Posted on 21 March 2012 | No responses

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

- Native American proverb

Don’t Overrate Your Future :)

Posted on 16 February 2012 | No responses

“The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another. Avarice over-rates the difference between poverty and riches: ambition, that between a private and a public station: vain-glory, that between obscurity and extensive reputation. The person under the influence of any of those extravagant passions, is not only miserable in his actual situation, but is often disposed to disturb the peace of society, in order to arrive at that which he so foolishly admires. The slightest observation, however, might satisfy him, that, in all the ordinary situations of human life, a well-disposed mind may be equally calm, equally cheerful, and equally contented. Some of those situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others: but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquillity of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice.”

- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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“When our ambition is bounded, it leads us to work joyfully. When our ambition is unbounded, it leads us to lie, to cheat, to steal, to hurt others, to sacrifice things of real value. When our fears are bounded, we’re prudent, we’re cautious, we’re thoughtful. When our fears are unbounded and overblown, we’re reckless and we’re cowardly … our longings and our worries are both to some degree overblown because we have within us the capacity to manufacutre the very commodity we are constantly chasing when we choose experience.”

- Dan Gilbert

Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy? | Video on TED.com

Posted on 10 November 2011 | No responses

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

- George Bernard Shaw

(Quote from An Unreasonable Man)

Value Stress Reduction (or Get Fat & Die)

Posted on 15 September 2011 | 1 response

“The problem in our society is we don’t value stress reduction. We, in fact, value the opposite. We admire the person who not only multitasks and does two things at once, but does five things at once. Well, that’s an incredibly stressful way to live … We have to change our values and value people who understand a balanced and serene life.”

Watch: National Geographic: Stress – Portrait of a Killer

http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/national_geographic_stress_portrait_of_a_killer.htm

Water is Good For The Soul.

Posted on 14 August 2011 | 1 response

Casual Lululemon Culture

Posted on 9 July 2011 | 133 responses

***Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life.***

- Lululemon Water-bottle, Tulloch Reservoir, 7/4/11

the lululemon manifesto

• Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp.
• A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.
• Do one thing a day that scares you.
• Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.
• Write down your short and long-term GOALS four times a year. Two personal, two business and two health goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. Goal setting triggers your subconscious computer.
• Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.
• Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.
• That which matters the most should never give way to that which matters the least.
• Stress is related to 99% of all illness.
• Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.
• The world is changing at such a rapid rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you 2 steps behind. DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW!
• Friends are more important than money.
• Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life.
• Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.
• Don’t trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.
• Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.
• The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.
• Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water, Vancouver will do nicely.
• Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefits to your body and brain.
• Practice yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.
• Dance, sing, floss and travel.
• Children are the orgasm of life. Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them.
• Successful people replace the words ‘wish’, ’should’ and ‘try’, with ‘I will’.
• Creativity is maximized when you’re living in the moment.
• Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top, and will give you a lousy life.
• lululemon athletica creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress-free, we believe the world will become a much better place.
• Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.
• SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.
• Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur.
• What we do to the earth we do to ourselves.
• The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness.

http://www.lululemon.com/about/culture

Posted on 31 March 2011 | 55 responses

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Slow Down

Posted on 20 March 2011 | 109 responses

Check out the The Slow Movement: The Art of Slow Living.

Slow Food, Slow Traveling, Slow Work, Slow Parents … even Slow Sex = a Good Slow? Is “slow” taboo? Does it have to be? Is LESS more?

Speed can be fun and important in it’s own right, but it’s important to remember (and practice) to take time to enjoy life because it can soothe the soul and the psyche. Find your BALANCE.

As I said, and stand by, in my very first comment, “… slow down, you’re moving too fast, you’ve got to post to make the moment last…” This kind order I’m happy to say  was influenced by Simon & Garfunkel in their song, “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy).” Take a moment and listen to it, why don’t you? – it just might sooth your soul.

Feeling Groovy

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“The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains.”

- Paul Simon

Posted on 18 March 2011 | 64 responses

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

- T.S. Eliot

(Used by Robert McNamara in Fog of War: Fog of War)

You Are What You Eat

Posted on 17 December 2010 | 72 responses

Which might be corn-dieted e-coli infested meat and genetically processed diabetes-inducing corn syrup.

Ever seen Food, Inc.? If not, give it shot – it’s likely you’ll change your eating habits. And by changing your eating habits, you’ll not only be eating healthier, you’ll also be improving standards for the American farmer, the safety of workers and the environment. (Not to mention putting a final stop on any existing company still involved with immigration injustices).

- Multi-national food corporations lobby the government to subsidize cheap corn in order to use it in a majority of grocery products as well as for animal feed (cows, pigs, chicken, and even fish), therefore fattening animals while lowering meat costs. These animals are not evolutionarily designed to eat corn, and this corn diet coupled with the feed-lot lifestyle (animals standing ankle deep in their own shit) harvests strains of deadly e-coli.

- Over the last 25 years, the government has been dominated by the industries that it was meant to be regulating. In 1972, the FDA conducted approximately 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted 9,164.

- In 1996, when Monsanto, a chemical company, began selling Roundup Ready soybeans, only 2% of soybeans in the U.S. contained their patented gene. By 2008, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contained Monsanto’s patented gene.

- The engineering of foods helps create a general public’s diet of high fructose corn syrup and refined carbohydrates which leads to spikes in insulin and gradually a wearing down on how one’s system metabolizes sugar. 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes. Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.

- Eating better will cost more money, which is why we need policy change. Our current food system is skewed to heavily subsidize the bad calories; policy needs to be changed in the direction of good calories. *The tobacco industry is an example of irresponsible behavior changed.

- Each item you choose to purchase counts – think of each scan as a vote. Companies change product by demand.

Official Food, Inc. Movie Site: Food, Inc.

Hungry for Change?: Food, Inc. | TakePart – Inspiration to Action

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“We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.”

- Gunther Grass

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