to tell anyone to stop being concerned with the money flowing in & out o their home, because I’m not only unqualified to do so, but I’m also not naïve nor am I independently wealthy. Money is energy – and you’re gonna need some in order to get done what you intend to do.

As an artist and an entrepreneur, I have the distinct pleasure of knowing that my output has value, and when that translates into dollars & cents I know what to ask for and what to deliver.

However, I will say that once my primary motivation stopped just being money, I was able to monitor growth in a much more fascinating way. There are some things you can’t buy because they are worth more than money. These are things like integrity, effectiveness, positivity, reputation… the types of things that only come from consistent diligence.

My band and I work with a business manager to grow our business, and we’ve made some steps that feel more like bounding leaps than steps – intelligent decisions that have ensured a reputation of quality. We’ve also received opportunities that never would have come our way without a soft-hearted, neighborly approach, such as offering a place to stay to an old friend traveling through our home town after some accommodations fell through. It might not sound like much, but it meant a lot to the recipient – so much so that this friend helped us accomplish something we otherwise would not have.

The steps that led to us being ready for that were gradual and calculated, and the timing was fantastic. If our proposed album release date for our new album (that we’ve just opened preorders for) was 6 months later or 6 months earlier, it wouldn’t have worked out. 6 months earlier would have been too quick, and 6 months later might have been just enough time that we would have seconded guessed following up and securing this arrangement.

One of the aforementioned steps involved a drastic change to my scheduled activities, to spend more time as an artist, and less time as someone else’s employee – a strange move for a 40 year old man in the wake of a 2.5 year global pandemic, but the right move for me nonetheless.

Now, to stop myself from telling any more of this story in the reverse order in which it happened, I’ll say that to be driven by purpose rather than to be driven my something as fleeting as money has enriched my life more than you could ever know. My family and my rock & roll band are better for it, my artistic output is of a higher caliber and travels further and is heard by more ears as a result of it, and my life is inexplicably full in response to it.

I live in a mindset of prosperity, so I see prosperity – and I am truly happy doing what I’m doing. When I lived in a negative space, all I saw was negativity. Sure, there are hard days and stressful days, but I was going to have those anyway – and if there’s been a resounding message coming at me from all angles over the past while, it’s this:

You don’t get what you want. You get what you are.

I hope to encourage anyone feeling the negative side of these dark, cold January days to push yourself to be in a mindset of prosperity and purpose, and spend less time with your head in those dark spaces. If you truly want to change your life, start with your perspective – anything else that needs to change will follow in it’s own time.

I won’t say it’s easy, but I will say it’s worth it.

I will also say that it would be remiss of me to not provide an avenue to support what I’m doing in a tangible way, especially after this particular story, so I’ll post this link: https://confusionaires.bandcamp.com/album/westernization-2023 so that if you like the small sample of the album that’s posted here, you might go a step further and secure a copy. I don’t want to pressure anyone into buying anything – I only want to sell you this if you think you will love it.

My blood, sweat, and tears are in this record and if you appreciate the writing and sharing I do in this blog, you may also appreciate the content of these songs.

Training this week has been good. Last Saturday’s workout was at a Planet Fitness in Grande Prairie. I won’t say I loved the facility for myself, but I did love the vibe and level of accessibility it provides to the community around it. I think I tend to go for “a bit less flash and a bit more smash” if I may put it so succinctly. Monday, Lu and I opted for an extra day of rest after a particularly intense weekend for a couple of reasons. I had taken the day off, which allowed to rest to a degree we haven’t been able to since before the holidays, so we took that opportunity. Tuesday followed with some weightlifting, Thursday & Saturday with Zone 2 cardio, and Friday with a run & more weights.

I’ve been awaiting a decision (as well as some inevitable hoops to jump through) in regards to a work place opportunity, and the focus on fitness and the intense level at which my artistic life is operating right now has been a welcome opportunity to stay in the moment – but at the same time, I do feel like I’m waiting on someone else’s schedule for something, which I don’t love.

The crazy part is that it’s actually a pretty serious fork in the road. I either (a) further indenture myself to the company I work for, or I (b) seek opportunity elsewhere. Not out of spite, just for the sheer fact that if I have hit the ceiling of what they see in me, then I must seek opportunity elsewhere. I’d never tell them that for fear that it would sound like an ultimatum – but I really don’t think they read this blog, and I’m being vague intentionally.

It’s strange, but I’m not married to either outcome despite how strong the motions that will follow will be.

C’est la vie.

the fats you need and don’t need

“Most often, you’ll want to see between 25% and 33% of your daily calories come from fats… which if we’re sticking with the average 2000 kCal’s per day is around 50g total. Suddenly, that tablespoon of peanut butter just became more decadent.”

Hey all,

Since I’ve talked protein & carbs periodically over the past while, I might as well round this out a bit.

*** Dietary fats are essential to give your body energy and to support cell function. They also help protect your organs and help keep your body warm. Fats help your body absorb some nutrients and produce important hormones, too. ***

Now, as much as fats are a fuel source, fats are not the body’s preferred fuel source. That title is reserved for carbohydrates – which can be problematic for people opting to go on a ketogenic diet for an extended period of time. Issues with not being able to stay awake, or having brain fog are of definite concern, so if you’re ‘on the keto’ and experiencing this, I’d advocate trying something else.

A common misconception is that ‘fats make you fat’ which is woefully untrue even though 1 gram of fat = 9 calories so you are bound to find that something low in fat, like pineapple, is going to be much more plentiful and functional within your (average) 2000 kCal’s per day than something with a lot of fat, such as peanut butter. By comparison, a 25g tablespoon of peanut butter will net you roughly 150 kcals, compared to 300g of pineapple which will also net you 150 kcals – which is enough to fill a soup bowl. So with a bunch of fat in your diet, you’ll find it pretty hard to stay within the average 2000 kCal’s per day.

However, super low fat intake has it’s downsides as well – including dry & flaky skin, sensitivity to sunburn, moodiness. Most often, you’ll want to see between 25% and 33% of your daily calories come from fats… which if we’re sticking with the average 2000 kCal’s per day is around 50g total. Suddenly, that tablespoon of peanut butter just became more decadent.

This brings us to the Omega 3 Fatty Acids. They are an integral part of cell membranes throughout the body and affect the function of the cell receptors in these membranes. They provide the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and inflammation. Obviously, these are essential, and not all fats are created equal, that is to say, not all fats are Omega 3’s.

Fat sources for Omegas include nuts, seeds, and avocados, and as much as I wouldn’t personally advocate the consumption of fish (for both ethical reason and for the high levels of mercury and microplastics we’ve put in the ocean) or eggs (for ethics as well, and the extremely high cholesterol content has caused researchers to compare it to smoking cigarettes) you CAN get Omega-3’s this way. Of the top 12 foods to get your Omega-3’s from, the top 8 are fish sources, followed by ground flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans.

I will say that between the Fats, Proteins, and Carbohydrates, you can lead a healthy life by implementing a good cross section of all the plant foods you can get. Generally… everything else falls into place.

Training this week has been bittersweet. I’m fairly sure I just had what was my last bicycle commute of the year. The +2 celcius mornings I can ultimately contend with, but with the leaves falling and turning into a slick, frosty pulp makes my personal safety a little uncertain, and banging-up my precious guitar fingers just isn’t an option for me.

Lu and I are formulating our plan to move indoors, including mapping out an ideal swimming and cross-training schedule between endurance sessions. I’ll make that all available before too long, for those of you following along at home. For the time being I’m increasing my frequency of going to the gym in the mornings – something I didn’t do for the first half of the week, but I did have some time-sensitive things to tend following the long weekend.

Over the past while, I’ve had several – a dozen or so – people reach out with stories about how they’ve felt inspired by this blog. Without patting myself on the back (since I didn’t do that – they did!) I hope they see fit to be open about their experiences and inspire people around them.